Hiring A Project Manager
Having a project manager in your office is beneficial for a number of reasons. Not only does it make the process more efficient, with all requests moving through one person instead of multiple, but employees no longer have to make the decision of whether or not they can take on another project or not.
While you can purchase project management software, you can benefit from hiring an in-house project manager. Before you do so, however, consider the hiring process and some basic best practices.
Hiring
Hiring an experienced project manager is key to productivity within a busy office, but before you go about the hiring process, it’s imperative that you determine what you need, what you want, and the amount of use you’ll get out of this position. It’s worth considering whether this person will focus on one specific department, such as tech, or manage projects throughout the entire office. Be sure to ask yourself a few specific questions first.
- Do they need technical skills, or can you build the skills on the existing base of knowledge?
- Will they be working in one specific department? This will dictate the hiring process.
- Do you need a contract position or will you be hiring permanently?
- Are they organized? They’ll be managing a variety of teams and organization skills are critical.
Best Practices
Having a project manager is essential to any busy business. With multiple departments all working together, it’s beneficial to have someone as an intermediate between the two. This ensures that the work gets done in a timely manner, in line with the rest of each person or departments’ goals.
Remember to observe a variety of industry best practices.
- Temporary hire: Start your project manager on a three month trial period. Every office is different, and it’s critical that you are able to see how this person works in your setting before making the position permanent.
- Make a template: With the office moving at its normal speed, your project manager may not be ready to keep pace. By creating a basic template of the departments, and duties you are able to sidestep a constant flow of questions and conversations.
- Flexibility: Projects change, duties move from department to department, so you want to find the candidate that has worked in a constant moving environment – who can jump from one place to other while staying efficient and on task?
The project manager will take an important role within your company. It’s important that you take a variety of aspects into consideration, like what they’ll be doing, the skills they’ll need and whether you the position should be full time or part. With your office efficiency on the line, it’s critical that you choose the best candidate for this job.
