Can graduates cut it?

Project management is a growing discipline. Applications for PM degrees jumped by a third last year compared to 2004. One possible reason for the discipline’s popularity is that it is a lucrative career choice, with the average salary at over £40,000, a Hays/RICS survey showed last month. But it is also down to more degrees on offer, a buoyant construction market, bigger projects and exciting career opportunities.

Although more people enrolled on to QS degrees than PM degrees in 2005 (848 compared to 138, respectively), rapid acceleration in construction project management (CPM) degree applications seems likely to continue, the experts say.

But in an industry where experience and reputations count for a lot, is there any point in gaining a qualification in project management? Is it still better to enter the profession via a different route such as QSing or civil engineering? And are firms taking any notice of fresh-faced PM graduates?

Academic demand Morris van Rietvelde, who runs Napier University’s undergraduate CPM courses, says students have never had it better. “Now is the time to become a project manager, as the student is more in control,” he says. The application numbers are up and companies are crying out for students to sponsor. Some not only sponsor the degree and provide summer work, they’ll also pay for an MSc once you finish. “Until recently, CPM graduates were seen as a commodity and poorly paid as a result. But now companies are buying into education. Bigger firms, including Mace and Bechtel, are sending students to places like Sydney and Hong Kong for their sandwich year.”

He argues firms are happy to take on graduates with no experience. “You don’t have to be someone who’s worked their way up, and have 95 years experience. A lot of firms are waking up to this,” he says. However, he adds that this harms the smaller firms in the local market that previously took on graduates. “Some students will also get drawn to London, to work for the likes of Gardiner & Theobald. We still service the local market, but the smaller companies are now fighting for graduates.”

van Rietvelde also believes that the industry now sees project management as a teachable “art form”. Susie Kay, the Association for Project Management’s head of professional development, agrees. “We’ve noticed a lot more universities coming to us, asking to be accredited. They want to assure students that the degree will leave them with a structured career course,” she says. Universities that offer the subject as a separate module within other sectors are also applying for accreditations. This comes down to the fact that project management is “pan-sector”, Kay argues. “Project management can now be found in any sector – the range is quite interesting.”

You don’t need to have 95 years experience. A lot of firms are waking up to this

Morris van Rietvelde, head of construction, Napier University

At Loughborough University, the number of students on the Commercial Management and Quantity Surveying degree is consistently rising, according to professor Alistair Gibb, who runs the construction department. He says the university has more students than it can cope with. The postgraduate CPM degree is also popular, as is Architectural Engineering and Design Management, which was set up to provide a new kind of project manager.

In the field

So what does the industry think about the new wave of CPM graduates? Overall, there is a feeling that good PMs are rare and that they don’t emerge directly out of university. Interestingly, a good few employers say QS graduates make better PMs. David Grover, director at Mace, says the main skill required is the ability to get on with people: “You can learn anything technically. They’re just buildings, aren’t they?”

But the severity of the skills shortage means, like it or not, firms are forced to consider PM graduates. Mace’s HR director, Kath Knight, says the company must employ a range of tactics to attract the best people. Tactics include sending Mace’s own graduates to universities and schools to give talks and attending graduate fairs.

Training at Mace is also designed to appeal to prospective graduates, Knight says: “We’re trying to make our schemes different. For example, we now offer £1,000 to some graduates, we offer sponsorships, and sometimes place graduates directly with managers”.

Knight explains the graduate programme: “It lasts three years and can be quite an ordeal. It’s a steep learning curve. The first two years are technical. They’ll be an assistant project manager for these years, and become a project manager in the final year. We’ll put them on six placements in that year, usually in retail or banking. Everyone also has the option to work abroad, in, say, the Middle East, or Europe if they have the language.”

You can learn anything technically. They’re just buildings, aren’t they?

David Grover, director, Mace

Meanwhile, Grover aims to entice graduates with the promise of exciting onsite experience. One lucky graduate is earmarked for a supervised role on the London Bridge Tower, or Shard, which Mace will be project managing.

Paradoxically, despite the clamour to recruit graduates, Grover is dismayed at their calibre. He has been an APC assessor (PM route) over the last three years. “Of all the people I’ve examined, there are only one or two people that I’d recruit. My colleagues on the panel tell me not to judge by my own standards, but to keep within the RICS guidelines. I’m disappointed. During the APC process, candidates become too focused on the schedule, on ticking boxes.” He also wants to see more dialogue between employers and universities, as “right now, there’s a bit of disconnect”.

Stephen Didcott, director at AYH, says his firm takes a similar approach to recruitment as Mace: “It is done by as many means as possible. We have an open mind. We look first at the person rather than the flavour of the month qualification.” He agrees a shortage of skills exists, but one that is not as acute as for QSs.

Didcott admits there are flaws with pure project management degrees, with no emphasis on construction, and says QSs make better PMs.

Richard Barrell, a senior PM at Cyril Sweett, agrees that recruiting young PMs can be a nightmare: “You need the qualifications, but at the same time you can’t beat experience,” he says. “The two go hand in hand. You can’t be an all-round PM at 26 – you need a post-graduate qualification and about 10 years experience,” he says.

At Bucknall Austin, recruitment manager Stephen Reilly says two types of PM exist: “The ones that have fallen into the job, and the university new breed. And there’s an awful lot of the latter.” He says graduates, of any kind, are not as useful fresh from university, but new recruits at his firm are brought up to speed through intensive training. “We get them on to an MSc, and we’ll push the project management side”. However, Reilly has more faith than Mace’s Grover in the APC system when it comes to hiring a more experienced would-be PM. “If they’re chartered, it’s good. With the APC, we know immediately they’re grafted, they know their job.”

But at the end of the day, Reilly argues, “it's not about what we want, or what the candidate wants, it's what the client wants. We try and tell our clients that we can do all of it.”