Project managers are life saviors for companies and organizations. Almost every industry requires project managers to handle and deliver quality products or services to their clients. So, the demand for these professionals has gradually risen in recent years.
The core functionality of a project manager is to execute a project, from creating the initial plan to estimating the cost. They are responsible for establishing communication among the client, team, organization, sponsors, and everyone involved in the task, providing end-to-end support.
The duty of planning, executing, monitoring, and closing projects falls on a project manager’s shoulders.
Project Management as a Part-Time Occupation
The career opportunity in the management field does not limit you to the completion of your bachelor’s or master’s. You can pursue a certification course to launch yourself on the professional path of project management.
This simply means you can apply for part-time positions after acquiring a certificate while pursuing your college alongside. You can also ask a writing expert to make my essay and dedicate this time to establishing your career growth.
This is the best option for highly ambitious students. If you are considering this career path, here are some pros and cons of being a part-time project manager to help you make an informed decision.
Advantages of Being a Part-Time Project Manager
You Get to Improve Your Soft Skills on the Job
Successful project management calls for various skill sets that are integrated with an individual’s personality. Just as you start working and handling projects, you build soft skills such as risk management, analytical and leadership skills, patience, and perseverance.
You also get to enhance your technical understanding, business management, communication, and customer relationship skills. The job teaches you a lot of things in the practical life that you might not encounter in your student life. These skills are helpful in your academic career too.
You Get in Touch with Professionals from Diverse Backgrounds
The more you get exposed to diversity in cultural, professional, and behavioral aspects, the more are the chances of your interpersonal development. While you work as a project manager on a part-time basis, you get to interact with professionals from different demographics, cultures, expertise, and positions in the industry.
Every individual carries different characteristics. This brings the diversity of perspectives, ideas, and values to the project that you are handling. This kind of collaboration during your part-time job helps you apply these elements to your academics as well.
Your Confidence Boosts from the Sense of Achievement
As a person responsible for the precise execution of the project assigned, you plan the outline of the project. Once you are satisfied with the plan, you present it to others, collaborate with the teams, draw budget estimations, and whatnot.
You may have to struggle back and forth with your work and studies while the work is at its peak. Meanwhile, you also ensure timely completion of milestones, accommodation of feedback and revisions, and transparency among all the involved parties.
Once the project is successfully finished with the desired output, the sense of achievement brings you immense pleasure and confidence. And once you endure it all, there’s no looking back. This hassle helps you learn time-management skills too.
You Learn to Delegate Tasks and Empower Teams
Managing your college and an ongoing project together is not an easy affair. As you develop leadership skills, you learn to delegate tasks among team members effectively. One miss at the appropriate distribution of a piece of work can turn into a blunder or even delay the project timeline.
Hence, this attribute of project management gives you first-hand experience of real-world problem-solving. If the work assignment is laborious and lengthy, your team may start to lose its focus. You are the one who can motivate and empower them to accomplish milestones.
Disadvantages of Being a Part-Time Project Manager
As you work part-time managing a project (or projects), you see a pile of tasks accumulated at your desk with pending meetings and reports. But the fact that you have limited time to finish them may drive you crazy sometimes. Along with this, there are more cons:
- If your team members don’t get along and are not on the same page, the completion of the project becomes more uncontrollable and unachievable.
- As you lack authority, and if your boss is not supportive and does not strengthen you with proper budget and resources, you can do little to nothing to successfully execute your plan.
- Even if the reasons for a project failure were faults on higher authorities’ parts and lack of resources, you are held accountable for the glitch.
- If your team worked hard and their efforts are plausible, you would want to reward them for their efforts. But with your hands tied by the authorities, you may feel nothing more than helpless.
- Sometimes, the stakeholders have a say in the project, and they make wrong choices. Being able to foresee the outcomes of their decisions and being unable to do anything about it will only raise your stress levels.
Conclusion
Don’t let yourself be drawn into the cons of this job and get disheartened. Challenges are part of life. A successful project manager is a great strategist, an amazing communicator, and knows how to make the best of the available resources. They strive for quality and are highly result-oriented.
