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Offer of New Contract for Completely Different Role & Worried I'll be Out of My Depth

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    Offer of New Contract for Completely Different Role & Worried I'll be Out of My Depth

    As a PMO Analyst with about 2 years experience, I have wanted to switch to a Project Manager role but have found it difficult, mainly because it seems agencies just look at your job title on your CV and label you as whatever you've been doing recently and approach you with similar roles. However, I applied direct (non agency) to a client for a Project Manager role, not really expecting to get it and was interviewed on the basis of my skills and experience in change and process management which the client was specifically looking for as he stated the role was not altogether that of a 'typical project manager'. Even so the projects would be large and quite complex. The truth is the manager did most of the talking. . I am PRINCE2 Foundation qualified but have only contacted as an Interim Project Manager for just over 1 month in a completely different field and managed a very small project as part of a previous PMO role so have little PM experience . I really want a PM job but I'm concerned that this one sounds like it calls for alot of experience and I'm thinking I will be out of my depth.

    The upshot is I've been offered the job and they want me to start asap. My potential boss did state in my interview that the role had put alot of PMs off because it was not a standard role but I'm really concerned that it might be more than I can chew. I really need the cash though (as always! but more importantly this is a fantastic opportunity to move to the role I want and working with a great well established client. What would you guys do and has anyone had any experience of jumping from one role to another (not necessarily between PMO and PM) and how did you find it?

    #2
    Sounds like you're lacking in confidence now that you have the opportunity in front of you.

    You either go for it or you dont. This isnt mumsnet and no one here can make decisions on your behalf.

    Life is all about making decisions and backing them up.
    I couldn't give two fornicators! Yes, really!

    Comment


      #3
      I have never refused something I wasn't sure I could do.

      Only experience will be able to tell you if you can or can't (or if you like it and think the extra stress is worth the money).

      And in the meantime you're invoicing the extra day rate until the contract ends or you get terminated.
      "I can put any old tat in my sig, put quotes around it and attribute to someone of whom I've heard, to make it sound true."
      - Voltaire/Benjamin Franklin/Anne Frank...

      Comment


        #4
        If your CV and stated experience is the truth, then what is there to worry about? Obviously, they contracted you based on your background.

        If things do go pear shaped, worst they can do is ask you to leave site. You then leave that particular gig off your CV. But if you make it through the month, then I suspect you're probably home and dry.

        Either way, well done for getting the gig and good luck.
        "Progressiveness is the blind and fear-filled worship of dead socialists such as Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, Vladimir Lenin and Adolf Hitler."


        Originally posted by BlasterBates
        Can someone please ban this idiot...

        He's just a bigot looking to insult people.

        Comment


          #5
          Get stuck in and give it your best shot. Someone has to do it, why not you?
          "He's actually ripped" - Jared Padalecki

          https://youtu.be/l-PUnsCL590?list=PL...dNeCyi9a&t=615

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by MyUserName View Post
            Get stuck in and give it your best shot. Someone has to do it, why not you?
            +1. rule one of a consultant is always be 1 page ahead of the customer... If not just apologise and swat up over night....

            You may have a busy first month full of late evenings reading up on things but provided you eventually provide the answer people won't mind...
            merely at clientco for the entertainment

            Comment


              #7
              A mate suggested me for a role that was in an unfamiliar sector and at 300 quid a day more than then current rate. I too thought I was out of my depth, but it didnt take long to get up to speed. Lasted 18 happy months
              World's Best Martini

              Comment


                #8
                In life you regret the things you don't do, not the things you do do.

                You want to be a PM. You've been offered a PM role. Take it.

                What's the worst that can happen?

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by tomtomagain View Post
                  In life you regret the things you don't do, not the things you do do.

                  You want to be a PM. You've been offered a PM role. Take it.

                  What's the worst that can happen?
                  This.

                  Worst that happens is that you choose to leave because it's too much, or they get rid of you because you can't do it to their standards - you then explain how it wasn't a "typical" PM role, and no-one cares.

                  Go for it.
                  Best Forum Advisor 2014
                  Work in the public sector? You can read my FAQ here
                  Click here to get 15% off your first year's IPSE membership

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I'm strictly a techie, it is IMHO what I'm good at. But twice I have been inveigled less-than-honestly into taking on contracts that I wouldn't have done if I had been given the real job description (in one case I had already turned it down because it wasn't in my experience but they got me by pretending it was a different requirement).

                    Both turned out well: the PM in one said at the end "Thank F*** we took you and not the other guy". In the other, the PM described me as a source of strength at the centre of the project.

                    These two were the most fun I have ever had on a contract! And they gave me the greatest sense of achievement. Yes they were outside my comfort zone: some things can only be found there.

                    YMMV but it can turn out very well.

                    Comment

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