How to become a project manager in nine steps
Are you thinking about getting into project management? Are you not quite sure how to do it or even where to start? In this blog I will break down the steps to become a project manager. I know they work because I followed them myself! This is a guide for someone with zero project management experience who may not even have a job. As such, you may not need to go through all these steps, as perhaps you have already gone through some of them.
Before I start, I want to be honest and say that if you are starting from square one with zero experience, becoming a project manager (PM) can take some time. Allow yourself a few years to get there. Some will get there faster than others, but you should be realistic and understand that it very hard to secure and keep a job as a senior project manager with no experience. However, getting there can be an adventure and the challenge makes it all the more rewarding when you do. Now that that’s been said we can dive into my nine steps for becoming a project manager.
- Get a job in an organisation where the are lots of project manager roles
The first step is to get your foot in the door at an organisation that has plenty of project manager roles. For example, a big financial institution or tech company. It doesn’t really matter what role you get, as long as you get on the payroll and become a permanent employee. Don’t worry about starting at the bottom. If the only job you feel you can apply for is the junior admin assistant role, then apply for it. If you need to start in the coffee shop, then start there. It doesn’t matter. Once you have your foot in the door at a large organisation, you will have many opportunities. In fact, starting in the coffee shop puts you at an advantage, because pretty much everyone in the office knows who you are, and you’ll get to chat to and form relationships with people across the business, at various levels of seniority!
What did I do? I went for a job in one of the largest banks in the UK, and I got a role selling insurance in a call centre. I didn’t need any sales experience to get the job, I just came across as competent and motivated in the interview.
2. Do your job very well
Now that you have your foot in the door, it’s time to build a reputation and get noticed. Become good at your job. Even if you don’t enjoy it, become good at it anyway. Become valuable. You need to become valuable to your team and department. I know it is not the job you want to be doing forever, but you can find real pleasure in excelling at it. It can make a boring job become fun. You can keep finding small tweaks to continue to improve. It becomes like a game.
If you are working in the coffee shop, make it your mission to give a big smile to every customer. Be known as the person who always comes in a little early and leaves a little late to help get things ready and tidy up. Be the person who cleans the machine when no-one has asked you to. Be the person who takes that extra bit of time to train new staff, and who gives encouragement. Always be willing to learn. Don’t complain. Become valuable. Become the most valuable person in your team. This first job in the company is important, because you are doing four things –
- You are taking responsibility for your progress
- You are learning how to proactively improve your craft
- You are developing a work ethic that will progress your career
- You are cultivating the reputation of a company ‘star’
In my case, back when I was on the phone selling home insurance, I didn’t become valuable by selling the most insurance in the department. I took a different approach. I became valuable by taking on some of my manager’s responsibilities. Eventually I was given the chance to manage the team when she was on holiday for two weeks. After a year in the team, I was given the a three month secondment to manage my own team.
3. Get qualified
Now, this is not an essential step but it will help. Get yourself a project management qualification like Prince2 or APMP. This is where working for a large organisation can really help because they often encourage development and training and will usually pay for it. If they don’t, you should pay for it yourself if you can (regard it as an investment). If you really can’t afford it, then get online and find some free project management courses (like projectmanaverse.com!). You should start studying soon after you get your first job in the organisation. Project management is not rocket science, so if you give yourself the goal of learning a curriculum over six months, then studying for two to three hours a week should be sufficient. By doing this you are doing two things –
- Learning about project management
- Showing your prospective PM employer that you are serious and proactive
I have to be honest and say that I got qualified as a project manager (APMP) after I got a job as a junior project manager, but before I went for a role as a senior project manager.
4. Find a department or team where you would like to work as a project manager
While you are on your mission to become valuable in your team, you should start learning about the organisation. Discover what the different departments are and, of course, where the project managers work. Once you have found the team of project managers (or department that has a few project managers), you can now create the goal to one day work in that team as a project manager. Let your current manager know of your career plans. Even though you are valuable to them, they will likely support and encourage your progression.
To continue my story, I picked the ‘Process Improvement’ team. This team used Lean-Six Sigma methodology to deliver projects to improve the call centre processes (e.g. call waiting time, policy cancellations, sales etc). During my time as an insurance salesman, I was fortunate enough to be invited to several of this team’s workshops, where they would do things like ‘process mapping’ and ‘cause and effect analysis’. These workshops were really interesting and interactive. There were always post-it notes and diagrams all over the walls. The workshops forced me to think, to question, to challenge and to innovate. I loved it, and I wanted to be a part of it.
5. Introduce yourself to the team
Okay, you’ve joined the big organisation, you’ve become valuable to your team, you’ve gotten qualified (or started the process) and you’ve picked your ideal team. Now it’s time to introduce yourself to your ideal team. Before you do that, you need to decide who you are going to introduce yourself to. Do some research to understand who works in the team or department, and try to find the person who will actually be doing the hiring. This usually isn’t the head of the department (hof), but a senior manager who reports into the hof.
How you approach them doesn’t really matter. The easiest way is to send them an email briefly introducing yourself and expressing a desire to learn more about their team. Ask if you could have twenty minutes of their time (at their convenience) to ask them some questions. Alternatively, you could walk right up to their desk and introduce yourself. It is very unlikely that they will say ‘no’ to this fist meeting. If you get no response to the email, give it a week and send a very polite follow up. Still no response? Go straight up to their desk (this actually demonstrates tenacity, a great PM quality!). Either way, remember first impressions are very important, so make sure the email is professional and you are dressed presentably.
During this twenty minutes you need to make an impact. Make sure you are prepared. Make sure you know what you are going to say, and what you are going to ask them. What should you say? The truth! Tell them that you joined this company with a goal of becoming a project manager, that you got a job in the coffee shop because you had no experience, that you have proactively become valuable to your team, that you’ve gotten a project management qualification, and that you’ve been researching departments to potentially work in and that theirs seems the most interesting. Tell them a little bit about what you have learned regarding the department (not too much) and then start asking questions. Listen to what they say. Intently. Do not let your concentration break, don’t let your mind or eyes wander off. A little mistake like that could result in the manager forming an unfavourable opinion of you. Be earnest. Be enthusiast. Be passionate. You have twenty minutes to make a great impression. Be sure you can articulate why you want to be a project manager and why you specifically are interested in this team.
As a side note, getting time off from your normal job for this twenty minutes should be no problem, because you will have become valuable and that will give you a certain amount of power.
For me? I went straight to the head of the Process Improvement team (it was a only a small team of about 5 people in a larger department). I walked straight up to his desk and introduced myself, although I think he had already heard of me due to the name I had made for myself in my current role and the contributions I had made to their workshops.
6. Get a mentor
Now that you have introduced yourself to someone senior in the team, it’s time to find a mentor there. A mentor will not only provide you with a means to learn about being a PM in the organisation, but will also be a friend and ally in the team.
You could ask about a mentor during the twenty minute meeting if you feel it’s going well and the ‘vibe’ is right. Tell them that you are really keen to learn and progress, and it would be so valuable if you could have a little bit of someone’s time every week (even just 30 mins) to ask questions, to join some of their meetings, to shadow and potentially help with some of their work. Large organisations usually encourage mentorship so this should not seem like a strange request. Ideally, you’d want the more senior person to be your mentor, because they are the key person you want to ‘get in with’. However, having anyone in the team be your mentor would be a great result. Judge the situation. If you feel it’s going well and this person would probably be open to being your mentor, then just ask them. If you are feeling cautious, say you would love an experienced PM in their team to be your mentor, ideally you would like them but you appreciate they may not have the time. They may ask to get back to you, but if you have made a good impression then they will likely agree. Once you have a team member as a mentor, you are well on your way to becoming a project manager.
Your relationship with your mentor is extremely important. Value it. Of course, it’s great that you have a conduit into the team, but more importantly, you are now going to get guidance and advice from a professional project manager! Listen to what they say and watch what they do. Make sure you do everything they ask you to. Everything. Every piece of advice they give you, do it. And show them you have done it. If they give you advice and you only half follow it, they are not going to be inclined to recommend you to the team manager. When you are sitting down together and they are giving you advice, right it down. Don’t just sit there like an idiot. Every session, be prepared with a list of questions. Don’t expect them to prepare the agenda. They will be busy, and they are giving up their time for you. Remember that.
Believe me when I say, that if you come along to the mentor sessions eager to listen and learn, and you demonstrate that you have been following their advice, and you turn up hungry for more, then then they will love it. They will find it very rewarding and it will bring a new dimension of joy to their role. So take it seriously and do your best.
One more tip. Try and have your mentor sessions as near to the team workspace as possible. Ideally at your mentors desk (you could join some of their calls or meetings). You want to become a familiar and welcome face in the team, for obvious reasons.
My mentor? I asked the the head of the Process Improvement team, of course! I asked during my introduction to him (in fact, that was the reason for my introduction). I chose him, not only because he was the head of the team, but also because he was very likeable, and very, very good at his job. I knew I would learn a lot from him.
7. Add value to the team
So far, the new team has been kind to you. They have let you in and are giving you mentorship. Now it’s time to give something back. You need to start adding value to the team. Start with your mentor, what can you do for him or her? Perhaps you could take notes during a meeting and type them up. Perhaps you could arrange some of their meetings. Perhaps you could take care of some of their admin. There is so much you could do for them.
There also might be bits and pieces that you could pick up for other project managers in the team. Just ask your mentor. Don’t go crazy, remember, you still have your ‘real’ job to attend to, so you’ll need to do this work in your own time. But even just staying on an extra hour everyday will look extremely impressive. It will show how dedicated and committed you are. Your goal here is to keep adding value so you are seen as an unofficial member of the team.
I was in a fortunate situation when I was trying to add value to the Process Improvement team, because sales people could ‘come off the phone’ during quiet times for personal development. As such, I could do many things for the team, like data collection through call listening, writing up workshop notes, and sometimes even running workshops for them. If I wasn’t able to get time off the phone, I would stay late. I would work in their team area as much as possible, until my being there was a familiar sight.
8. Apply for a junior position
Sooner or later, a job will open up in your prospective team. When it does, you are going to apply for it. At this stage, a junior position is all you can realistically hope to secure, but that’s okay. Just like when you joined the organisation, you want to get your foot in the door, but this time in the right team. Because of the relationship you have already formed with them, you should be the strongest candidate, and they will want you to get the role. Why wouldn’t they?
Create a great cover letter for your application and ask your mentor to review it before you apply. Next, start preparing for the interview. Ask your mentor and other members of the team for help. Ask them what typical PM questions are. Prepare your answers. Memorise them and practice saying them.
It is common for an interview question to be in the form of ‘give an example of a time when you have done x,y,z’. It can be quite difficult to come up with examples of project management when you’ve never done it, that’s why the work you have done for the team so far will have been so important and valuable. Use the experience you have gained in the team but don’t limit yourself to only these examples. Feel free to use ‘real world’ examples where you have demonstrated project management qualities, for example, organising a big social event, house renovations, or any situations where you have had to influence someone or you have had to work under pressure. You are applying for a junior role, so they are looking for someone who has the qualities and potential to become a project manager.
For some interview tips, see my post
Project Manager Interview Tips
One more tip, ask someone in the team to give you a ‘mock interview’. Take it seriously and do it in a formal setting. Trust me, you will learn so much from it. It’s excellent preparation.
In my case, the Process Improvement team manager actually created a role especially for me. I remember the day I got the phone call from my soon-to-be boss. At the time I had just finished my three month secondment as a team manager and I was now back on the phones selling insurance. I really didn’t like that job. That day was especially busy and there were about 20 customers in the call queue. One call straight after another. All day. I was on my ten minute break having a well earned cigarette (I don’t smoke anymore) when my phone rang. It was the Process Improvement team manager. I still remember his words; ‘I’m creating a project assistant role, and I want you to have it’. A promotion into a permanent role in the Process Improvement team! Needless to say, my mood improved considerably that day.
9. Apply for a senior project manager position
Once you have your position in the team, the first thing you need to do it get really good at. Follow the same formula as you followed when you got your first job in the organisation. Learn as much as you can and keep getting better and more valuable to the team. Before a senior project manager roles comes up, there may be more role junior roles along the way that you can apply for. I recommend you go for them, provided you have spent at least a year in your current role at the time of applying. Keep your mentor, or, if you both feel the time is right, considering finding a new one or an additional one. If you are fortunate enough to have gotten a great mentor from the start, then I recommend keeping that relationship, even after you get your first senior PM role (believe me, you’ll want their help!).
When the senior project manager role comes up, it may not actually be in your original ideal team (and that also goes for the ‘in-between roles’) and that’s okay. However, I do recommend spending at least a couple of years in this team before you move on.
Although the role may be in a different team of department, I recommend staying in the same organisation for your first senior project manager role. The great reputation you will have built will be more valuable in the same organisation. This is because it is easier for your new team to get honest and unfiltered feedback about you.
Congratulations – you completed the nine steps!
As you see, this plan takes time hard work and patience. However, if you follow my advice correctly, and with the right attitude, I’m confident you will succeed.
Thank you for reading this post until the end! Please feel free to leave your thoughts and questions in the comments section below, I’d love to read them.
Project Manaverse 