I am currently helping to mentor a Veteran located in Cleveland, GA (near Gainesville, GA). The Veteran is trying to pursue a career related to Project Management.
The Veteran will soon begin preparing for the PMP exam through the VCTP Syracuse program, and we are currently working with others to craft an overall "career development, skills-acquisition and job-search strategy". Crafting an effective " Positioning Statement" is one part of that overall strategy.
Positioning Statement:
"I’m a Project Manager who leads from the front while maintaining a highly visible and accessible presence. My expertise is developing and managing projects to expand business capabilities and customer base. I also focus on developing employees to take initiative, seek challenges, and be accountable for delivering breakthrough results. I work mostly with organizations that desire to expand their operations by developing new products to enter new markets. I skillfully apply professional knowledge to recommend courses of action, define performance standards, analyze problems, resolve conflicts, and make decisions to achieve project deliverables."
Thanks, I appreciate your feedback and suggestions.
-Tom Cal
see also:
4 Clear Steps to Creating Your 30-Second "Positioning Statement" (or "Elevator Pitch")
https://acp-advisornet.org/articles/24/4-clear-steps-creating-your-30-second-positioning-statement#!
Answers
As was stated earlier in this chain of conversation, be industry specific. For example it doesn't matter to a hiring manager in O&G and industrial construction if you have a "PMP" certification, but lacking 2-5 yrs field experience, you won't be considered as a project mgr.
Well, it seems to me that too many of these veterans are aiming for PMP and Project Management. Maybe they need to sharpen their focus into a particular field, for example, PMP for IT, Health, Military, Retail & Distribution and target jobs that way, without just talking "project management" as a field. Project Management was invented because the real professions needed assistance in managing their industry-specific goals, in my opinion.
Hi Tom,
My understanding of what was being communicated would be enhanced by reading a bit about one it two specific successful projects. The presentation was too vague for me. Giving one or two specific successful projects would help me contextualize a fit for my organization's need.
Scena
Hi Tom,
I've got some suggested edits but I'm not sure the comments will translate in this setting so I'll email them to you separately in a Word document.
Here are my suggested edits below with comments to the summary. I hope this is helpful in some way.
As a Project Manager with over XX years of experience, my expertise is developing and managing projects to expand business capabilities and customer base. I also focus on developing employees to take initiative, seek challenges, and be accountable for delivering breakthrough results. My experience is primarily with organizations in the early stage of product development…. Having been a part of numerous product launches/process implementations, I am able to identify challenges early in the process and recommend courses of action towards a positive outcome, define performance standards for process implementation, resolve conflicts, and make decisions within a team setting to achieve project deliverables per required timelines and expectations.
Suggestions:
1) Would clarify "developing projects" PMs don’t usually develop projects rather they lead the development of said projects towards completion and implementation
2) "expand business" I would specify the type of business, i.e., telecommunications, drug development, etc.
3) "My experience is primarily with organizations" Again, specify the types of organizations, i.e., pharmaceutical companies, high tech companies, etc.
4) "Having been a part of numerous..." I think this statement needs to be less about the what the company does and more about at what stage the PM excels. For example, does he manage projects in the early stages of product development or later stage as it’s getting ready to launch? Is he involved in developing processes? He needs to emphasize where his strengths are and at what stage he excels.
5) "impementations, I am able.." Define successful outcomes of his work
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