Now accounting for nearly 10% of all UK full-time jobs, project management is far from a ‘nice to have’. A new initiative is raising awareness of its value to the Channel Islands, says Sue Kershaw, President of the Association for Project Management (APM) and Managing Director Transportation at Costain Group
At APM, we have demonstrated that project work is an increasingly important profession for the economy. The APM and PwC 2019 Golden Thread Report* identified that project work is already employing one in every 12 UK full-time employees, and generating £156bn gross added value to the UK economy.
As the chartered body for project management, with a current student membership of approximately 9,000, we are working to encourage a pipeline of talent through clear project career paths.
These are supported by our partnership with the Nottingham Trent and Anglia Ruskin universities offering APM-linked degrees. This link means no further qualifications are required in order to apply for chartered status — only project experience.
Encouraging the project profession as a ‘first career’ option is considered essential by APM for building the skills needed by the economy of a modern world. Project management is a profession that provides a diverse and challenging career, one that can make a difference across society.
While project roles exist in every industry, the profession is mindful of the aspiration to make societal change, with events such as the IPMA 31st World Congress 2019 in Mexico, which focused on climate change.
We believe these aspirations align us with the ideology of the young business professionals of tomorrow, which APM is further supporting through Projecting the Future - a ‘big conversation about the future of project management’ that considers the impact on our economy and society**.
Project management is also a profession for inclusivity and diversity that, as a young profession without preconceptions, avoids stereotyping. I was delighted, in my capacity as the first female president of the APM, to deliver the keynote speech to 700 attendees of the 2019 Women in Project Management conference, which grows in attendance each year.
In the UK, the APM Education team, led by Caspar Bartington, has been working hard to visit sixth form colleges and universities to highlight the virtues of the project profession and encourage students to consider this career. Student membership continues to grow rapidly and so this message is being heard.
In the Channel Islands, a new Channel Islands APM Committee has been formed, with Jersey-based APM Fellow Carl Ibbet as its architect. In Guernsey, Scott Crittell, who is the first Chartered Fellow in the Channel Islands and an APM Committee member, has been talking to sixth form career heads in both islands’ schools about project careers.
The latter led to Scott coordinating with Lesley Mourant, who works for Sionic, a global project consulting business with a Jersey office. Lesley has attended career fairs in Jersey schools to raise awareness of the opportunities that project work may offer the future workforce.
“It’s great showing students they have access to varied and rewarding careers outside of the more traditional local roles in finance,” she told me recently.
While the project profession is still largely a hidden resource, the skills required equip its professionals to work across industries in any country. This is a passport to a career and a profession for the 21st century. The profession is increasingly finding itself positioned at the institutional top table, with huge opportunities available to future employees.
• For more on APM, go to www.apm.org.uk
* See the APM and PwC 2019 Golden Thread Report at www.apm.org.uk/goldenthread
** See the APM’s Projecting the Future site at www.apm.org.uk/projecting-the-future