Project Manager Competences - What Recruiters Want and Implications for Project Management Education

Abstract

This paper identifies desirable competencies of project managers as expressed by recruiters of project managers in 150 job advertisements in Australia from three industries: construction, engineering and information technology. This research uniquely contributes to understanding organisations' requirements for project managers through the formal articulation of job advertisements. The three most frequently requested competencies were communication management, technical skills and interpersonal communication. The findings show strong preference for output competencies in terms of project management, with communication management, time management and cost management most frequency requested. The author, a creator and manager of a university postgraduate project management degree program, applies reflective practice to provide insights of the research results in terms of developing and reviewing the curriculum for project management courses.