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Not everyone in the world is a natural leader. For those that are, however, finding a career that allows them to build teams and work with others to achieve success can be an excellent use of their talents. The good news is that there’s a field that suits such individuals perfectly: project management.
Project managers can be found in almost every industry and every line of business. They play an essential role in helping the companies they work for achieve business objectives and meet strategic goals. In short, project managers lead interdisciplinary teams of workers in executing plans designed to achieve either short-term or long-term results. Essentially, they’re the go-betweens that assemble the talent needed to get things done.
Since project managers can work in just about any industry you can imagine, they’re always in demand. They also have quite a bit of flexibility with regards to their career path. If you’re considering studying towards a project management degree, here are four industries where project managers are always in demand.
Healthcare
No matter where you live (or even where you’d like to live), it’s a safe bet that the healthcare industry there is booming. In the United States, the healthcare industry even recently became the nation’s largest employer. The explosive growth that’s taking place in healthcare worldwide is fueling a demand for project managers won’t go away soon. Businesses are reorganizing and scaling up to meet unprecedented demand. Depending on the nature of your skills, you could find work in the healthcare industry as a project manager specializing in data management, process development, and service delivery streamlining.
Information Technology
These days, information technology (IT) plays a major role in every business around the world. Since the advent of the internet, it’s even safe to say that businesses (as presently constructed) would cease to exist without the technologies they depend on. That makes IT project managers an indispensable part of keeping global businesses up and running. As an IT project manager, you might lead efforts to develop AI and AR solutions, manage major technology infrastructure deployments, or even handle the creation of a new cryptocurrency.
Construction
As global populations have continued to rise, there’s been a corresponding boom in construction almost everywhere on earth. For project managers, the best news of all is that it’s an industry that’s recession-proof. After all, construction and infrastructure projects remain necessary in all economic conditions. Also, unlike in other industries, construction project managers rely much more on generalized skills as organizers, so it’s a great way for recent graduates to gain experience without possessing a wide range of skills early in their careers. That’s not to say there’s no room for growth, though. Holders of project management masters degrees can take on complex engineering projects, and secure higher-level positions with correspondingly higher salaries, too.
Finance
The global finance industry serves as the economic engine of much of the developed world. It’s also one of the most regulated industries to be found anywhere. As such, project managers are always in great demand for businesses in the sector. Financial project managers can be found throughout the industry performing a variety of tasks, from risk identification to mergers and acquisitions and everything in between. It’s also an industry that provides tremendous opportunities for project managers. Project managers are often promoted into executive-level positions because of their intimate understanding of business and regulatory processes.
A Flexible Path
Project managers also have another career advantage that’s hard to find elsewhere: the ability to switch jobs almost at will. Qualified individuals can work as freelancers, moving from project to project if they so choose. Or, they can focus on a particular industry to build experience. The variety of options that project managers have in finding the right fit is endless. The skills learned on-the-job are transferable and relevant, even when moving between industries. The bottom line is that those choosing to pursue degrees in project management will be granting themselves entry to one of the most interesting and rewarding professions anywhere – and will be able to find a path they love, without fear of getting stranded in a job they don’t enjoy. At the end of the day, what could be better than that?
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