A project manager is a professional who organizes the work of the whole team and leads all the operations related to the entire project from planning strategies and tactics, execution, control, and monitoring the progress until the successful completion. They know everything about the project and the people who are working on it and are accountable for both its success and failure. It is quite a heavy responsibility, so these specialists need to have not only a strong theoretical base but also the ability to implement this knowledge using hard and soft skills. In this post, let’s review all these in-detail.
What does a project manager do?
A successful project manager needs a certain knowledge base that covers a broad scope of areas. Performing this role, you will have to keep everyone and everything organized and in place so the main domains you need to show your proficiency in are the following:
- Cost control
- Time management
- Quality assurance
- Planning resources
- Managing risks
- Effective communication
Why PMP certification is required?
To excel smoothly and achieve a higher position, PMs need to keep themselves continuously updated of the present-day technologies and developments. The best way to do that is by completing the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. All one needs to do to earn it is to prove 3 or 5 years of experience along with a 4-year degree or a high school diploma respectively and pass the PMP exam. This accreditation helps learn important skills to handle critical tasks successfully and give improved market exposure to gain better jobs with higher pay package.
How much do project managers earn?
The average annual salary of a general project manager is about $72K. On the other hand, the average pay of the PMP-certified individuals reaches the mark of $106K per year. Moreover, the sum depends on numerous factors such as job location, the industry, previous work experience, and extra qualifications. So, you can expect even more.
Qualities and traits of a successful project manager
Project managers are always high-in-demand, irrespective of the industry, or market scenario. Their job is stressful and complex and thus largely depends on certain skills. These are:
- A great personal organizational expertise is needed to prioritize different tasks as per the plans and requirements.
- Since a project involves a group of professionals to work together, a PM needs to have people management talent to handle the behavioral sides of the members.
- High adaptability and improvisation ability is a must to solve real-life problems and hindrances that a project may fall into.
- A good PM needs to be practical and set realistic goals for all, that is SMART and thus achievable.
- An expert PM reflects positive and influential communication skills that not only give out a clear understanding of the project requirements but also keep the team players inspired and driven to perform better.
- Since the project management job is challenging and keeps changing as per the market situation, these specialists need to be quick learners to be able to stay upgraded and updated to deal with every situation efficiently.
Conclusion
The job of project managers needs a continuous refreshment of their skills and knowledge of the processes, technology, and market to keep themselves up to date. A certified professional makes a project look easy, whereas candidates with a lack of qualification will meet hurdles on the way of its accomplishment. So, if you want to be the former one, get yourself updated with the PMP certification.
