Project Managers

[Randomology]

If you are a project manager, if you work alongside one, or if you were to hire one, what is the qualification you would desire the most? Who would be the course provider if you wanted to do this by distance learning and what would be the approximate cost ? TIA

[AgentProvocateur]

Depends on the sector. For construction it would be a relevant degree (often quantity surveying) and professional membership of RICS at the least. APM and Prince2 are irrelevant.

[Randomology]

I would be looking for jobs in the heritage, conservation and culture industries or, universities/ local government etc. My degree is in history and my experience is in office management and administration so I'm looking for a career change.

[HundredMilesAnHour]

I work in Financial Services and until very recently headed up a team of Programme Managers and Project Managers in a large, global IT consultancy. I really don't care about project management qualifications as they don't provide any actual evidence that you can do a good job in most cases. What I look for when hiring is a strong track record of project delivery and good stakeholder management skills. I've met far too many people who think a Prince 2 qualification is the way into project management. The majority of them can't manage their way out of a paper bag. Harsh but very true I'm afraid.

[Randomology]

Ok thanks for the replies.

[kingfishergreen]

As AgentProvocateur says it really depends on the industry.

I hire digital project managers at work, and I tend to care more about aptitude and proven experience than degrees. When I look at their CVs a nice standard academic degree is always reassuring (English, History, Maths, whatever) if their degree is in a profession (Law, Medicine, Accountancy) I always wonder why they've deviated from that path.

One important factor is that they don't have to have been a project manager to have viable project management experience, they just need to have managed to juggle complex professional situations in a timely and conscientious manner.

I must admit I consider Prince 2, any qualification from CIM and being an Agile Scrum Master to be a bit passé (even though I have all three), it might even put me off a candidate as I'd worry that they could be too process driven and inflexible, whereas I'm really looking for people who have a can-do attitude and tenacity (sorry, horrible clichés).

[Randomology]

Thank you for that reply kingfisher, these are really insightful !