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Finding Mr. And Ms. Right
How To Land and Train the Right Project
Managers
By Tom Nicholson
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Firms can retain good project managers
by showing them how the company can meet their long-term
goals and putting in place a good training program that
includes mentorship.
Many companies are looking for project managers with specific
experience related to their own niche markets. |
Good project managers are the heart and soul of a successful
project, but it's not always easy to match a candidate's skills
and experience to the firm's needs
in leading a construction job from start to finish and overseeing
every detail in between, a project manager has to wear many
hats. Of the many people involved in a construction job-from
owner, architect and contractor to subcontractors, administrative
staff and permitting officials-the project manager needs to
understand everyone's role and be able to communicate with
them all.
Project managers also have to build cohesion among the parties
involved and be the driving force that keeps a job moving
forward. It's a demanding role that few people are fully qualified
to step into, and it can be a challenging search for firms
trying to find the right person for the job. But knowing what
to look for in a project manager, and how to go about finding
them, can help ease the search.
The Searchers
"No, it's not easy to find a project manager,"
says Jim Vockley, executive vice president at Kimmel &
Associates, an Asheville, N.C.-based recruitment service.
"Typically, project managers have a college degree and
10 to 12 years of field experience," a basic qualifier
that immediately narrows the pool of potential candidates,
he explains.
Add the necessary requirements such as skills in estimating,
scheduling, regulatory compliance and permitting, resource
management and a solid knowledge of engineering, design and
the trades, and the pool of candidates shrinks even further.
"It's one of the toughest jobs there is," says
Brian Setley, vice president of operations in Nabholz Construction
Corp.'s Kansas City office. The company currently is on the
hunt for a project manager to lead jobs in the telecommunications
construction market, in which the firm specializes. Nabholz's
search is typical of those looking for a project manager with
specific experience related to the firm's niche market, someone
who will require minimal training and can hit the ground running.
"We specialize in doing remodeling and renovation work
for Southern Bell Telephone," Setley says. "So we
need a project manager that has clean-room experience and
mechanical, electrical and plumbing experience. We're looking
for the whole package and it's very difficult to find."
The firm posted an advertisement for the position on Internet
job boards, but Setley says they will likely rely on "word
of mouth, a lot of prescreening goes along with that."
Beyond the Resume
But even though job candidates' resumes may list ample education
and experience for the job, there are some attributes that
can't be demonstrated on a resume. "Project managers
need good people skills," says Sal LaScala, senior vice
president of human resource operations for Turner Construction
Co. "They've got to be able to talk to a foreman and
also with an owner. They need to know how to deal with the
client. Basically, our emphasis is that they need to be good
businessmen."
At Turner, which has about 600 project managers on staff,
recruitment begins on college campuses. "The minimum
requirement is they be college educated, so we recruit at
the best colleges in the nation," LaScala says. "There
are about 100 colleges that have [project management] programs.
We have an in-house training program for our project managers.
When they are hired right out of college, they are ready for
project management in eight to 10 years."
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1. Clearly identify what your firm needs in a project
manager.
2. Look for someone who has experience with firms similar
in size to your own company. Does the candidate have
experience managing jobs for small firms or with larger
firms that self-perform most work?
3. Define a candidate's experience with the types of
structures your firm builds. Does the candidate have
familiarity with vertical construction or with other
project types such as highway or underground jobs? Is
he/she familiar mostly with residential or commercial
buildings and private or public projects?
4. Learn what types of delivery systems a candidate
is familiar with leading. Will the candidate need to
lead alternative delivery jobs such as a design-build
team? Or is knowledge of traditionally delivered, design-bid-build
methods enough?
5. Match a candidate's management experience to the
size staff he/she will need for your firm.
6. Define whether your projects require knowledge of
specialized permitting and regulatory procedures and
look for a project manager familiar with them.
7. Examine candidates' experience with estimating,
scheduling and other business-related skills needed
to procure, plan and manage a construction project.
8. Zero in on which construction techniques your firm's
jobs require and whether the candidate is familiar with
them or if a training period will be required.
9. Identify staff members who can provide training
for a new project manager. Identify your firm's ability
to train a project manager and define the limits of
your firm's training resources.
10. Don't get in a hurry. Look as much as possible
for an exact fit and avoid settling for the "best
of the worst."
Information compiled from human
resources and recruiting personnel and materials.
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Seattle-based Sellen Construction Co. Inc. takes a similar
approach, grooming project managers from within its ranks.
"We have about 20 project managers, and we use them on
every project," says Mark Summer, vice president of administrative
services. "We almost never hire a project manager from
outside. We train them and promote them from within because
it's such a critical position and it's very difficult to bring
someone in from the outside."
Inside/Outside
But not all firms have the resources and staff size to train
a project manager from within. Like Nabholz, many firms have
to advertise for the position, use recruitment services, depend
on word of mouth or peruse online job boards for candidates.
And although this process can be arduous, Michael Ketner,
of Pittsburgh-based recruitment service Michael L. Ketner
Associates, says that for smaller firms, hiring outside the
company can often prevent problems down the road.
"Very few companies can train a project manager from
within," Ketner says. "If they have the resources
to grow and train a project manager, then that's great, but
most small companies don't have the support mechanisms in
place for that."
Ketner advises finding a project manager with the exact skills
needed. But when promoting from within, "you may reach,
at some point, their ability ceiling," he notes. He advises
hiring someone whose experience most closely matches the firm's
needs.
"Clearly identify specific characteristics you need,"
Ketner says. "If you are a small firm and you hire someone
whose experience is with a large firm that self-performs all
its work, it could be a dismal failure because he will depend
on all the support mechanisms that the large firm had. Find
someone who comes from a similar background and is familiar
with the delivery methods and types of structures your firm
specializes in."
Ketner says that while a large firm may have more than one,
and often several project managers on staff, smaller firms
"cannot afford to hire a person with moderate skill sets.
It's important that they hire a winner."
Finding a Fit
Finding the right fit, however, is a two-way street and firms
need to be prepared to retain project managers they can attract.
If a firm is willing to hire a recent engineering graduate
with a project manager career goal or a candidate who requires
some training before taking on a management position, the
firm has to offer something in return. "Show them a career
path," Vockley says. "Show them how your company
can meet their long-term goals and have a good training program
that includes mentorship, training in estimating and in putting
numbers together, putting in time as a field foreman and learning
the business side of things."
Whether a firm is grooming an existing staff member or hiring
from outside, patience and prudence will win in the end. "Don't
get in a big hurry," Ketner says. "The easiest mistake
to make is to pick the best of the worst. The cost of hiring
or promoting the wrong guy can be astronomical. Don't hire
the best of the pool of candidates-hire the guy you need."
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SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER
For Charlie Whitney, handling the multiple and diverse
responsibilities it takes to get a $450-million project
built is all in a day's work. The 40-year-old project
manager with Turner Construction Co.'s New York office
is the man in charge of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Research Center project, a 23-story tower going
up on Manhattan's east side.
Whitney, who joined Turner more than 15 years ago after
graduating from Cornell University with a bachelor's
degree in mechanical engineering, is an example of how
the firm hires recent college graduates and grooms them
to eventually take the helm as a project manager.
"I came on board as an engineer, and they put
me on as a job superintendent," Whitney says. "I
worked in the field for seven or eight years until I
was promoted to project manager in the special projects
division about 10 years ago."
Taking advantage of Turner's in-house training programs,
Whitney then managed several Turner projects, which
furthered his experience.
To be a project manager, Whitney says a solid education
in the technical aspects of construction must be coupled
with strong managerial skills and experience. "I
started out with superintendant assignments and was
promoted into a project manager role," he says.
"To be a successful project manager, you have to
be able to manage a staff and know how to motivate them."
Managerial experience is a part of the job that can
only come with time, he says. "Experience has to
be equal to education. You could have 30 years of education
but if you don't have the experience to go along with
it, you won't succeed."
Keen communication skills are also vital. "You
could be talking to a pipefitter, then a drywall guy,
then an architectural subcontractor all in the span
of two hours. Then there is the owner. You are in there
trying to get a change order approved, and you still
have mud on your shoes," he says.
Started three years ago, the 540,000-sq-ft Sloan-Kettering
project is targeted for completion by the end of the
year. It's the largest project Whitney has managed to
date. "This is the job of a lifetime," he
says.
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Charlie
Whitney