Good job applicants can be difficult to find, and those with strong project management skills are in high demand. In a competitive job market, how can you attract top talent to your project team? We’ve put together some tips to help you hire high-performing project management professionals.
1: Be a good resource for your recruiters.
Don’t hang your company’s recruiters out to dry. Your HR team wants to find the best talent to fill project roles, but they need your help to make that happen. You can be a good partner in the organization’s hiring efforts by being accessible and responding quickly to HR’s questions about desired skills and education. You may also consider offering suggestions on where recruiters can connect with qualified project management candidates.
2: Let your network know you’re looking for high performers.
You don’t need to be actively hiring to put the word out that you’re interested in talking to skilled project management professionals. It takes time to develop relationships with good candidates, so you should consistently nurture your network connections. Stay in touch with project-focused recruiting experts and communicate often with professional and educational organizations that help train and credential applicants.
3: Know the job market.
You’ll connect with better talent when you know the state of the job market.
- Are your competitors currently hiring?
- Is your region flush with tech-savvy candidates?
- What are the latest trends around work-from-home?
- Which schools offer advanced courses that are relevant to your industry?
This insight can be instrumental in finding the right applicant at the right time and offering them an opportunity that suits them.
4: Maintain a strong mentoring program.
Tomorrow’s top talent may already work for you. Pairing your senior project team members with less experienced employees will help you maintain a strong pipeline of qualified workers. Seasoned project leaders can also assist in identifying those employees with the motivation and aptitude to develop key competencies and grow into more valuable roles.
5: Participate in career development efforts.
If high-performing candidates don’t see a potential for growth and advancement within your organization, they’re likely to pass you over for another employer. It’s vital that your project leadership take an active role in helping employees shape the future they want. That may mean tailoring training programs to develop specific capabilities, coaching to enhance soft skills, or finding creative ways to enable learning opportunities around niche experiences.
6: Make your work environment a good place to be.
Today’s candidates expect to join teams that communicate well—internally, within the organization, across the stakeholder base, and throughout the industry—and respect each person’s contributions and perspectives. Create a supportive climate for your team so applicants can see your employees are happy in their work environment and excited to be part of a high-achieving group.
7: Broadcast your project wins.
Top-performing team members want to work for top-performing teams. Let your colleagues and peers know about the good work you’re doing, and people will come to recognize your organization as one that achieves consistent project success. You’ll attract much better job candidates when you’re the employer everyone wants to work for.
8: Build partnerships that deliver real value.
Project teams don’t win in a vacuum. It takes a strong network of collaborators to successfully plan and execute complex, high-visibility initiatives, and skilled project professionals want that kind of support around them. Nurture relationships with suppliers that have earned a reputation for excellence. Provide your team with project training from highly rated educators and partner with project management experts to ensure your team leverages the latest best practices, tools and techniques.
PMAlliance, Inc uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project portfolio management.