Project Manager: Key Responsibilities, Skills & Salary 2024

• Who is a Project Manager?
• Key Job Responsibilities of a Project Manager
• Required Qualification/Education
• What makes you qualified for this job?
• Top Companies/Organizations Hiring Project Manager
• Project Manager Salary Statistics

Who is a Project Manager?

A project manager is an individual or more like a professional who has to organize, plan, and execute a project while at the same time overseeing all the restraints like budget and schedule. He is in fact in charge of leading the teams where he not only defines the goals but communicates with stakeholders in a language that is understood by them. With that, a project manager has to see a project through its closure, meaning, lead it from start to end.

Whether it is about running a market campaign or constructing a building. Similarly, developing a computer system or even launching a new product, whatever the project is, the person who is responsible for the success or failure of that particular project is the project manager.

Keeping in mind the role of a project manager is quite a in demand, today in this article, we shall talk about the responsibilities and skills required by a project manager and how much they can earn in different countries.

Key Job Responsibilities of a Project Manager

A project manager just like we have mentioned earlier has to oversee everything and the below responsibilities can help you understand the type of work a project manager has to do.

• He has to plan every single thing from execution to delivery. And to pull off this job successfully, he needs to prepare a strategy.
• He has to direct his team in a way that the entire team is working towards achieving a common goal. It is very important to keep the team’s effort aligned with everything that the organization wishes to achieve. Otherwise, the desired results can never be achieved.
• Next, he should be smart or vigilant enough to delegate responsibilities to team members. There may come a time when you have to work on a big project where the tasks are tedious and never-ending. At this point, it becomes very important that the project manager has delegated fair tasks to every member. Neither one member is overworked nor the other one is idle but a balance is maintained.
• Another responsibility of a project manager is to make sure that the deliverables are delivered to the desired organization or individual within the given time and budget.
• Similarly, it is the job of a project manager to monitor the status of the projects. Whenever a project is started, he has to keep track of when it started, how much is done, how much is left, how much time is required to complete the project and other relevant details. For this purpose, it is better to have a 15-minute stand-up every day.

Other responsibilities include;

• Make sure high-quality product is delivered.
• Planning the cost of the entire project beforehand and then sticking to it.
• Documenting the progress of the project.

Required Qualification/Education

All the project managers working in different organizations would have at least a Bachelor’s degree in either business, computer science, or any other relevant field. With that, some companies or organizations would want a project manager who has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Master of Science in Management (MSM).

Relevant In-demand Certifications:

• Certified Project Manager (CPM-IAPM)
• Certified Project Management (CPM)
• Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
• Project Management Professional (PMP)

Recommended Courses:

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What makes you qualified for this job?

If you wish to stand out tall in the crowd or outperform others as a project manager, then there are some skills you need to possess. Both hard skills and soft skills play a vital part in performing well.

Hard Skills:

• The ability to negotiate with the client and get everyone on the same page is very crucial. As a good product manager, you should have the ability to negotiate everything. From pricing to deadlines and other details of what is to be delivered.
• Even though possessing certain skills vary from project to project. But a project manager must have a solid background in the type of work the team is doing.
• As a project manager, there are endless tasks that need to be taken care of. Which tasks have to be done first, what are the most important ones or on high or low priority, and many other things to take care of. All these things can only be done effectively if the project manager knows the value of prioritization.
• Lastly, a project manager has to make sure that the project they are working on does not go over the budget. And this can only be done if he has a solid understanding of Math, spreadsheets, and good command of finances.

Soft Skills:

Soft skills are also important and play a vital part in helping you perform well at your workplace. This includes to be;

• Influence
• Communication
• Leadership
• Teamwork
• Motivation
• Adaptability
• Conflict Management

Top Companies/Organizations Hiring Project Managers

By the end of 2027, employers would eventually have to fill in some 2.2 million roles in new project management. And thus individuals or job seekers who meet the criteria and have the desired skills will find themselves in demand.

Companies like IBM, Accenture, Deloitte, AT & T, Kaiser Permanente and Bank of America, etc are always looking for project managers to join their teams.

Industries like healthcare, construction, manufacturing, information services, finance, insurance, management, professional services, and many others actively demand project managers.

Project Manager Salary Statistics

This section contains salary details of a project manager working in different major countries.

USA:

A project manager working in the US can make around $93,206 per year.

 

Canada:

The average annual salary of a project manager working in the US is CA$97,243

 

UK:

In England, a project manager can expect to make an average annual salary of £55,119

 

India:

The average annual salary of a project manager in India is around ₹21,00,000

 

Australia:

A person who is working as a project manager in Australia can make around A$1,34,500 annually.

 

References/Sources:

• https://www.glassdoor.com/
• https://www.indeed.com/
• Please note that mentioned salary stats are as of Oct, 2023.

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