A project manager is responsible for managing a project from start to finish. A good project manager needs soft skills like communication and organization, hard skills like cost or stakeholder management, and relevant technical skills specific to the role.
A project manager is responsible for managing a project from start to finish. This includes planning, organizing, managing, and reporting on work throughout the project lifecycle. Oftentimes, a project manager will oversee a project team, who all work together to product key deliverables.
A project manager isn't the same thing as a people manager. They aren't necessarily responsible for the coaching and mentorship of a team-in fact, a project manager's team members may report to another member of the organization. But even though a project manager's responsibilities aren't typically people-focused first, it's still important to have some communication and organizational soft skills. That way, you can support and guide your team towards project success
The demand for project managers has grown over the past decade. According to the Project Management Institute’s latest research, there’s a significant gap between the demand for project managers and the talent that can fill the roles. PMI also predicts that around 2.2 million new project-oriented roles need to be filled every year through 2027.
If you want to take on more responsibility at your current job or are just starting out and believe you’d be a great project manager—the market needs you! Here’s what you can do to become a project manager without prior experience.
Rather than getting an expensive project management certification (that often isn’t worth as much to hiring managers as experience anyway), see if you can volunteer to manage an upcoming project. A good first project you could start with is something that has a definitive end date, such as planning a small event.
Because project management skills are so transferable, you don't need to be in a specific project management role to get started.If you've already started in a role, ask your manager what you can do to get more practical project management experience. Your manager may help you get started by having you shadow a more experienced project manager, or encourage you to take courses. Eventually, they may assign you a project to manage full-time with their guidance.
There are three types of skills you need to hone to become a successful project manager: hard skills, soft skills, and a technical skill set.
Hard skills are skills you can be specifically trained for. These are more traditional skills—in fact, when you think of workplace skills, you’re likely thinking of hard skills. These skills are often quantifiable traits you’ve actively worked to learn and improve. Hard skills can sometimes be job-specific depending on the role or level you’re in.
The hard skills you develop will depend on your role, tenure, and job. You can typically find them as required skills listed in a role’s job description. There are an unlimited number of hard skills, but here are a few examples of hard skills in different departments:
Hard skills are things that you can specifically train for. These are often role-specific skills that can be developed through work experience. Depending on your role, you might develop hard project management skills like:
Stakeholder management
Project plan creation
Project team management
Industry-specific knowledge
Hard skills in marketing and design:
Creative brief development
Writing and editing
Graphic design
Marketing campaign management
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Hard skills in engineering:
Cloud computing
Machine learning
Programming languages (Javascript, Java, C++, HTML, Python)
Server maintenance
Hard skills in strategy:
Business analytics
Data analysis
Data visualization
Data science
Risk analysis
Hard skills in product development:
Go to market (GTM) strategy
Market research
User research
UX design
Hard skills in finance:
Bookkeeping
Expense reporting
Forecasting
Ledger management
Hard skills in IT:
Information management
Network security
Service level agreements (SLAs)
General hard skills:
Proficiency in more than one language
Project management
Role-specific tools, like Google Analytics or Salesforce
Soft skills are interpersonal skills that describe how you work and interact with others. You might not even think of soft skills as skills you’ve developed, because these are often things we pick up on the job or learn through day-to-day interactions with others, like being a team player or a good communicator. Soft skills are also sometimes compared to personality traits, rather than skills—but thinking this way misses the big picture. In fact, these skills are the foundation of how you collaborate and succeed in a work environment.
Soft skills are non-technical skills that make you a valuable candidate without specific tools or technical requirements. These skills are often called "people skills" or "interpersonal skills" because they help you become a collaborative and effective team member.
Here are a few soft skills that successful project managers have:
Organizational skills
Accountability
Adaptability
Attention to detail
Collaboration
Communication skills
Conflict resolution
Creativity
Emotional intelligence
Empathy
Flexibility
Innovation
Leadership
Organization
Patience
People skills
Problem-solving
Responsibility
Self-awareness
Strategic thinking
Teamwork
Time management
Work ethic
Technical skills require knowledge of a specific piece of software or equipment. This could also mean knowing the process of a specific methodology, such as Scrumor Agile methodology.
Here are a few technical skills that a project manager might have:
Specific project management software, like Asana
Do some research to find out what skills and qualifications recruiters are looking for. Read through project manager job descriptions—whether that’s internally at your current company or at another organization you’re interested in.
Create your own gap analysis to see which commonly mentioned skills and qualifications you have and which ones you still need to work on.
Don’t get discouraged and think you have to put off your applications though—update your resume so it’s highlighting the skills you already have that the hiring managers are looking for. It may give you an advantage when they’re going through their applicants.
Sometimes project management roles come disguised as other job positions. If your current skill set and qualifications don’t match any of the job listings you find, look out for titles like project coordinator, associate or junior project manager, or administrative associate.
These are great entry-level opportunities to get your foot in the door and move up the project management ladder.
There is no one set project management career path. You don't always need years of experience to get started. However, there are project management courses and certifications you can take to kick off your project management career and give you more leverage during an interview.