Career Advice/Feedback - Proj Mgmt/International Mgmt

Napolean

Hi All,

I'm a 30 yr old ACCA qualified Irish accountant with a background in Fund Accounting/Supplier Mgmt/Project Mgmt & business analysis, but looking to make a career change. I'm currently in Oz but thinking of moving to the UK to do a masters in either project mgmt or international business. Ideally after i do one of these courses, I would like to work for one of the major consulting companies or a large multi-national or NGO. I have a million things going through my head and would really appreciate some feedback to some short questions:

a) Is a masters in International Business/Mgmt a waste of time? Specifically i want to study supply chain mgmt/emerging markets & proj mgmt and I have identified a course, but sometimes i think is it a waste of time? A wishy washy masters only for recent graduates? Is 30 to old to really benefit?

b) Rather than do a masters in PM (which is what I want to do), I was thinking maybe do a masters in international business and then do my PMP (professional project mgmt) exams after? Makes sense to me, but then is it just delaying the whole PM thing?

c) I haven't worked in Big4 acc practice and indeed, I havent worked in an acc pratice at all. I have a pretty poor Leaving cert, but have my degree/ACCA & 2 promotions to show I'm not a complete dunce. I'm just thinking, am I wasting my time doing a Masters at 30 - do the major consultancy companies take people on who are in their 30's (ie not raw graduates)?

d) I'm mad keen to return to Europe having been away for 3 yrs (and lived in Luxembourg for 3 yrs before that) and thinking it will be great. Are there business/consulting jobs in the UK? It's difficult to know what to think reading the online papers from here in Oz (always the same, you have to be there to really know what it's like)...I am in full-time employment here and it's going well, if a little stale - am I mad to return to Europe the way things are? Should I just stay in Australia, do a masters here?

I'm not after massive essay answers, but it's hard to know what to do and career advice is hard to comeby. There are alot of smart, tuned-in people on here so any advice/feedback would be very much appreicated.

Thanks,

TransportCons

Napolean wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm a 30 yr old ACCA qualified Irish accountant with a background in Fund Accounting/Supplier Mgmt/Project Mgmt & business analysis, but looking to make a career change. I'm currently in Oz but thinking of moving to the UK to do a masters in either project mgmt or international business. Ideally after i do one of these courses, I would like to work for one of the major consulting companies or a large multi-national or NGO. I have a million things going through my head and would really appreciate some feedback to some short questions:

a) Is a masters in International Business/Mgmt a waste of time? Specifically i want to study supply chain mgmt/emerging markets & proj mgmt and I have identified a course, but sometimes i think is it a waste of time? A wishy washy masters only for recent graduates? Is 30 to old to really benefit?

b) Rather than do a masters in PM (which is what I want to do), I was thinking maybe do a masters in international business and then do my PMP (professional project mgmt) exams after? Makes sense to me, but then is it just delaying the whole PM thing?

c) I haven't worked in Big4 acc practice and indeed, I havent worked in an acc pratice at all. I have a pretty poor Leaving cert, but have my degree/ACCA & 2 promotions to show I'm not a complete dunce. I'm just thinking, am I wasting my time doing a Masters at 30 - do the major consultancy companies take people on who are in their 30's (ie not raw graduates)?

d) I'm mad keen to return to Europe having been away for 3 yrs (and lived in Luxembourg for 3 yrs before that) and thinking it will be great. Are there business/consulting jobs in the UK? It's difficult to know what to think reading the online papers from here in Oz (always the same, you have to be there to really know what it's like)...I am in full-time employment here and it's going well, if a little stale - am I mad to return to Europe the way things are? Should I just stay in Australia, do a masters here?

I'm not after massive essay answers, but it's hard to know what to do and career advice is hard to comeby. There are alot of smart, tuned-in people on here so any advice/feedback would be very much appreicated.

Thanks,

Well on the Project Management point anyway, I would say make the PMP accreditation a higher priority than the masters. It will serve you much better and open far more doors rather than blowing a fortune on a masters that to be honest can be a bit vague. I think the international management masters would be far more beneficial, and just study for the PMP accreditation simultaneously. Also if your passion is managing projects, consider doing other accreditations such as the PRINCE2. Personally if I were interviewing, I would choose someone that has several internationally recognised accreditations, over a single masters degree.

In terms of age, 30 is still young enough in part-time masters courses (since most classmates will be in full-time employment). Full-time courses though, you certainly wouldn't be the youngest, but 30 is still definitely not too old.

Napolean

Thanks TransportCons.

Quite a bit of time has elapsed since I posted that. In that time, I have spoke with many, many people and my findings are:

1) Having spoke with many PM's, they say you can learn PM in two weeks, its the people management that will cause the issues most of the time.
2) At my age (31 now) do MBA instead, better on CV and get more from it. MBA with PM focus even better.
3) If no MBA with PM focus, do MBA (if motivated enough) and prince2 after.
4) The problem with doing no masters is PM can be difficult to get into with no experience...which the masters would have helped me overcome. However, doing MBA opens a world of doors including PM. Again, experience in prior roles will count a lot also.
5) I think you need to be PM to do the PMP, not necessarily with Prince2.
6) When writing the below I was in Sydney, 4 million people, competitive city and my reasoning, especially with all the Oil & Gas and LNG projects going on, was that it would be a great thing to have (and still probably is). But back in Europe the recruitment market and hiring trends are quite different hence the above.

Thanks for the reply again, much appreciated.

Birroc

Napolean wrote: »

Thanks TransportCons.

Quite a bit of time has elapsed since I posted that. In that time, I have spoke with many, many people and my findings are:

1) Having spoke with many PM's, they say you can learn PM in two weeks, its the people management that will cause the issues most of the time.
2) At my age (31 now) do MBA instead, better on CV and get more from it. MBA with PM focus even better.
3) If no MBA with PM focus, do MBA (if motivated enough) and prince2 after.
4) The problem with doing no masters is PM can be difficult to get into with no experience...which the masters would have helped me overcome. However, doing MBA opens a world of doors including PM. Again, experience in prior roles will count a lot also.
5) I think you need to be PM to do the PMP, not necessarily with Prince2.
6) When writing the below I was in Sydney, 4 million people, competitive city and my reasoning, especially with all the Oil & Gas and LNG projects going on, was that it would be a great thing to have (and still probably is). But back in Europe the recruitment market and hiring trends are quite different hence the above.

I don't think you can learn PM in 2 weeks. More like 2-3 months of a tough project. It is fairly much common sense though. The key is how you manage the resources.
Can you not "make up" some project management experience for your CV even if you just want to do the PMP exams (I did not realise you needed to be a PM to sit those). We have all managed a project of some kind.
Everyone is doing MBAs these days so maybe no harm in having it. You should find it easy with the ACCA knowledge.