[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 1: So how does one apply for their first job in project
management?
SPEAKER 2: Your resume.
Makes sure it doesn't have any typos or grammar issues.
Definitely having anybody peer review it-- right, friends,
family--
can go a long way, and then just reading it, reading it
out loud.
You'll catch a lot of grammatical and spelling
errors that way.
SPEAKER 3: A resume is your pitch.
It's you're walking in, and you're
explaining to somebody why you're
the right person for the job.
So the things that you call out on your resume
and the experience that you highlight on your resume
shouldn't just be something generic
that you copied and pasted from a website that describes
what your role should be doing.
It should be the experience that you would share it
with somebody in person if you were trying
to tell them why you could do the job that you're
applying for.
Your resume should highlight the experience
that shows why you are valuable to the company
that you're asking to hire you.
SPEAKER 4: For me, when interviewing,
it's super intriguing to hear things that have failed
and what you've learned from it and how you apply
those learnings going forward.
SPEAKER 5: You don't have a lot of project management work
experience when you just get started,
but you have life experience.
Life experience is actually what matters
most for program managers because it is about people.
And working with other people is what
makes a project manager successful at their role.
SPEAKER 1: We want to know that you fundamentally
can come in and think about how to solve problems and get
things done regardless of how many times
you may have done that in the past.
SPEAKER 4: Another tip is, when preparing for an interview,
have the artifacts prepared that describe the difference
you have made in your past experiences, your learnings
from those experiences, and how you
have applied those going forward to prevent other problems.
SPEAKER 6: I wrote down a large number of questions
that could come up.
Tell me about a time when you worked through conflict.
Tell me about a time when you exhibited leadership skills
despite not being in a leadership position.
Tell me about a time when you were behind on a project
and had to communicate a challenge to a stakeholder.
I listed all those questions and then tried
to write one or two sentences about each
so that I was prepared when similar questions did arise,
which they almost always will.
SPEAKER 7: It may sound cliche, but my tip
would be just to be yourself.
Try to highlight a lot of your organizational skills,
your leadership skills, and some examples
where you've been able to communicate well
across different audiences.
SPEAKER 8: Another example of what is useful
for interviews is really to think about specific examples
of projects.
Read lots of case studies that are
available over the internet on projects that derailed
and project that went well and what
was done from the angle of a program management
to set things off in a direction that is correct
and to solve some of the problems
that people have encountered along the way.
SPEAKER 5: Learn all the time.
Read as many articles as you can about project management.
Listen to TED Talks, attend meetups--
online meetups, of course, if you can--
and make sure to immerse yourself
in the language of the field that you want to join.
You don't have to be very technical to be a software
project manager, but you do need to understand what is it about.
SPEAKER 2: Get some rest.
And if you're an anxious person--
I know I'm very anxious at times for interviewing.
I was very anxious for my interviews here for Google--
going for a jog or a run or just going outside, just anything
that can kind of calm your nerves that you generally
know that works for you--
I would say that is to try to be as calm as possible.
SPEAKER 1: Be genuine.
Be yourself.
I typically don't get overindexed
on overdressing or overplaying a part
or pretending that you are what you aren't because,
look, at the end of the day, I just want to know how people
think and how they'll function and how
they'll be a good team player.
We look for genuine people who want to do good work.
They're positive people to work with.
They're people who are good team players
and fundamentally can just get stuff done.
SPEAKER 5: Enthusiasm matters a lot.
It matters more than knowledge, especially in junior positions.
When we hire juniors, we are looking for potential.
We are looking for people who would be
motivated to learn and to grow.
And if you have that spark in your eyes for whatever it
is that you're interviewing for, that
will be visible to whoever is talking to you.
SPEAKER 9: Congratulations on finishing this video
in the Google Project Management Certificate.
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