How to Hire an IT Project Manager for mid-cap firms

 Digital Transformation needs a strong IT Project Manager to succeed.

If you’re a CTO of a mid-cap portfolio firm, you know finding the right IT Project Manager is a challenge.

Without the right IT Project Manager, your projects can be drastically impacted. Important timelines will slip, and a lack of capability can affect the end result, employees, customers and the board.  Technology Due Diligence


IT Projects do not tend to provide instant results. So, you don’t often know you’ve got a problem until your projects slip. This can be months after hiring, so recruiting the right person is even more important.

But what is the definition of the ‘right’ Project Manager? Does this person exist, and how do you ensure you hire the right one?

In this blog, I share why a specific type of IT Project Manager is needed for PE-backed firms. I also share our methodology to identify the right IT Project Managers.

Most firms want to ensure their value creation plans provide the bext value for their investors. A key driver to the value creation plan is the people, team and culture within an organisation. As a qualified Kolbe Consultant I help Senior Leadership build their teams based on psychometrics and data. I specialise in helping build technology teams, having worked with more than 450 people. Ranging from personal 1-2-1 coaching to entire technology and leadership teams.

If you want to learn more about this service, you can read about our Leadership Coaching.

What I Learned from Hiring 20 IT Project Managers in a single firm


I learned the specific challenges of finding IT PMs the hard way. When I hired and managed 20 project managers for a PE-backed firm. 

The firm was going through a significant digital transformation whilst simultaneously getting ready for an IPO.   Pretty much everything was being changed at the same time. It was pretty exciting and daunting in equal measure.

The great thing about this experience was all the IT Project Managers were hired into the same firm. Effectively all working in the same environment with similar challenges. 

This meant comparing the project managers’ behaviour and outcomes was relatively easy. 

There were differences, of course – different projects, line managers and durations, for example. So, it is difficult to compare the project managers without considering their unique contextual challenges. 

For example, it’s not fair to compare project managers where one has plentiful resources, and another has minimal. However, the latter scenario is a good test of skills and resourcefulness. The comparisons need to be made in the context.

Improving the Hiring Process to find a suitable IT Project Manager

For More Info: Tech DD

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