3
Administrative Assistant's
UPDATE
Credit: Michael D Brown/Shutterstock
Project management:
Possible career
path for you?
By Rhonda Scharf
Project management is a popular
buzzword these days—it seems that
everyone is hiring project managers.
In May the online job board Indeed.
com showed more than 25,000 listings
for project manager jobs in Canada.
One of the elements of project man-
agement that gets me really excited
is the fact that administrative profes-
sionals are natural project managers.
Taking care of deadlines, deliverables,
people and reporting is what we do.
The definition of project manage-
ment is "a process by which a leader
and team plan for, implement, monitor
and evaluate a series of activities de-
signed to produce a stated objective."
Sound familiar? It should. Adminis-
trative professionals do those things all
the time. At work we manage events
both big and small and we often help to
create the budget for the department or
the company. We are part of reorgani-
zations, moves and relocations.
Admins are organizers
In our personal life, we have all prob-
ably been the general contractor on a
house renovation or a move, planned
a wedding, were the team manager of
a child's hockey team, or even orga-
nized a fantasy football pool. These
are skills that come naturally for us.
If you're getting excited about the
possibilities, here is some more good
news:
• The average administrative profes-
sional in Canada earns $38,540
(according to payscale.com, as
of March 17, 2016; this figure is
location-dependent).
• The average project assistant earns
$48,200.
A quick calcula-
tion will tell you that
the difference be-
tween an adminis-
trative assistant and
a project assistant is
about 25 per cent in
salary. Yet, the job is
virtually identical. Ac-
cording to glassdoor.ca,
the average project man-
ager earned $83,940 (location-
dependent) as of April 6, 2016.
Your future just got brighter didn't it?
Fifteen million new project man-
agement jobs will be created this
decade according to PMI.org.
Start as project assistant
And, you're right, it might be a bit
unrealistic to start right at the top
in your first job, even if you studied
project management in university.
Instead, start working on clearly de-
fined project teams. Offer to be a team
lead. If you are looking to move a bit
professionally, go online and look at
the jobs for project assistant and see
what types of skills and experience
you need.
Have faith in your abilities.
In most jobs for project assistants,
the skills stated are identical to those
for administrative jobs. Only they pay
about 25 per cent more. They may
ask for a little more specific industry
experience, which you may or may
not have. If you don't have it, start
getting it.
That may be the starting point for
you to jump into project manage
-
ment. Take a look online at PMI.
org (Project Management Institute).
Check out Lynda.com for online
training. Check out your local college
for courses they may offer in the
evening. Pick up a book at the local
bookstore. A little knowledge will go
a long way to removing your fears
about it.
In the coming months, I'll be writ-
ing more about project management
for admins to help you keep on the
right track and potentially see your
future in project management.
Rhonda Scharf is a certified speaking
professional and president of ON THE RIGHT
TRACK Training & Consulting.
www.on-the-right-track.com
Rhonda Scharf
