1. To attract and retain young
project talent, organizations
must learn what makes the
next generation tick.
BY SARAH FISTER GALE
WHO’S
NEXT?
NEXT-GEN TALENT
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2. AUGUST 2015 PM NETWORK 39
embers of the youngest generation in the
workforce don’t seem to play by the rules.
When a boss says, “Jump,” they don’t ask, “How
high?” Instead, they ask, “Why?”
Most millennials, those born between 1981
and 1997, are interested in more than just
taking orders and earning paychecks and promotions. According to
the 2015 Deloitte Millennial Survey, 60 percent of global respondents
cited “a sense of purpose” as part of the reason they chose to work
for their current employer. And they want organizations to place more
emphasis on employee well-being, growth and development.
PHOTO BY TURSK ALEKSANDRA/SHUTTERSTOCK
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3. While some may dismiss these ideals as the folly
of youth, millennials are becoming too numerous
to ignore. In the U.S., millennials will become the
largest generation in the workforce by the end of
the year. Yet, 53 percent of the country’s hiring
managers say it’s difficult to find and retain these
young professionals. And as the global project tal-
ent market tightens, this shortage may begin to hurt
business results.
According to Arras People’s 2015 global Project
Management Benchmark Report, 81 percent of
project professionals say they would need to recruit
more team members this year to meet increased
demand. But one in five say they failed to fill all their
open roles last year, suggesting supply is not keep-
ing up with demand.
“It will likely be a challenge that impacts both
the cost and risk of near-term projects,” says John
Thorpe, managing director of Arras People, a proj-
ect management recruitment and career consulting
company in London, England. “As demand for
project managers increases, the cost of labor will go
up. And if organizations can’t fill these roles, their
ability to deliver projects successfully will go down.
“As demand for project managers
increases, the cost of labor will go
up. And if organizations can’t fill
these roles, their ability to deliver
projects successfully will go down.”
—John Thorpe, Arras People, London, England
40 PM NETWORK AUGUST 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
That combination of skill shortage and premium
pricing will be a double whammy.”
NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY
To mitigate this risk, many organizations are ramping
up recruiting and training efforts, bringing in young
college grads and providing them with a combination
of training, coaching and on-the-job experience. The
first challenge is just getting them in the door, says
Chris Jones, director of learning and development for
BAM Construct UK, a construction, building design,
facilities management and property development
company in Hemel Hempstead, England.
“The first step is to attract them to construction
and educate them about the career opportuni-
ties that are available,” he says. Fortunately, once
they see the work they could be doing, “they are
attracted to construction, and many aspire to
become project managers.”
BAM helps new recruits understand their career
opportunities by outlining a carefully designed
development path that will move them toward
project leadership. The company uses classroom
training and on-the-job experience to build young
team members’ skills and help them develop exper-
tise over a broad range of areas like engineering,
planning and finance. This allows BAM to build a
deep and diverse project management bench, Mr.
Jones says.
The company’s development program for project
managers has been so successful that other compa-
nies often try to poach its best people. “But we can’t
just throw up our hands and give up,” Mr. Jones says.
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4. AUGUST 2015 PM NETWORK 41
“We need to continue to invest in them, and help
them understand the opportunities they have with
our company so they stay with us.”
One way BAM is cultivating a sense of loy-
alty among younger team members is by offering
work-study programs, so people can start with the
company while they’re still in college. This has now
evolved into a project management apprenticeship
program. Apprentices start working at the com-
pany right out of high school while also studying
part-time at a university for up to five years to earn
a degree in civil engineering, quantity surveying or
planning. BAM has relationships with a handful of
universities near its regional offices where appren-
tices can enroll, depending on course availability.
“They start in a junior role and accumulate five or
six years of experience while pursuing an academic
certification,” Mr. Jones says.
While these students may not move into project
THE MILLENNIAL MINDSET
Business as usual won’t work for the millennial generation. To appeal to young project talent,
organizations must tailor their talent management techniques. Here are a few insights into
what today’s 20-somethings want from an employer.
Millennials say true leaders possess the following
personality traits:
Source: Mind theGaps:The 2015 Deloitte Millennial Survey
If millennials were at the helm of their organiza-
tions, they would prioritize:
Ensuring the long-term future
of their organizations
Employee well-being
Employee growth and development
Making positive contributions to
communities and society
of millennials feel their current organization
makes full use of the skills they have to offer.Only28%
43%
37%
32%
27%
39%Strategic thinking
37% Being inspirational
34%Strong interpersonal skills
31%Vision
30% Passion and enthusiasm
30% Decisiveness
management roles for several years, they follow the
same training and career path as college graduates and
have the same opportunities as their skill sets develop.
“We find that the ones who are with us from the
beginning often progress more quickly than those who
join straight from university because they get so much
on-the-job experience while studying,” Mr. Jones says.
WORKING TOWARD WORLD-CLASS
The promise of exciting projects and world travel
is another big pull for young professionals, says
Edwin Bolwerk, managing director at Vanderlande
Industries, a global provider of automated material
handling systems in Veghel, the Netherlands.
Mr. Bolwerk leverages small-scale global initia-
tives to give young project managers experience
in low-risk situations, while still keeping them
engaged. “We might put them in charge of building
a small carousel in Tunisia, where they can be in
“We need to
continue to
invest in [project
managers],
and help them
understand the
opportunities they
have with our
company so they
stay with us.”
—Chris Jones, BAM Construct UK,
Hemel Hempstead, England
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5. 42 PM NETWORK AUGUST 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
charge of everything,” Mr. Bolwerk says. “It’s better
to have them manage a whole project from A to Z.”
The company also provides personalized devel-
opment opportunities that keep young project
managers moving forward. Vanderlande has seven
project management levels, each of which has an
associated title, salary and required training and
capabilities. Employees receive twice-yearly reviews
from their managers to determine whether they are
ready to move to the next level and what training
and experience they may need to close skill gaps.
These reviews give employees and managers a
chance to identify weaknesses, like an inability to
deal with conflict or poor time management skills,
so they can address them early on, Mr. Bolwerk
says. “We always want to challenge them and help
them move forward.”
The combination of development opportunities,
world travel and the chance to take on leadership
roles early in their career has helped Vanderlande
keep project manager turnover low.
“Project managers are highly regarded in our
company, and very few of our people go elsewhere,”
Mr. Bolwerk says. “If projects are a core part of your
business, then project managers have to be socially
recognized as leaders in the company. It’s got to be
a core value of the company.”
CAREFUL CULTIVATION
The Kuwait National Petroleum Co. works to cul-
tivate a project management culture from the top
down, starting with the project management office
(PMO), says Wael Aljasem, PMP, team leader of
project management at the Ahmadi, Kuwait-based
company. “Where we work in Kuwait, project man-
agement experience is low in maturity,” Mr. Aljasem
says, “though in the last three years people have
become more familiar with the concept.”
The organization’s PMO, along with the project
directorate, demonstrates the value of the profes-
sion by encouraging young employees to pursue
project management career paths and providing
formal training and on-the-job mentoring to help
them develop core skills, especially around risk
management, quality management and stakeholder
management. “It’s not difficult to sell the idea
The promise
of exciting
projects and
world travel
is another
big pull
for young
professionals.
—Edwin Bolwerk,
Vanderlande Industries,
Veghel, the Netherlands
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6. AUGUST 2015 PM NETWORK 43
once they understand
the value of good proj-
ect management prac-
tices,” he says. “In the
next five to 10 years,
we will reach a much
higher level of maturity
as the younger genera-
tion gets the training
and experience they
need to succeed.”
Frederic Casagrande, PMP, faces a similar
challenge in bolstering his company’s project
management corporate culture. Mr. Casagrande
is director of the corporate PMO for Transguard
Group, a business process outsourcing, security
services and facilities management provider in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. His PMO has been
actively promoting the value of project manage-
ment across the organization, from the executive
team down to new recruits. The PMO sends
executives a monthly report highlighting project
successes and project management’s impact on
the bottom line, and it contributes to Trans-
guard’s regular internal corporate newsletter.
The company is also in the process of projectiz-
ing the whole organization. All these efforts are
paying off.
“Our stakeholders recognize that good project
management brings so much value to the business,”
he says. And this is driving changes in the way the
company recruits and trains new staff.
“Transguard has a large portfolio of projects in
the pipeline. If we want to succeed, we need to
“It’s not difficult to sell the idea [of developing core
skills] once [young employees] understand the
value of good project management practices. In the
next five to 10 years, we will reach a much higher
level of maturity as the younger generation gets
the training and experience they need to succeed.”
—Wael Aljasem, PMP, Kuwait National Petroleum Co., Ahmadi, Kuwait
either hire an army of project managers, or build
them ourselves,” Mr. Casagrande says.
Since there aren’t a lot of seasoned project man-
agers in the marketplace, Transguard has turned its
gaze inward. In the past year, the PMO has rolled
out a project management training program open
to anyone in the organization, even if they’re not
on a project management career path. The goal is
to foster a project management culture enabling
everyone to speak the same language around project
delivery, Mr. Casagrande says.
So far, the program has been a huge hit. The
training course is in such demand that the PMO has
had to roll out extra sessions.
“It has been a clear win for the business,” he says.
Since implementing the project management train-
ing and process, Transguard has seen significant
reductions in the time required to deliver projects,
which translates to increased savings and flexibility.
For example, it used to take 12 weeks for the company
to set up a “work camp” facility to provide employees
with room and board during long-term projects.
Now it takes less than eight, thanks to streamlined
planning and more efficient use of resources.
Because of these tangible results, Transguard’s lead-
ership is firmly behind the PMO’s development of
a strong project management culture. That, in turn,
allows the organization to attract and retain promis-
ing practitioner talent. “The quality of candidates and
résumés we receive for every open position clearly
shows a lot of interest in what we are doing,” says
Mr. Casagrande. “The 12-month rolling churn rate
in Transguard’s project management discipline is sig-
nificantly lower than for the rest of the company.” PM
“If we want
to succeed,
we need to
either hire
an army
of project
managers, or
build them
ourselves.”
—Frederic Casagrande,
PMP, Transguard Group,
Dubai, United Arab
Emirates
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