Episode 335: Key Steps to Advance Your Project Management Career Path (Premium)

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Dr. Emad Rahim, PMP, OMCP

Do you feel stuck in your project management career? Or maybe you know that you need to do something to advance but there are so many other things competing for your attention that you just have no time?

Dr. Emad Rahim, DM, PMP (www.linkedin.com/in/erahim, @DrEmadRahim) has a few ideas for you that will most certainly help you out.

This is not only about making a career plan, and getting certified. But it’s also about making sure that people in your industry -- and more importantly -- the senior executives at your place of work actually notice you and the value you provide so that you can walk the project manager career path.

Episode Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Cornelius Fichtner: Hello and welcome to Episode number 335. This is the Project Management Podcast at www.pm-podcast.com and I'm Cornelius Fichtner. If you are listening to this interview, then you are one of our premium subscribers. Thank you so much for your financial support of the Project Management Podcast. I really do appreciate it.

Do you feel stuck in your project management career? Or maybe you know that you need to do something to advance but there’s just so many other things competing for your attention that you just have no time? Dr. Emad Rahim has a few ideas for you that will most certainly help you out. This is not only about making a career plan and getting certified. But it’s also about making sure that people in your industry and more importantly, the senior executives at your place of work actually notice you and the value that you provide so that you can walk the project manager career path. And now let's take the first step together. Enjoy the interview.

Podcast Interview

Cornelius Fichtner:  Emad, welcome back to the Project Management Podcast.

Dr. Emad Rahim:  Well, thank you for having me back. How are you doing today?

Cornelius Fichtner:  I'm wonderfully well, thank you. Sun is shining here in southern California which is normal, of course, yeah. So we want to talk about advancing project management careers that looking at the key steps here. Most of our listeners, they are active project managers. They have a job. They have day-to-day projects that they are running. Why should they be thinking about this? What is it going to be that we're going to help them with today?

Dr. Emad Rahim:   Well, I'm speaking to those people that aspire to climb that ladder of leadership, right. So if you're happy with what you're doing, if you're satisfied what you're doing, if you just want to contribute as a team leader or if you are happy with being a mid-level project manager, that's fine. That's perfectly fine. We're speaking on the subject of career advancement. So, if you are looking to take that extra step and becoming a portfolio manager, a program manager, or you want to be a senior level project manager, because you want more responsibility, you want the opportunity to do something different, and obviously get paid a little more. So that's we're talking about here, is really that career advancement opportunity, to really showcase what you can do, what you're aspired to do and also pursue greatness.

Cornelius Fichtner:   All right. Perfect. Lead in to my first question here for you because I know a lot of project managers, juniors often, and also just project team members not yet in project management functions. They would like to advance their career, feeling somehow stuck. What is the first thing that you would recommend that anyone in the project management field can do right away to help them get noticed?

Dr. Emad Rahim:   Well helping you get noticed, one is making sure that you're constantly educating yourself on what's happening in that industry. Becoming fully aware of what's happening, you know, in the field of project management or in the specialization that you're focusing on in your department. So this way you could speak from a well-educated person in that field, right. So when a problem happens, people know to come to you. When a situation arise, people know to come to you because you can speak from expertise. So the first thing is always being updated on what's happening in the industry, what's happening in your field. Another thing is getting trained, right. I know a lot of people that want career advancement and I asked them, well, how long you've been doing this? And they would say, I've been doing this 15 years, right. But they've never got any professional development, right. So they've been doing it 15 years but they have not done any differently. They have not gone any of the training. They're not aware of any new methodologies that are out there. They're not aware of any software that's out there, right. So, it's important to continue your professional development. Always update on training, and being well versed on what's happening in the industry by constantly educating yourself. You know, reading what's happening, trade magazines, attending conferences, attending social network gatherings, in that discipline.

Cornelius Fichtner:   Quick disclaimer here before my next question because I'm a professional PMP® trainer and PMI ACP® trainer, while we're talking here about training and certifications, earning additional certifications, attending trainings, makes a lot of sense to me personally. How do you choose? There are so many types of certifications and programs out there and there's not just Cornelius who teaches other people as well. You, other universities, what do you do?