Hiring a competent project manager is the key to a successful venture. The wrong person will be detrimental to your project. They may fail to deliver things on time, resulting in a huge drain on your time, money, and energy. Worse, they may even nurture negative energy in the team and that will definitely cause havoc in your business.

Hiring a good project manager will give you peace of mind that everything will be managed efficiently and effectively. Gain better productivity with an excellent person at the helm. If you’re looking to hire one, check out these five forgotten project manager traits worth exploring. These are the traits that we’ve gathered with over a decade of experience hiring project managers. 

1. Capacity to Fulfill Project Benefits

When hiring a project manager, don’t just look at what’s good on the resume or what you can see when interviewing the person. Someone graduating with Latin honors from a premiere university or a good communicator can most likely charm you. However, the more important question is the person’s capability to deliver project benefits. 

The right person can confidently deliver the desired outputs because of appropriate skills and experience. It’s not just delivering the project within budget or on time but ensuring that the team will work towards delivering the best outcomes. A good manager will have input on the following potential constraints: 

• Scope: Requirements needed
• Resources: Money, equipment, labor, etc.
• Quality: Standard expected of the project outcome
• Time: Project delivery at a set date

Here at Proximity, when outsourcing the project manager role, we make sure to look for previous supervisory experience, leadership experience, and any project that shows complex fulfillment. Little things come up in the interview – like if they said they volunteered for a political campaign, that is a prime example of a possible great project management experience.

2. Tech Competencies 

Technology plays a significant role in ensuring increased productivity and performance. Using the right tech tools encourages innovative thinking, easier scheduling, and better team collaboration. All of these spur a better business bottom line. Therefore, assessing what project management tools your potential candidate is well-versed in is important. Examples of these tools are: 

• Workbook
• Trello
• Mavenlink
• Workbook
• MS Project 
• Slack

Although you cannot expect your project managers to know everything, hiring someone who understands some tools is a good sign. We match your project manager with the tools you already have in business, so the onboarding is seamless. Having someone who displays competency in emerging software exemplifies that they could be a fast learner that’s easier to train for new tools. 

3. Problem Solving Skills

It’s inevitable for projects to hit a few snags along the way. Fortunately, a good project manager remains accountable for mistakes and possesses stellar problem-solving skills. Excellent managers can handle issues in the most effective ways, whether it’s resolving conflicts between team members or pushing for results from underperforming personnel. 

Moreover, managing projects necessitates showing grace under pressure. Project managers must remain cool-headed and negotiate calmly with clients, team members, suppliers, etc. They are versed in keeping all stakeholders satisfied and accountable since they are excellent negotiators who can compromise while staying objective. 

4. Comfortable With Numbers

One of the best traits of any project manager is being comfortable with numbers. They don’t have to be experts in algebra or calculus, but they shouldn’t shy away from simple arithmetic skills. After all, managing projects involve number crunching with the following tasks: 

• Making plans with corresponding budgets
• Reporting the financial status of projects
• Making profit and loss reports

Having this trait also motivates them to be objective and to base their decisions on data, instead of office politics or personal biases. Putting weight on this item makes us one of the best outsourcing companies in the Philippines to hire Project Managers with. 

5. Exudes an Aura of a Leader

Finally, any project manager needs to exude an aura of a leader because they have to exercise authoritative powers. After all, managers are expected to manage workflows, delegate tasks, set expectations, make progress reports, and provide an evaluation. This entails leading team members and motivating them to accomplish their tasks on time. 

More importantly, as the one in charge of the project, the manager must be able to judge team members on their skills and proficiencies. From there, tasks are assigned per strength for the most optimal outcomes. As a person who inspires team members to do their respective jobs, you can look forward to a smooth maneuvering of the project journey when you hire a competent project manager. 

There’s a lot that goes into hiring a project manager, especially if you’re outsourcing this position. You need someone who is “in” enough in your company to know everything, but also “out” enough to see issues as they arise. Project managers are a tough nut to crack for most, but with a company with over a decade of experience hiring project managers (with our Founder’s other businesses in event planning and gift delivery) we’ve earned enough knowledge to make sure your Project Manager is everything you needed! 

Thinking of hiring a manager? Book your FREE consult here.