Senior program management consultant skills for your resume and career

As stated earlier, the field of management is broad and encompasses all industries and sectors. Consequently, the technical skills necessary to succeed will vary according to the specific knowledge and experiences required to understand the nuances of an organization. Accordingly, graduates who have business acumen and technical competency in a particular discipline or industry would be better positioned for employment opportunities. As a result, I always place emphasis on gaining internships and work experience concurrently with academic study. These experiences will provide a real-world understanding of the type of skills necessary to succeed in organizations as well as offer industry-specific knowledge. However, for many graduates, their practical skills are limited. In this case, it is important to ensure you have more generalizable skills that are applicable across industries, such as building digital fluency, analytical fluency, writing skills, and strong Excel skills. When speaking with consulting firms and industry employers, they repeatedly reference the need for graduates to demonstrate more advanced Excel skills.

While advancements in technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and data analytics occupy center stage in many areas of management practice, soft skills continue to be seen as equally or even more important skills for success in the field of management. Soft skills are typically described as personal attributes, qualities, and characteristics that enable us to interact more effectively with others. In most fields of management, our ability to communicate, work with, and interact with other people constitutes a significant portion of the work we do. Consequently, employers are focused on identifying candidates who possess strong skills are areas of communication (verbal, written, and non-verbal), leadership and followership, collaboration, an ability to work in teams, intellectual curiosity, adaptability, conflict management, problem-solving, creativity.

Across all spheres of the working population, people have been forced to undertake a crash course in technology, from audio-visual meetings to other online collaborative media. These skills are crucial and the engine of change in our "new normal" world. Among the companies being forced to try telecommuting, it is a safe bet that many will decide to adopt this more economical and efficient work arrangement and allow people to work from home.

Connecting with people remotely and bringing energy to communications requires excellent written communication and creativity in interacting via modern technology. A recent Gartner poll showed that 48 percent of employees will likely work remotely at least part of the time after COVID-19 versus 30 percent before the pandemic. Collaborating digitally in a remote and distributed context will require adjusting the employee experience with new strategies, goal-setting and employee evaluations. Developing excellent communication skills is crucial. Learn how to write clearly, concisely, and quickly. Avoid long sentences, get to the point. People have a short span of attention. Captivate your audience in the beginning of your communication.

Model after other successful writers and practice, practice, practice! The only way to get better at writing is to write. The "new normal" will be kind to those who can communicate effectively and persuasively. The workforce is composed of five different generations and it's crucial for the new generation to learn how to collaboration with older cohorts. As such, without the need to show reverence for older workers, show respect and willingness to learn. Conversely offer help. Reverse mentoring is very popular in many organizations. Knowledge transfer is beneficial for all.

I always encourage HR majors to have an understanding of operations in various industries, which helps graduates to understand the needs of the employees they serve, who are primarily responsible for the organization's products and services. Depending upon the subfield they enter, they may benefit from additional coursework in finance, law, information systems, or marketing. New graduates will benefit from a focus on employee safety and wellness and leave policies, given the impact of the global pandemic.

Business, creative, and organizational skills - I would recommend that upcoming graduates are proficient in Word, Excel (highly used), Powerpoint, Outlook (especially how to send meeting requests and calendar organization), TEAMS, Gantt charts for team management, Mindmapping for creativity, and design software. Additionally, I would recommend that they learn how to properly utilize social media for marketing and PR, not just personal posting. Finally, email etiquette would be essential.