Episode 138 – Trends in Top Talent – Navigating the Job Market Manage This - The Project Management Podcast
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- Management
The podcast by project managers for project managers. If you’re recruiting new hires for your team, or if you’re in the market for new opportunities, listen in for Cate Murray’s well qualified advice. Hear recommendations on current job market trends, tips on how to attract and retain top talent, as well as how to attract interest from possible employers, optimizing your resume, and developing a network engagement plan.
Table of Contents
01:36 … Current Job Market Trends02:40 … The Interview Process03:19 … Prescreening Process04:16 … Project Management Skills and Technology Demands08:25 … Shifting Work Scenario Opportunities10:25 … Top Talent for Project Teams13:22 … Keep Candidates from Losing Interest15:06 … Traits of Top Performers17:17 … Retaining Top Talent19:47 … A Culture of Recognition20:10 … Training and Development20:43 … Effective Networking23:10 … LinkedIn Profiles26:09 … Give Your Résumé a Facelift28:05 … The Applicant Tracking System30:26 … Showcase your ROI31:00 … Contact Cate31:55 … Closing
CATE MURRAY: ...you now have six seconds to get somebody’s interest on your résumé. It actually dropped from around eight seconds to six seconds. So people are making a split decision when they look at that first page if they want to move forward with you.
WENDY GROUNDS: You’re listening to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers. I’m Wendy Grounds, and in the studio today with me is Bill Yates. We’re very excited today to introduce Cate Murray. She is the director of PMO Solutions, and she’s responsible for managing nationally based talent acquisition strategies of the Apex Systems PMO Business Analysis and Agile Practice. Cate is also a regular speaker at PMI Professional Development Day events and chapter meetings.
BILL YATES: Yeah, Wendy, I’m excited to have Cate talk about this topic with us because it just seems so timely. The job market is hot. One of the challenges that project managers are facing today more than ever is getting top talent.
And then another opportunity, another angle of this we want to look at with Cate is, okay, what if I am a project manager, and I’m just looking for new opportunities? You know, I can work from home, work from anywhere now, more than ever so in my entire career. So what’s out there for me, and what can I do about it?
WENDY GROUNDS: Yeah. One thing to note is Cate is going to reference a number of very helpful links in our conversation. And we’re going to have those in our show notes. You can take a look at the transcript to find all those links.
Hi, Cate. We’re so excited to have you with us today.
CATE MURRAY: Hi, thanks so much for having me. I’m looking forward to it.
Current Job Market Trends
WENDY GROUNDS: There’s a lot that we can talk about, and I’m hoping we get time to cover all the topics that we have today. I was looking at your résumé. You have over 16 years of experience in IT staffing and services. What are some trends that you have seen across the industries with this competitive job market?
CATE MURRAY: Yes, it is definitely a talent market right now and extremely competitive. I honestly don’t know the last time I have seen candidates that have had so many opportunities on their plate to choose from. The one thing which I think everybody’s aware of that’s dramatically changed since COVID is of course the demand to work remotely, along with the increase of roles allowing it. So this really does create significant challenges for those companies now requiring onsite work, or wanting their people back in the office, as less and less people are willing to be onsite in a full-time capacity. And most can shop around to find a fully remote opportunity. So that’s really the first piece.
The Interview Process
The second thing that we are seeing is a drawn-out interv
The podcast by project managers for project managers. If you’re recruiting new hires for your team, or if you’re in the market for new opportunities, listen in for Cate Murray’s well qualified advice. Hear recommendations on current job market trends, tips on how to attract and retain top talent, as well as how to attract interest from possible employers, optimizing your resume, and developing a network engagement plan.
Table of Contents
01:36 … Current Job Market Trends02:40 … The Interview Process03:19 … Prescreening Process04:16 … Project Management Skills and Technology Demands08:25 … Shifting Work Scenario Opportunities10:25 … Top Talent for Project Teams13:22 … Keep Candidates from Losing Interest15:06 … Traits of Top Performers17:17 … Retaining Top Talent19:47 … A Culture of Recognition20:10 … Training and Development20:43 … Effective Networking23:10 … LinkedIn Profiles26:09 … Give Your Résumé a Facelift28:05 … The Applicant Tracking System30:26 … Showcase your ROI31:00 … Contact Cate31:55 … Closing
CATE MURRAY: ...you now have six seconds to get somebody’s interest on your résumé. It actually dropped from around eight seconds to six seconds. So people are making a split decision when they look at that first page if they want to move forward with you.
WENDY GROUNDS: You’re listening to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers. I’m Wendy Grounds, and in the studio today with me is Bill Yates. We’re very excited today to introduce Cate Murray. She is the director of PMO Solutions, and she’s responsible for managing nationally based talent acquisition strategies of the Apex Systems PMO Business Analysis and Agile Practice. Cate is also a regular speaker at PMI Professional Development Day events and chapter meetings.
BILL YATES: Yeah, Wendy, I’m excited to have Cate talk about this topic with us because it just seems so timely. The job market is hot. One of the challenges that project managers are facing today more than ever is getting top talent.
And then another opportunity, another angle of this we want to look at with Cate is, okay, what if I am a project manager, and I’m just looking for new opportunities? You know, I can work from home, work from anywhere now, more than ever so in my entire career. So what’s out there for me, and what can I do about it?
WENDY GROUNDS: Yeah. One thing to note is Cate is going to reference a number of very helpful links in our conversation. And we’re going to have those in our show notes. You can take a look at the transcript to find all those links.
Hi, Cate. We’re so excited to have you with us today.
CATE MURRAY: Hi, thanks so much for having me. I’m looking forward to it.
Current Job Market Trends
WENDY GROUNDS: There’s a lot that we can talk about, and I’m hoping we get time to cover all the topics that we have today. I was looking at your résumé. You have over 16 years of experience in IT staffing and services. What are some trends that you have seen across the industries with this competitive job market?
CATE MURRAY: Yes, it is definitely a talent market right now and extremely competitive. I honestly don’t know the last time I have seen candidates that have had so many opportunities on their plate to choose from. The one thing which I think everybody’s aware of that’s dramatically changed since COVID is of course the demand to work remotely, along with the increase of roles allowing it. So this really does create significant challenges for those companies now requiring onsite work, or wanting their people back in the office, as less and less people are willing to be onsite in a full-time capacity. And most can shop around to find a fully remote opportunity. So that’s really the first piece.
The Interview Process
The second thing that we are seeing is a drawn-out interv