Project management is a wide-ranging job offering complex challenges to those who wish to pursue it. To gain a winning edge as a project manager, it may be beneficial to look into addition pmp training and certification. There are lots of great project management courses online – many of which offer the certification candidates need to take the next steps. Taking courses online ensures schedule flexibility and one-on-support at the same time. Here are five awesome project management certification courses available from online and brick and mortar colleges.

Southern New Hampshire University

This online college Mecca offers project management professional certification, preparing students for the Project Management Institute (PMI) exam. Candidates for the certification enjoy the ease of access this online college provides, as well as its efficiency. The program also offers access to thousands of networking opportunities, setting people up for a lifetime of success. Past students often mentor currently enrolled students in order to give them real-life insight into their careers.

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Colorado State University

Colorado State University offers their condensed online certificate in program management in addition to their classroom offerings. The upside to the online version is that it can be completed in 16 weeks – on a student’s time. This offers more flexibility than tradition on-campus instruction. The school uses a seven-part curriculum based on Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). The PMBOK guide is considered the standard for project management in the United States.

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Boston University

The online graduate certificate in project management from Boston University gets students thinking and acting immediately under the supervision of professionals in their field. The nine-month program contains only four courses, but they are intended to cover all bases in order to prepare students for PMP certification. One advantage of this program specifically is that Boston College will allow the transfer of some credits related to this certification. This means a potentially lower-cost (and time commitment) for students who may have started before and are ready to finish now.

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Capella University

Capella University boasts tens of thousands of students from across the country and the globe studying to fulfill their life and career dreams. Their online project management degree program is designed to ensure students get what they want and need on their time. The unique FlexPath program allows students to pay a flat fee per term and complete as many credits as they can, potentially saving money over the long-term. Additionally, current PMI members can get discounted tuition for advanced degree programs (up to $10,000).

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Pennsylvania State University

The Pennsylvania State University offers an online graduate certificate in project management through a 12-credit intensive program. The school relies on interdisciplinary teaching in order to promote complex thinking and problem-solving skills. The program focuses not only on the PMBOK guide standard here in the United States, but also teaches the European model. This offers students a fresh perspective and the chance to customize their education as they see fit. Moreover, the school intends to assist students achieve their career goals through networking and job placement assistance.

Read more here

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Many people are entrusted with the title of “project manager” often regardless of whether they are interested in the role. There is an entire industry aimed at the project management profession with hundreds of thousands of certified project management professionals, yet projects get delivered every day with and without certified project managers.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m Project Management Professional (PMP) certified and actually enjoy a healthy discussion on proper project management processes. However, project management doesn’t have to be overly complex or intimidating as described in project management textbooks (it can be as simple as the process presented in a guide such as: The Six Step Guide to Practical Project Management).

You need the right tools and processes

One of the best executives I ever met prided himself on not having PMP certification, yet he was responsible for his organisation’s enterprise programs and projects. He acknowledged that project management processes, tools and techniques were important, but just as vital are communication and common sense.

He trusted his team to pick the right tool for the job and adjust the processes to meet the project needs. People don’t have time today for overly complex processes producing reams of documentation and checklists. They need to deliver projects not paperwork.

Simplicity grows in importance as work grows

Project managers are also expected to manage multiple projects at once. As more projects are added to a person’s workload, the need for simplified project management processes increases.

Project management office organisations try to improve project delivery by adding a common project portfolio management tool throughout the organisation. Although these tools provide top-down visibility into a project’s performance, these tools can add to the project manager’s administrative burden. When a complex project management tool is introduced, the project manager risks spending more time administering the tool than actually managing the project.

I’ve seen this first hand when running a project with more than 100 resources from many different resource pools. I spent more time ensuring resource needs were forecasted and conflicts resolved than helping to resolve project issues.

You need a flexible tool

If the project management tool you use isn’t flexible with scheduling, the project manager can spend hours if not days trying to tweak the schedule to fit the project management tool constraints.

For one project, I spent more time allocating project team resources to high-level tasks in a meaningless project schedule just so everyone could record time. I maintained a separate schedule for all the real projects tasks, but needed to do duplicate administration in a separate system.

Project management just doesn’t have to be this hard. It is really quite simple. Processes and tools are always added with good intentions but project managers need to pick the right tool and the right process for the job.

Simple steps for most projects

Complex projects will require more processes and tools. However, many projects can be delivered following a simple series of steps.

Every project needs to answer several key questions including:

• Why are we doing this project?
• What is the end goal?
• Who needs to be involved?
• What needs to be done to achieve the goal?
• When and how will it be done?

Depending on the project’s complexity, the answers to these questions could be a simple presentation or a 50-page project charter that few will ever read. I remember working on one project where the running joke was the project had launched yet the project charter was “almost ready to be signed”.

It consisted of a 45-page Word document that no one would ever read in great detail or even sign off. The project still delivered on time and was successful. This example begs the question – was all that process really needed?

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Applying March Madness Bracketology to Project Portfolio Management
By Lindsey Marymont
It’s that time of year when the office is buzzing with talk of the NCAA tourney – boasting alumni, hometown favorites, and raw athletic talent. March Madness is full of predictions and hype, and while many people might stay loyal to their favorites, most people will […]

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Communication Plans for Change
By Keith Mathis – PM Expert Live
Communication is critical for driving change forward. Plans might be clear to the upper management who created them, but those same plans often become muddled as they move farther down the organization. Creating a communication strategy helps the entire organization work to prevent this from happening. […]

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According to a PMI-sponsored report, about 1.5 million project management positions are needed each year up to 2025. The factors that are contributing to this need are first, demographics in nature, because many workers are in the retirement age; and second, a growth in projects around the world. Decision-makers in companies are now spending and proceeding with projects cautiously, launching new projects and completing those that have been put on hold. Some sectors have scaled back but others, such as healthcare, infrastructure, and renewable energies are expanding. For job seekers, now is the best time to use ZipRecruiter as an effective tool for finding jobs.

Introducing ZipRecruiter

ZipRecruiter is a privately held US company that was founded in 2010. The founders of the company was committed and inspired to help job seekers find the right job with a better way. It works for both people looking for jobs and looking for candidates. Job seekers get email alerts when job posts match their skill set and location. Currently, this online job board service covers the US only. They aim to make the job seeking process simplified, creating a delightful experience, that leads to customer satisfaction and trust.

Apply Easily in a Snap

ZipRecruiter allows people to opt-in to their Resume Database for free. Using a computer to upload a resume is recommended, but can also be done with the mobile app. Once the resume is uploaded, it can be seen by all the employers and recruiters searching on their website. Upholding the job seeker’s privacy, only paying customers of the application can see people’s personal information to contact them for job opportunities. The application also notifies job seekers every time their application has been viewed.

Browse Jobs Quickly

It is easy to browse for jobs, whether by state, city or category. For example, at the time of writing, there are about 1.3 million jobs posted in the state of California; 860,000 jobs in Texas; and over 570,000 in Illinois. Drilling down on the California link, the user is presented the 50 best cities, with 78k job posts in San Francisco, 73k in Los Angeles, in 49k in San Diego, and so on. Browsing by category shows that transportation and storage job posts are over 2.7 million, followed by 2.2 million in business, and 2.1 million in healthcare. There are also about 73k PM jobs, 11,500 of which are in California, followed by Texas and Virginia. Browsing by title, they are looking for 17k systems analysts, 8700 IT project managers, and 7300 project engineers.

Testimonials

ZipRecruiter posts testimonials of their successful customers. Elizabeth R. states that after only 3 weeks of membership, she received 4 offers, and is now happily employed as a nurse so close to her home. Muriel G. was thankful for finding a front-end developer job using just the app on her iPhone. She narrated that she applied on a Friday afternoon, received a call Monday morning, and after a half day of interview, received a job offer the following week. Donald M. who was skeptical at first of the site was contacted by possible employers only a couple of days after posting his resume. He is now employed not very far from home.

Issues and Reviews

ZipRecruiter has received fair to good reviews from several trust rating sites. From the many reviews, it is evident that the application provides good results. And when there are issues, customer service attends to them, provides feedback and resolution. A noticeable area where issues consistently come up seems to be from the ZipResume function. It was described as difficult to navigate and not very user-friendly. The company admits however that it is trying to improve the functionality. To know the latest news and updates about this effective job distribution tool, you can visit their Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn page. Let us know your experience if you have used their services.

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The role of the project manager is very challenging. It is described as a critical link to management, clients and the project team that keeps the project moving forward on-track, on-schedule, and on-budget. According to the PMI’s Global Job Report, economies around the world continue to share a strong demand for project managers. This demand started in 2010 and is predicted to continue up to 2020, stronger in some countries and industries than others. As a senior project manager of a growing or expanding organization, you may have the task to interview candidates for new PM jobs for your team or company.

If you come across good potential candidates, there are some tips in how to investigate and evaluate them further during the interview process. Some of the obvious signs to look for in a PM job candidate are their confidence and their ability to answer questions clearly indicating their technical and interpersonal skills, methodologies used, and how they worked previously with project sponsors.

1. Is there Chemistry?

It is also important to note how easily they connect with the interviewer. Chemistry between people is something hard to define, but is something very observable. Observe if the applicant is relaxed during the interview, is able to maintain a sense of humor, and is seen as generous with his or her answers. However, if trying to connect with the applicant seems to be a struggle, no matter how hard you try, it can be a potential problem of relating to others.

2. Spend More Time

Time is precious, both for the interviewer and the applicant. However, spending more time on the job interview to get to know the applicant better is negligible compared to the potential cost of a wrong hire. Spend a longer time with a strong candidate, to ask specific, follow-up questions to good but general answers. Observe also the candidate’s behavior as the interview gets longer, to see if there is any indication of impatience or any other change.

3. Long-Term Goals

As a senior project manager with the company, you understand the vision, goals and commitment of the organization. Thus, it is important to ask applicants for the PM role about their long-term goals as well. They may be well-suited for the short-term or urgent project at hand, but you may be looking for someone to be part of the company for the long haul. Knowing their long-term goals can give you an idea if it is aligned with your and the organization’s goals. Having a long-term goal also shows the applicant’s career direction and planning skills.

4. Offer to Clarify

The job interview should clarify as many things as possible, not only for the interviewer but also for the applicant. If a strong candidate was able to answer many questions well but also have some questions about the job or the company, welcome it by providing clarifications. If the candidate is a little hesitant, offer to clarify anything but be mindful of company policies and confidentiality. This resolves any misunderstanding or wrong impressions about the job, role or the company that can cause serious issues later on.

5. Invite for a Second Interview

It is important also not to hurry the interview process. If there are many good candidates, and an initial interview only narrowed the choices a little, invite the stronger candidates for a second interview. This is a chance to compare and contrast several applicants with more direct and specific questions and job scenarios. It is also a good opportunity to see who is consistent from the first interview, and who has become undecided or uninterested.

6. Talk about Salary, Check References

In the later stages of the interview with a potentially strong candidate, it is important to discuss salary expectations. It can be all smooth and well up to this point, until compensation requirements and expectations do not meet the actual offer. Unless one is willing to compromise, this can be the end of the road. There are also ways to make sure that strong candidates will more or less accept the salary offer, and this is by checking their references and previous salaries. Unless the new job is dramatically more demanding than what they have previously performed, the expected salary of the chosen candidate will also not be significantly and unrealistically higher.

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Software as a Service commonly known as SaaS, presents small and medium-sized businesses and organizations with whole new frontier of opportunities. Saas usage has been on the rise and many more organizations are quickly adopting this new technology. You cannot afford to ignore SaaS adoption in your organization as it allows you to access some productivity tools that were previously inaccessible. With Saas solutions, your business can enjoy easier cooperation with teams, customers and partners thus shifting your focus to business instead of IT and enhancing marketing speed through directly set up solutions.

Benefits of SaaS

One of the main benefits of benefits of SaaS is that it can help your business drive down the total cost of ownership as you transit from on-premise software. There are many compelling benefits that SMBs can enjoy by embracing SaaS approach and that is why this move fits suitably well with this sector. When using SaaS, your software solution is with your vendor’s remote servers and not your own servers and can only be accessed through internet connection.
The vendor is therefore responsible for software configuration, maintenance, upgrades and support and your business will only espouse a “pay-as-you-go” pricing approach, where monthly fees are charged based on actual usage. Considering that the software is accessible through “rental” rather than ‘purchase”, SMBs can benefit from access to restrictively pricey enterprise-class technologies. This means that your business can save more while using the best technologies available.

Here You Can Use SaaS Within Your Business

Software as a Service has gained considerable ground in HR and CRM applications. However, the service is also picking momentum in other areas of business operations such as web conferencing, online backup, IT system management, and collaboration among other areas. It is however worth noting that SaaS approach is not suited for use in highly specialized applications such as the sensitive financial applications or others where voluminous business data transfer is involved such as business intelligence.

How to Evaluate SaaS Solutions Before Making a Decision

Choosing the right Software as a Service is very critical and requires an informed decision. Here is an all-inclusive checklist to help you in your decision making:

Test Drive Before You Buy

The most amazing thing about Software as a Service is that you are able to test-drive the solution with minimal commitment. It is possible to plug in and play your solution of choice using internet connection, something that is not possible when buying on-premise software, where only product demonstrations are available. Many Saas solution vendors will give a free trial for a month or more and you should take advantage of this.

Data Center Infrastructure

The solution hosting is very important and you should establish where the SaaS in question is hosted. Is it hosted at a third-party specialist or is it hosted in-house at the premises of the provider? If hosted by a third party, what are their credentials? What is certification have they passed (e.g. an industry standard SAS-70 Type II audit) and server configuration? Establish these facts and find a solution with the most suitable infrastructure.

Permissions & Password Protection

SaaS applications are accessible from anywhere including inside the company and outside by multiple staff members, customers, or partners, proper permissions levels will help determine who has the right to access what information stored within the system. There is need for robust permission and password protection systems which should include elements such as designation of administrative responsibility, log in history data showing who logged in and what data they accessed and any changes they might have made, assignable permissions at various levels and different levels of assignable permissions.

Security

Achilles Heels of Software as a Service, as security is normally called will be important to consider. Are you guaranteed that your important business data will be secure in the hands of a third-party data center? Is your data exposed when stored online? The solution vendor must be able to detail their security protocols and infrastructure and be willing to share with you such information. Some of the things you will need to consider include data encryption, disaster management plans, physical security measures, and security records. This is paramount for your business information security.

Cross Platform Compatibility

SaaS applications are fully functional and thus allow users to work and access information from different technology environments. Travelling employees could be having Firefox browser and Microsoft Vista and in need to collaborate with a customer using Macs or other operating systems. The best SaaS solution should be able to operate across the different operating systems and major web browsers that allow for SaaS application access. It is good to go for a solution that works in all browsers and operating systems environments.

Other things to look at include customization, integration, mobile compatibility and backup systems in case of server crash. The SaaS solution vendor should also be able to upgrades the product regularly and these upgrades should have free access. Customer Support is also important and you must find out the mediums offered for this. If possible, look for one that offers live support and this should be free and not charged. With this checklist, finding the right SaaS solution will be easy and very possible.

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Four Common Project Portfolio Dashboard Mistakes
By Kristyn Medeiros
Portfolio dashboards are a fantastic way to track metrics and progress across the organization. They provide insight in to project status, financials, and roadmaps, to name a few. Ultimately, the goal of dashboards is to give a big picture of how the work done day to day aligns […]

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Leaders – Bringing Out Creativity From Your Employees
By Neal Burgis
“Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it’s produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.” – Ken Robinson
In today’s winning companies, leaders look for every advantage as possible. Those leaders of creative and innovative organizations know how to take advantage of the opportunities they […]

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According to international banking and financial institutions, the global economy is now recovering, and advanced economies are improving year over year. They added, however, that growth still remains modest and uneven overall. This situation, accordingly, leads to unique issues with employers. In a 2015 manpower survey, 38 percent of employers reported difficulty filling jobs, due to lack of jobseeker interest and due to lack of skills. Interestingly, another survey showed that the highest trend in recruiting for professional roles is through the utilization of social and professional networks. This is where ZipRecruiter excels.

Introducing ZipRecruiter

ZipRecruiter is a privately held online job board distribution service based in Santa Monica, CA, USA. It was co-founded in 2010 by Ian Siegel, Joe Edmonds, Ward Poulos, and Will Redd. Their aim is to simplify the process for employers in finding quality candidates. For both the employer and the jobseeker who is looking for the right job, the experience should be more delightful and less painful. The company has so far received investment funding of more than $60 million. It is hosting over 6 million jobs and has so far delivered over 100 million candidate applications through its multiple job board submissions.

Simplifying the Process

Simplicity is at the core of ZipRecruiter’s job board distribution service. They focus on creating an easy-to-use and simplified process for posting jobs and finding qualified candidates. This principle is evident in their product and customer service. It is as simple as posting a “Post to Job Boards” button and selecting a plan. They offer a 4-day free trial as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee. Deciding to cancel before the free trial ends will not incur any charge, and employers get to keep candidates that may have responded to the job post.

All In One Place

When an employer posts a job at ZipRecruiter, it distributes the post to more than 100 job boards, websites and social networks on the Internet. It does this by automatically distributing the post to job feeds of its partners, selecting which social networks to post the job, and also providing the employer the option to post at Monster, LinkedIn, and other boards for an additional fee. Aside from this post-once, distribute-everywhere feature, it also takes advantage of integrated social network sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

As qualified candidates respond to the job post, ZipRecruiter allows employers to further screen them with free-form, multiple choice, or yes/no format questions to identify the most qualified. Registered users can also search the database, create an instant job page on their site, include a company careers page, customize branding, track and rate applicants throughout the hiring cycle, utilize their mobile apply process for the mobile job seeker, and utilize other features.

Reviews and Issues

ZipRecruiter is one among many websites to find and hire freelancers. It is also one of the consistently top rated in many trust rating and review sites, primarily because of the volume of candidates, its screening, ranking and tracking features, and ease of use. It is currently limited to the USA. Companies of all sizes use it to look for qualified candidates, and usually for those in the IT and management professions. Its customer service receives good feedback overall. Issues and misunderstandings are usually about billing and fees, not about results. However, for job seekers, issues seem to stem from the interface and placement of resume. If you have tried their services, let us know how they have helped your business so far. They are on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.

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