Tooling Up: The Project Management Career Track

Recruiters will tell you that the three words "project management experience" are golden on a curriculum vitae (CV). In my biotechnology search practice, I've found that smaller employers have a ferocious appetite for people with these abilities. Such companies have learned by trial and error that keeping a dozen balls in the air is not a task that you can assign to an entry-level scientist!

Project management is an established discipline, with degrees, techniques, and professional certifications. Yet many of the people who do this kind of work in scientific industries do it without this formal training-or they pick up that training later. Furthermore, project management is also a toolbox used by those in other lines of work.

In Tooling Up, I highlight a successful journey into a project management career at a biotechnology company. No matter what industry sector you consider for employment, you will find employers readily hiring people like Todd Pray-people who show that they have the detail management, communication, and people skills that it takes to manage projects.

"They say that project management is a job of influencing without real authority," Todd says. Here, Todd isn't talking about the technical discipline of project management but about one of the biggest challenges to getting things done in complex organizations, which is the job, ultimately, of most project management pros in biotech and pharma. The ability to motivate and influence people who don't report to you is a very subtle business, and it's a core skill that's essential for any job that involves project management.

Project managers are "the interface that our project leaders have every day into other functional groups, such as manufacturing, legal, business, or accounting. While I'd love to manage one project and have the joy of watching it move from the lab into the field, with the number of projects we have here now, my job has shifted to one of facilitating the whole portfolio."

"My day consists of doing all that I can to support our project leaders," he continues. Whatever tools and support a project leader needs in a research group, it's up to Todd to provide. It might be budgeting and planning assistance, software, or communication training or assistance. He's also the person who is between the project leader and that person's sponsor in management, so this is where clear communication becomes so critical.

"My role is to see that both parties in that relationship get what they need to keep these projects moving. It's critical to clearly articulate the vision for project objectives and requirements at the outset. In fact, over-communication is key to keeping people informed, on board, and on track," Todd told me.

Project management isn't something that you can move to directly from academia, but you can take certain actions during your training that will help you further on in your career. Todd was noticed, for example, because of the collaborative laboratory he came from and his resulting people skills and ability to communicate effectively.

But even if you don't have a lot of industry collaboration in your lab, it's possible to get training with outside coursework on project management. There are hundreds of such programs offered as certificate programs or weekend seminars and workshops all over the country. Like many hiring managers, Todd looks for candidates who've sought out such training and experience in the CVs that he reviews.

"Along with outside training on project management, it's interesting when you see an individual [who] has the common tools we use, like software programs, listed on their CV: Microsoft Project or @Task," Todd says. "It's a good way to show that you have the intent to work in project management."

Source: Science Magazine, David Johnson, 11/20/09