UK Project manager jobs status

Hi,

I am new to the UK and on tier1 visa. I tried searching for a forum that would tell me how IT Project manager jobs are currently in the UK.

Is it looking easy to find or difficult? Any tips? or suggestions for me?

I have around 5+ years as a PM and PMI certified. Does that help?

Since am a newbie, would appreciate any suggestions or tips. I landed up in the UK and started hunting but not getting any calls in the last 2 weeks. Is it too early to expect calls ?

Kind regards
Jon

The PM market is quite saturated at the moment unfortunately. There has been an influx of experienced PMs with a lot of well documented UK based experience that are trying for contract roles as well as perm positions.

One big chunk of IT groups to be made redundant, and every time actually when spending goes down, are the PMs and Associate PMs, Program Managers, PMOs etc - there are PMs well into their late 30s early 40s trying to get back into groove and secure well paid roles.

Also need to note that many organizations tend to use in bred PMs a lot as in depth knowledge of the company's style of working is of utmost importance. I have personally seen Senior Architects, Designers and BAs moving into PM roles and then working a a full time PM. On bigger projects that involve top consultancies delivering a solution or a product, then there tends to be many PMs from the consulting company with an overall Manager from the main company.

In the rare case a company does not have a PM and has an urgent requirement, they tend to scrutinize a lot before taking a PM on a perm role. For a contract job of 3-6 months, companies have a BIG choice of PMs from a very saturated area in IT. Also note that contracting PMs have a very strong network. Knew a guy once who had 3 offers lined up 2 weeks before his work at my place was over and that is really good. So overall, jobs are not easy to come by and packages are not good. As an example, I have seen adverts for APMs paying just £26k - that shows the situation at the moment.

And certifications do not help unfortunately. 5+ years as a PM may be good or not, I cant really say. All I know is this area is quite saturated. I can vouch for this as I work with PMs day in and out and this a very well discussed topic over coffees and lunches

Please note I am only giving a really clear idea of what the market is. I do not intend to discourage you at all. Armed with the info above, you will know to tackle interviews and set salary expectations. I do wish you the best, keep at it and if you are good you will succeed and get something to start things off

Edit - 2 weeks is not an indication of things at all. 99% of the roles are advertised by agents who tend to wait for a kazillion CVs before shortlisting 10 or 20. They then call those 10 or 20 and shortlist just 5 or 10 and send to the potential employer. While contract roles can be closed within 1 or 2 weeks, perm roles usually take in excess of 1 or 2 months from initial chat to final offer.

KP

I guess you are generalising PM as a role. If it manageing project without any specialised business expertise which is planning, scheduling, communicating, presentation and updating gantt chart then I would expect that. But PM role has changed from last few year to more speciliased role in which he gets involved more deeper level then merely documentation and communication and there is demand for such PMs.

gainvidya wrote:I guess you are generalising PM as a role. If it manageing project without any specialised business expertise which is planning, scheduling, communicating, presentation and updating gantt chart then I would expect that. But PM role has changed from last few year to more speciliased role in which he gets involved more deeper level then merely documentation and communication and there is demand for such PMs.

I dont disagree with you at all and have worked with such PMs as well. HOWEVER, the OP clearly stated IT PM opportunities plus he has only around 5 yrs experience which is not sufficient time to specialize. If the OP did specify anything then I could advice otherwise but my post above is very applicable to almost 70% tp 80% of the IT PM community in the UK

Also note that any specialized skills again demands UK domain specific experience without which one cannot complete the 'speciliazed' skill set sought after. All in all, the post was meant to give an idea to what the OP asked for, thats all. And honestly, after 4 years working with PMs and Prog managers across many clients, I feel almost all IT PM roles dont require specialist skills - once again its only specific to a majority of IT PMs which is the range the OP will target to being with

KP

I agree with you!