Project Management Careers

Project management skills are very sort-after commodities in the business world, this management area being seen as very intensive and needing good leadership skills as well as the need for tight planning, control, and information analysis. Areas covered by project management include integration, scope, time, control, quality, human resources, communications, risk management and procurement.

A career in project management often arises out of a career in another management area, such as engineering management. Certain industries lend themselves to this, such as engineering, the oil and gas industry, software development, hardware development and others. Individuals find that they are increasingly involved in management on a project basis, and decide that they will take their personal development down this path.

Training can take several different paths, but mostly managers who have started to work in this area decide to strengthen their abilities by taking a course leading qualifications or certification, for instance PMP (Project Management Professional) or CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) awarded by the Project Management Institute. This allows them to not only increase their knowledge base, but to have external verification of their abilities in this area.

Because of the broad base of skills necessary for project management, and the need to see a project from a strategic point of view, project management is often the road to the senior management levels of a career. Projects become a proving ground for running a larger organisation, and successful project managers are often successful board members.

Directory of Schools Offering Project Management Training