6 Key Secrets For An Excellent Programme Manager CV

Is your programme manager cv underselling yourself in today’s competitive programme/project management market?

It is well known that the global project management field is densely populated with high calibre individuals who possess decades of experience in delivering complex end-to-end lifecycles to critical timescales.

More and more organisations are seeking to transform their organisational landscapes with new digital, artificial intelligence, robotic technologies or expand regional infrastructures via the construction of luxury resorts, hotels, gas exploratory fields, roads and bridges.

With contract rates for Programme Directors/Managers and Project Leaders varying from £500 per day up to >£1500, and average salaries ranging between £65 – 95K (03/2020). it is no wonder that more and more talent is attracted into this area. It is allowing travel across the globe to work on some of the most impressive, rewarding and impactful assignments, many of which, receive awards, recognitions and accolades in the global press.

However, in some cases, this sector has become competitive with many candidates chasing down contracts and positions, and this has resulted in recruiters expecting more from CVs than the usual cliché statements such as ‘delivered on time and budget’. Ask yourself this question, if you were vetting potential candidates then would a 5-10 page CV impress you, or would it be considered excessive, hard to read and with far too much information?

Historically especially in the contract market, programme and project management CVs get longer and longer, with individuals copying and pasting similar content into new positions, resulting in autobiographical documents, not impactful personal brands.

How to sharpen up a Programme Manager CV

1. You need to ensure that your brand stands head and shoulders above the rest, and this can only be achieved if you acknowledge the need to undergo a transformation and present your abilities and achievements correctly.
2. Try to ensure you capture the drivers
3. Key actions
4. Tangible outcomes for all programmes
5. Demonstrating your key strengths and Unique Selling Point (USP).
6. For example, if you deal with large scale construction programmes, then try to showcase these in a concise but captivating manner that almost turns your CV into a documented portfolio of your achievements complete with key media.

Wiping the slate clean and starting again to create a professional CV can prove challenging, not knowing what to include or remove, how to keep the CV down the 2-3 pages or the best way to ‘sell’ your experience, value-added capabilities and programme/project lifecycle to the outside recruitment market. With the experience of helping 1000’s of programme and project management professionals to undergo this transformation, Grieves Pryce Global Executive Services is in a market-leading position to support this process.