
Welcome to 2014. What is your new year resolution? This blog is specially for you, if one of your goals is to make career transition to project management. This post is a personal experience sharing from Tai Choo Tack.
The First Step - Not for Fainthearted
The future is lucrative if he was to stay in existing role. However, he decided to conquer another peak. The very first step is to coming down from existing peak. It is like letting go all the fortunes and start from ground zero, and this is not for fainthearted!
The Second Step - Search for the Bullet
Since he was in employment, he started lobbying for project management opportunities within the company. At the same time, he took MBA specialized in Project Management. With hope, he has sufficient knowledge to jump-start a new role. Unfortunately, the luck was not on his side. His superior and department head unable provide such opportunities. Thus, he started to look out for new job.
The Third Step - Bite the Bullet
This is common step in any career change - find new job elsewhere. Five points below can give you a good start:-
Concluding Remark
A quick reflection, Tai Choo Tack took 6 months to land him on a new role. He was going all-out to make the transition happen, and ready for pay-cut. What kept him moving is the analogy of two peaks - he needs to go all the way down from where he stands, before he can go to a new peak.
Please comment here if you are ready to bite the bullet to venture into project management role.
The First Step - Not for Fainthearted
The future is lucrative if he was to stay in existing role. However, he decided to conquer another peak. The very first step is to coming down from existing peak. It is like letting go all the fortunes and start from ground zero, and this is not for fainthearted!
The Second Step - Search for the Bullet
Since he was in employment, he started lobbying for project management opportunities within the company. At the same time, he took MBA specialized in Project Management. With hope, he has sufficient knowledge to jump-start a new role. Unfortunately, the luck was not on his side. His superior and department head unable provide such opportunities. Thus, he started to look out for new job.
The Third Step - Bite the Bullet
This is common step in any career change - find new job elsewhere. Five points below can give you a good start:-
- Read A Lot of Job Requirements - familiarize yourselves with what other companies are looking for, and gaps can be easily identified early. And, you can focus on those close to your heart and personality. For example: Project Director, Project Manager, Project Controller & etc.
- Transferability - List out the experience or skill you can "transfer" to project management role. Try focus more on those in relation to job requirements. For example, transfer "conduct end-to-end user acceptance test with relevant stakeholders in accordance to test cases" as "engage key stakeholders in UAT sign-off."
- Rewrite Resume/ CV - invest your time here to come out new resume/ CV. All the gaps you identified are highlighted here. Remember, take your time to identify all transferable experiences & skills - in relation to project management job requirements. Please focus on highlighting your accomplishments.
- Job Application - start depositing the completed resume/ CV to any potential companies. You might get call for interview. Interview is great an most effective way to validate one's readiness for new role. It's perfectly okay to be rejected. Remember - you are going to a new peak from ground zero.
- Revise Resume & Close Gaps - go back to your resume to note down the weaknesses/ gaps surfaced during interview. Remember to close the gaps or find ways to mitigate the weaknesses. Repeat from step 1 to make your mind clearer.
Concluding Remark
A quick reflection, Tai Choo Tack took 6 months to land him on a new role. He was going all-out to make the transition happen, and ready for pay-cut. What kept him moving is the analogy of two peaks - he needs to go all the way down from where he stands, before he can go to a new peak.
Please comment here if you are ready to bite the bullet to venture into project management role.