Attracting and Recruiting Top Project Managers: 5 Tips For Recruiters

Find out how to attract top project managers. Read these five tips for recruiters to attract top project managers—and hire them. Employers will need to fill almost 88 million project manager jobs by 2027. With over 1,000,000 certified Project Management Professionals (PMPs) internationally, competition for project managers is high. In the United States, this means recruiters will have to become laser-focused on five things if they want to attract and retain top talent. Attracting new talent in project management is about knowing where to go to post jobs, posting tightly focused job descriptions, offering handsome compensation and the perks that matter most, and remaining flexible as an employer. Here’s how to recruit the best project managers.

5 Tips For Recruiters For Attracting and Recruiting Top Project Managers

 Recruiting Tip 1: Post jobs on project management job boards

While numerous job boards exist, your company’s project management, program management, and portfolio management roles are likely lost in a sea of general and non-project management-type categories. For candidates looking for project management roles specifically, it can be frustrating to sift through job posts to find the right sections or categories to find what they’re looking for to match their career goals. 

There are many job boards out there that cater to numerous niches. Attracting and recruiting top project managers can be competitive. Focusing on project-management-specific job sites can make it easier to find top project talent. Make sure to post jobs on project management job boards like the one at PMWorld 360 Magazine, where project managers already go to get project management best practices and resources. This ensures you have tapped into the directly aligned candidates actively looking for their next project, program, or portfolio role. Certified PMPs already come here to find everything from articles and podcasts created by PMPs to ebooks and project templates. So they’re a captive audience likely open to or actively seeking project management roles.  

Recruiting Tip 2: Post-role-specific details – avoid general job descriptions

It’s essential to post role-specific details to ensure you’re attracting new talent with the right skills and knowledge for the job. The more the candidate understands the specific role, the more likely your company can attract the skills and expertise to meet the challenges. When ambiguous project descriptions are posted, it can underpin what’s required from a candidate and attract a flurry of resumes that miss the mark. This is a disservice to your company, your time as a recruiter, and the candidates that apply. 

Focus and expand on the critical elements that potential candidates might find challenging. Don’t worry about scaring away talent; plenty of PMPs are up for the challenge. This way, you can expect that the candidates who apply can handle the complexities of your projects, company, and sector. 

Recruiting Tip 3: Put your most satisfactory foot forward when it comes to salary

Once you’ve interviewed and hired a successful candidate, your company must recognize that remuneration is critical in attracting and retaining talent. While many candidates look for so much more than a high salary when attracting and recruiting top project managers, it is essential whether top talent believes your company aligns with what they bring. 

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates that it costs employers an average of $4,129 to hire an employee, and it takes approximately 42 days to fill an open position. When recruiting the best project managers in 2021, attractive role-specific compensation is vital when considering the cost to hire employees increases proportionately based on the search duration, job role, and salary range. Remember, it can be much more costly to re-hire talent and even more so if you can’t replace them. Your role as a recruiter is challenging enough without having to recruit multiple times for the same project roles.

Recruiting Tip 4. Offer project managers the benefits and perks that matter to them

Salaries aren’t the only factor in attracting talent. Some other benefits and perks matter to project managers. Millennials and Gen Zers are also interested in other perks and are willing to take a slightly lower salary in exchange for an attractive benefits package, retirement plan, or perks:

• 60% of Gen Z are willing to take a better benefits package for 10% less pay.
• 60% of Gen Z rate benefits and retirement packages higher on their list versus other perks.

With more demand for top project talent than available talent, it can sometimes come down to your company’s benefits and perks that make the difference. Look at what your company’s competitors offer and find ways to stand out as a top employer.

Recruiting Tip 5. Remain flexible

Above all else, remaining flexible in where you will attract top project managers, adapting recruiting practices, and matching compensation to meet potential candidates will be crucial to recruiting and keeping the top project managers in a highly competitive space. 

About PMWorld 360 Magazine

PMWorld 360 Magazine has been around since 2018. It’s been voted the top project management ezine to follow each year since 2019. We’ve recently launched our new Job Board, and while it’s relatively new, it’s already becoming one of the best niche job boards online. It’s the perfect place to post jobs for project managers, leaders, technology professionals, and other aligned roles. Here’s why.

• We offer a premium niche-focused job posting service so your roles aren’t buried in a sea of non-relevant postings.
• Our website is easy to use, and job seekers can easily search for jobs by keyword, location, or category.
• We recently launched and are quickly becoming one of the best places to post jobs online for specific niche roles.
• We help employers and recruiting agencies to promote roles on social media.
• We offer valuable resources that are directly related to our hiring niches.
• We provide excellent customer service and are always happy to help with your job postings.
• Our audience is your directly aligned audience.

When you’re looking to recruit top talent, remember to post on online boards that cater to your niche. With PMWorld 360 Magazine’s job board, employers and recruiting firms can create an account on our job search engine and start posting jobs and attracting top talent today! You’ll be sure to find the perfect candidate in no time.

Find out more about how to post jobs affordably with PMWorld 360 Magazine’s project management job board, where our audience is your future talent.

PMWorld 360 Partner, IPM, Offers Online Project Management Certification:

PMWorld 360 Magazine partnered with the Institute of Project Management (IPM) to help employees grow and advance through certification in project management! Check out their courses and certifications.

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