Project Management News

This month's edition of Project Management Tipoffs celebrates our first year of being the host of the UK's Project Management Training Directory. This directory is home to some of the biggest accredited names in the Project Management training game today - Parallel Project Training, TCC Training and Consultancy, Logical Model, CUPE Projects, Capita, AFA and many more. 

In celebration of this first year Tipoffs hands over the issue to the trainers. In this issue we look at the new PRINCE2 Professional certification on offer from the APM Group, David Roberts of CUPE Projects ponders what this new level of P2 hierarchy could mean for your career.

Paul Naybour of Parallel Project Training adds some of his thoughts about portfolio management, while Logical Model's Simon Harris tackles the pyramid of decision-making within an organisation.

Dot Tudor of TCC Training offers some expertise on the realities of the iterative changes that Agile adaptees must face. Stefan Urbanski of Capita identifies the skills of managers in general, managers of projects and managers of IT, framing exactly what each party will need. And Susan Ferguson of AFA Projects wades through some of the ignored project management certifications that truly are worth a glance.

• Check out the online February newsletter from Tipoffs.

We introduce a new element of the Arras People Podcast today in the form of the Careers Adviser. In this monthly podcast (look for us on the second Thursday each month), one of the project management careers consultants from Arras People will take a shot at answering some of the more common questions we hear from candidates every day.

THIS MONTH: Gary Holmes takes some time out to address two specific issues in the recruitment process...

1. Elaine from Leicester asks: "We keep hearing about ‘specialising’ as the key to hiring project managers, mostly when talking about sectors. I was led to believe the project management skills are transferable. Is that really the case right now, and if so, is there a way for candidates to get around this narrow-minded specialism?"
2. Tasmin in Bristol writes: "I am currently working for an established financial services provider within the project team and am looking for a fresh challenge. The problem I am facing is that of targeting my CV for the market as the vast majority of work that I carry out is in support of a Portfolio as opposed to a Programme, yet the roles I am coming across are primarily in traditional PMOs. Can you help?"

Check out the Podcast, and tell us what you think!