ANSWER

Can you apply your project management skills outside of a work project? The answer is yes.

Why? Because the time when managing projects solely lived in a spreadsheet or MS Project has passed.

While those two tools are still around and are just as powerful, with the emergence of concepts such as Scrum, Agile, and Kanban, and many free or nominally priced apps, you can manage just about anything as a “project” ~ easily!  For example, you can scrum your wedding.  You can scrum your family (and the daunting Saturday chore list).  You can even run retrospectives to understand why the family weekend didn’t work out as great as expected.  

I struggled lately with a personal venture.  I couldn’t figure out how to get it going.  I didn’t know where to begin with all of the tasks, to-dos, and other items I haven’t considered (but I know it’s going to come up). It took attending a webinar on an entirely different subject to get the wheels turning in my brain.

Finally, I started to realize this venture could no doubt run as a project.  This is life, outside of a full-time job.  I don’t have the luxury of time to gather all the requirements. So running it as lean as possible is the way to go. Proceeding with an Agile framework makes sense.  

And the beauty is that I do not have to know all the work items, the tasks, or the to-dos upfront. Instead, I can add them as I go.

So how is this all relevant in an interview setting? First, it shows your passion for the job runs deep, that you’re all in. Second, it shows that you understand anything can be broken up into manageable pieces and completed on a short timeline.  The skills you have are transferable and adaptable.  Some benefits of using your project management skills in your personal life setting include:

• Skills mastery
• Gap filler.  Resumes can’t account for most of your “off the clock” time, but an interview can.  It is helpful when pivoting your career.  In either case, you can show that you have what it takes.
• With non-disclosures and proprietary property, you are very limited to the amount of work you can showcase. Performing some of the skills outside of the job helps.  You can have a “portfolio” of your work accessible online, so the hiring manager has the opportunity to review it.
• It shows a personal side.  It is a way for the hiring manager to know you outside of work.

Having outside interests may be the “leg-up” you need to land the job you're interviewing for. It would help if you considered how work habits & skills relate to actions & plans in your personal life because it should assist you in subsequent interviews.

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Angela Spring
Business Systems Analyst
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