Project Manager in IT team - what do you need to know when applying for this position?
Every project - regardless of the industry (events, marketing, engineering, or IT) - requires a person who will make sure that the work of each individual or team is successful. This difficult task is undertaken by a Project Manager. PM must not only have excellent project management knowledge and skills but also technical expertise specific to the industry in which they operate plus high soft skills (especially interpersonal).
Who is the PM, what does their job look like and what role do they play in the IT team operating according to the principles of agile methodology? Answers to these questions can be found in this article - and at the same time, you will learn what is the recruitment process for such a position in our company. Interested in working for eCommerce?
First days of Project Manager's work
Starting from the bottom
Whenever the word "recruitment" is mentioned, the first thing that appears in front of everyone's eyes is a long list of job advertisements - most of them looking very similar. In turn, the first thought is to create the best possible CV, send it in the shortest possible time and hope for an invitation to an interview, during which you can demonstrate your knowledge and skills. But this is not the part we are going to talk about today, after all, each of us has already gone through it. Let's move our thoughts to the very end of the recruitment process - when we have already signed the contract and are excitedly waiting for the first day of work.
What do the first days as a Project Manager at Advox look like? Many employees joining our company in this position are just beginning their adventure with Magento, which gives us a lot of room for improvement in introducing them to new responsibilities. Usually, the first few days consist of introducing the developer teams and the ongoing projects - although there are also some business meetings with clients. There is no denying that constant contact with them is a very important part of every PM's job.
Clients, teams, projects - but what do I have to do with it?
To begin with - learning the technology. In Advox we work mainly with Magento (Adobe Commerce), and each hired PM starts with a course about this eCommerce platform (at a basic level) to learn "what it is all about". However, a project does not exist on Magento alone - it is also necessary to be familiar with all additional tools, both more and less often used by our developers (but all essential). In this regard, the team is helpful.
Everyone is aware of the fact that the adaptation to a new company, job, or technology does not come easily and consumes a lot of resources. However, unlike in other places, you don't just get one mentor who passes on the necessary knowledge, but the whole team is involved in your onboarding process. The training plan involves meetings with all members of the PM team, during which each person presents a different tool or process. This allows to spread the time of everyone's work in a way that doesn't consume the whole working day - after all, everyone also has their tasks to do at work. From an HR perspective, it is a great mechanism allowing new employees to quickly get to know and integrate with other team members.
“So do I have to tell developers to work faster?”
Integration and transfer of knowledge are not enough - we cannot forget about meeting the development teams with whom we will be working on projects. Every new employee enters a particular room, introduces him/herself to everyone, and leaves - but it's not enough for PMs to know that "this is Mateusz who programs...". It's important to know what exactly he is responsible for, what technologies he is familiar with, in which area he feels most comfortable, and what experience he has. Such knowledge, gained during the first days of work, will certainly become essential in the future - when planning and distributing the first tasks. That's why it's worth sitting down with each developer a little longer to find out that the phrase "program faster" will have the opposite effect than expected.
Recruitment process
Who are we actually looking for?
Of course, the more things happen and the more interesting, developing projects appear, the greater the need for someone to help deal with all the chaos. In such a way arises the need to enlarge the team. The first stage of recruitment, which is very important for the HR department, is to verify expectations concerning the new person. The company (management, team leader PM, sales department, HR) must be in agreement on the skill requirements of the team member being sought. However, before the job advertisements are published, HR needs to find out not only what is expected from the candidate, but also what projects he/she will be working on and what teams he/she will be in contact with. Only then, it will be possible to perfectly match the candidate.
The recruitment process consumes not only financial resources but also time - both the HR and Senior IT Project Managers, who act as technical recruiters during the interviews (and then as people responsible for onboarding). Therefore, it is important that recruitment decisions are always well-considered and matched with actual needs.
What do we expect from our candidates?
Already at the stage of resume selection we are able to determine whether a candidate has adequate technical knowledge of the IT world and eCommerce project development processes before being invited to an interview. Without such a technological background comfortable navigation in the area of IT will be very difficult, therefore previous experience or education in eCommerce is a great asset. This does not mean, however, that we require knowledge of Adobe Commerce (Magento) - as previously mentioned, knowledge of this platform is acquired during the first days of work (not required during recruitment).
In the case of PM positions, an analytical approach and good work organization are also important, as indicated by the "Project" particle in the job title. Therefore, when reviewing CVs, we pay special attention to both previous project experience and responsibilities in previous positions. In our company we have people who learned IT from the inside out, since the first day in the company, and their asset during the recruitment process was rich experience in project management and... people management.
Yes, there is a reason why the second part of the job title is "Manager" because the person in this position constantly works with people and manages their work, making sure that the cooperation is based on partnership relations. PM doesn't know everything, that's why he/she talks with developers to ask about the details of possible solutions and to control the progress of work.
So what - why don't we meet up already?
We carefully check interpersonal skills during recruitment interviews, to which we invite people who meet the requirements included in the job advertisement. During the interview we focus not only on verifying the theoretical knowledge listed in the resume, but also on getting to know the candidate better. We talk about previous work experience, exchange interests, and check the attitude towards another employee. We need to be sure that the person we recruit will be able to get along with the development team and other PMs - as our team grows we try not to lose the friendly, sincere atmosphere that has been with us from the beginning. So we make sure that new people will have no problem fitting in.
When recruiting for the position of PM we do not forget about a contact with the client - a PM has to be flexible in his/her interpersonal skills and also able to adjust the communication style to the speaker. During the interview we pay attention to this as well.
PM - which is actually who?
We already know what the recruitment and first days of PM work in an IT company look like. So let's go back to the "real" beginning and summarize who a Project Manager really is.
“PM is a person who puts together puzzles called a project” ~ Paweł
If you look at a project as a jigsaw puzzle, a PM is a person who puts all the pieces together. If you want to complete an assignment you need someone to make sure all the pieces fit together. It can be said that PM is a kind of translator of the client's and developers' language, a kind of bridge between the client's requirements and developers' capabilities. For this reason, it is mandatory to have a good understanding of a client's idea, to be able to explain what is technically impossible to implement and to advise on available solutions (after consulting with developers). Properly prepared technical documentation of the whole project is useful in this regard - such notes help to control, develop and share the project with others.
A PM's job is never really over - they have to take care of everything from start to finish. From performing a series of actions before the start of the development team's work, through constant verification of the work progress, to keeping in touch with the client to prevent misunderstandings and give the developers the possibility to react to changes in requirements. Only such a procedure allows to create a final product that meets all the expectations of the client.
Project Manager - a character with versatile skills
Does it appeal to you? Do you think you have a strong combination of knowledge, specialized experience, and high-level soft skills? Would you like to grow in a company that builds online stores on the Adobe platform for large eCommerce? If so, don't hesitate any longer. Join our company
We are currently recruiting for the position of IT Project Manager and Junior IT Project Manager.
