How to Become a Project Manager in Canada Without Experience 

Are you blessed with the guts to always lead people and efficiently organize everything?

If so, then you can pursue a career in project management.  

Because:

A project manager is the one who supervises the whole project and tackles every problem that arises.

Want to get in-depth knowledge about project management?

Keep reading, as this article will tell you about how to become a project manager without experience, what its role and responsibilities are, and what skills and qualifications are needed.  

How to Become a Project Manager in Canada with No Experience

Worried about how to get into project management without having any prior experience under your belt?

Relax, we have got you covered!

Here are some helpful steps you can take to know how to become a project manager in Canada without experience: 

Improve your project management skills

One of the best ways to start your career in project management is to hone your project management skills by looking out for opportunities. Start focusing on developing strong critical thinking skills and time management skills. You can also seek a mentor who will provide you with tips about improving your project manager skills.

Work on your team management skill

Becoming a project manager requires gathering and involving multiple team members from various departments and backgrounds to work on a project. So, you’ll have to work on strongly building your team management skills to bring diversified members on one page for the project’s success.

Develop strong communication skills

Having phenomenal communication skills is one of the most crucial requirements for project managers, as they have to deal with multiple stakeholders and crew members. Start developing strong verbal and written communication skills as you will have to communicate with the working team to assign tasks and give the right directions to them. 

Make Use of Powerful Project Management Tools

Get a firm grasp of robust project management tools such as Dropbox, Monday, Asana, Trello, Wrike, and Basecamp. Because when you become a project manager, these tools will help you manage time and resources, monitor project activities, estimate costs, delegate tasks, and track progress.

Leverage Project Management Models

The project manager career path is interesting, as you can leverage several project management approaches or models to make the project easier to understand by finding out which one of them is the perfect fit for you. Here are some examples of the project management models:

• Agile:

It is a project management model or approach in which multiple teams encounter project variations at once. Extensively used in the IT industry, this model allows the business to adapt to a dynamic working environment. 

• Scrum: 

Popular in software development companies, it is a model in which the smaller teams collaborate with a product owner who gives directions and tasks to the whole team. A daily and weekly stand-up meeting is held in which the members discuss what work they have done and what they should be doing in the upcoming week.

• Kanban:

This method comprises a digital board with to-do, in-progress, and done columns, and tasks are written over cards that allow the teams to do a visual synopsis of their project. It helps the team track their work progress and identify backlogs ahead of time. 

Role of a Project Manager

If you are paving your way for a bright career in project management, you must want to know what is a project manager and what its responsibilities are. 

So here is a list of all the duties and responsibilities of a project manager:

• Executing all the phases of project management 
• Planning and managing the expectations of the project with all stakeholders after identifying them
• Utilizing the whole project lifecycle to coordinate and track multiple projects 
• Tracking the progress of the project by creating a plan for project management 
• Supervising, encouraging, and mentoring the working team of the project 
• Making the project more manageable by splitting up the project into smaller tasks and then delegating it to different members 
• Establishing business relationships on a professional level by keeping communication.
• Keeping a record of the documents of project management and updating them regularly
• Ensuring that the work is going on as per the demands by coordinating with different departments 
• Forecasting the requirements for resources and revenues 
• Ensuring that the project is completed within time and budget 
• Gathering multiple teams for the maintenance of the quality of products
• Ensuring that the team members have all the information which is needed 
• Informing the management about issues when required 
• Satisfying the needs of customers by obtaining feedback 
• Using project tools and techniques to measure the performance of the project 

Project Management Skills in Demand

Project management requirements include possessing an in-demand skill set comprising soft and hard skills. 

Soft Skills

To become a project manager, you will need to have the following soft skills: 

• Leadership skills
• Communication skills 
• Time management skills
• Decision-making skills
• Problem-solving skills 
• Conflict-management skills 
• Organizational skills 
• Adaptability skills 
• Trust-building skills  

Hard Skills

You will have to acquire the following hard skills for fulfilling the project manager requirements:

• Financial management skills
• Negotiation skills
• Risk management skills 
• Technical skills  
• Marketing skills 
• Reading and writing skills 
• Executional skills
• Delegation skills  
• Forecasting skills 

What qualifications do you need to be a project manager?

Project manager qualifications vary from industry to industry. Most project managers have a business administration or project manager degree, which gives them an edge in the job market. 

However:

To become a project manager, you can also earn a degree in construction, information technology (IT), engineering, economics, logistics, marketing, linguistics, arts, etc. We also have covered a separate blog on types of construction degrees. 

For example:

If you are working as a project manager in a design agency, you must have a degree in Design or Arts to know the industry better. 

Furthermore:

Project managers can also study their relevant industry and attain master’s and doctoral degrees.

Important Certifications to Level-up Your Project Management Career

To become a project manager in Canada, you will need these two most popular certifications, which will level up your career in project management:

1. Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
2. Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification

Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)

The Project Management Institute (PMI) allocates the CAPM, an entry-level project management certification. The CAPM gives you knowledge about project management basics and procedures. 

This certification is a perfect fit for those who do not have much project management experience but look forward to continuing a career in this field. 

It can either be a self-sufficient certification to become a project manager or be used as one of the preconditions required to advance to gaining a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification.

To earn the CAPM certification, the candidates must hold a secondary degree, either an associate’s degree or a high school diploma, along with a project management education of 23 hours and at least 1500 hours of relevant work experience.

Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification 

The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is one of the most well-known and internationally recognized certifications, which is also issued by the top-most institution for project management – the Project Management Institute (PMI).   

The PMP certification sets a benchmark for project management and qualifies professional project managers to work in various domains. 

It is not for total beginners; however, those who want to make a robust portfolio of project management should consider getting this certification.

Requirements for acquiring the PMP certification include:

• Possessing a four-year project manager degree
• Working on leading projects for 4500 hours 
• Project management education of 35 hours or the CAPM certification

Or:

• A high school diploma or GED 
• Working on leading projects for 7500 hours
• Project management education of 35 hours or the CAPM certification 

How much a project manager earns in Canada?

The median project manager salary in Canada per year is approximately 85,000 CAD. 

Entry-level project management positions start at 65,827 CAD per year, while professional project managers with more experience earn up to 124,000 CAD per year.  

Here is a table showing the median project manager salary in different provinces of Canada:

Benefits of a Career in Project Management

You can obtain the following benefits if you pursue a career in project management:

Enhances leadership attributes: 

A career in project management helps you improve your leadership qualities and enables you to know how to take charge, encourage your team members, and take better decisions. 

Develops problem-solving ability:

After becoming a project manager, you will get to grips with several challenging situations in the work field, which will enable you to plan logically, think critically, and develop the problem-solving skills required to resolve multiple challenges.

Improves social skills:  

When you become a project manager, you will have to communicate and establish relationships with multiple stakeholders, project teams, and owners. So, a career in project management will lead you to improve your people or social skills, which may also serve other aspects of your life.

Allows to achieve goals:

Having project management skills enables you to advance in your career. In addition, they also allow you to achieve your targets and goals.

Bottom-line

Having a degree or experience is not a requirement for becoming a project manager. You can follow other steps, like developing soft and hard skills, to get your foot into project management. 

If you have any further questions regarding how to become a project manager, do let us know in the comment section. And if you found this article helpful, don’t forget to share it with your friends and family.

The Primus Workforce team is proudly built on hands-on industry knowledge and experience.