Project Management is a field that has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Although the origins of Project Management lie in the field of construction, the value of Project Management is now being recognized by organizations throughout the economy.
Recent data attained from a major Canada wide job posting website demonstrates that growth and shows how the ability to lead successful projects is becoming the must have skill organizations are now looking for. The following data was attained on February 17th 2011. The numbers represent the number of job postings with job titles that include the keywords shown in quote marks…
“Project Manager” + “Project Coordinator” + “Project Leader“+ “Program Manager” – 4807
“Financial” or “Finance” – 4716
“Marketing” – 2918
“Manager” (excluding Project or Program Manager) – 2893
“Accountant” + “Accounting” – 1650
“Engineer” – 1351
“Developer” + “Programmer” (Java, .net, web, etc) – 1305
“Architect” – 399
Compared with just a few years ago, the number of Project Management related jobs is rapidly rising.As the world economy evolves, businesses are becoming more competitive.The rapid changes businesses are experiencing is leading to more projects being initiated.Combined with the ongoing drive for greater efficiency and speed, organizations are becoming more conscious of the need to deliver high value results in a timely fashion and within constrained budgets.Such changes are drivers behind the increasing level of interest in Project Management practices and Project Leadership type skills.
As the above data illustrates, the rapid changes businesses are experiencing is now being reflected in the job market.For the first time since I started periodically checking job postings, Project Management and Project Leadership types roles have outpaced finance and marketing jobs.From an individual’s perspective there is an important message to be heard.Where years of experience alone may have been enough to secure work in the past, today a resume rich with achievement is the new currency in the job market place.As a result the ability to lead a project team and deliver successful projects has become a core part of today’s professional toolkit.
Although these figures are from Canada, the fundamental forces driving the shift are being replicated around the world.As a result, individuals, organizations and academic institutions are having to reexamine their thinking and are looking hard at how they can develop the project level leadership skills today’s job market demands.