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. Technology Due Diligence

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. 

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.

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

The approach to improve the hiring process within Tech Teams


In my scenario, some of the PMs were the equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife. They were able to handle every challenge that came their way. Typically autonomous, they were seen as high performers and well-regarded. The more success they had, the more opportunities and exciting work came their way.

In contrast, other PMs were strong in one area (e.g. completing complex, detailed documents) but needed help in other areas (e.g. driving the team). Hence, they struggled with the multiple hats they were expected to wear and were not regarded as high performers. 

These differences are a good thing in the normal run of things. But when you’re under the cosh, you need results, not diversity. (And that’s coming from a diversity advocate!).

To paraphrase business guru Jim Collins, you need to get the right people on the bus in the right seats. Those that were more report and data-oriented needed to be placed in projects where that skill was most important.  Whereas a different type of PM was needed for challenging projects. Those with multiple stakeholders, high profile and the need to drive staff.

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