APM Mentor series
This Q&A is part of our APM Mentor series, where experienced professionals share their insights to help students and early-career project managers succeed.
In this edition, Tim Bolam, Vice President Project Delivery, DHL offers practical advice and encouragement for those just starting out.
What’s one piece of advice you wish you’d received when you were starting out in your career?
Your network is extremely important & take the time to maintain the relationships so that they endue & do not become transactional. Your career development truly is your responsibility & you need to get into the mindset of life long learning.
How can students make the most of networking opportunities while still studying?
I would suggest taking the time to attend the community groups, talks & when you attend a conference make a plan of what you want to get out of it. It will help you extract the most from these events.
What’s a common mistake you see early-career professionals make, and how can students avoid it?
Everybody these days seems in such a rush to get the project management stripes & then move on. Take the time to learn your trade / profession, one project does not make a professional.
What skills or qualities do you think will be most valuable in the workplace over the next few years?
One that will always be important is great stakeholder management as this is a big proportion of any project success. Understanding & use of AI is start to come to the fore & a project professional who understands how to maximise the use of this will be more successful. personal humility, a true understanding that you are not the most important person in the room & that this is about something bigger than just your personal development of success.
How can students build confidence in their abilities, especially when they’re just starting out?
Buddy up with an experience PM, what how they manage stakeholders, see how they influence people. attend a design workshop to understand how people requirements are turned into a solution, this will really give you an understanding of what a role of a PM is about & how technical talk needs to be translated into simple language. Start to understand what your brand is or what you want it to be & start to craft this as this is what people will perceive you by more than, whether the project was a success or not.
