Whenever you see a company looking for a project manager, you have a general idea of what the jobs is about. However, companies often like to present some simple job with a more attractive name. In many cases, project manager in the real world might mean that the job actually offered is an office admin or a secretary. That being said, while being a secretary isn’t bad either, if you are actually looking for a project manager job, it might not be for you.

But do you know what a project manager generally needs to do anyhow? The title looks great but we seldom know what’s behind the nice name.

As a rule of thumb, project manager is responsible for planning, executing, controlling and monitoring of the projects assigned to you.  While this description is still very broad, it should already give you a good enough idea of what it’s all about. Basically – as a project manager, you are responsible for the success of the project.

As a project manager you need to be able to define strict project requirements, estimate reasonable timeline, clearly state the goals and objectives, assign specific tasks to specific people and track their performance throughout the project. You need to be able to get the project done based on your employer’s or your client’s guidelines. Preferrably sooner than expected and preferably faster than expected.

Based on textbook examples, the job description for a project manager is fairly simple to write, to understand. Yet, no actual situation is based on any textbook. And this is why you should always make sure you understand what a potential employer would expect from you as a project manager.

Even the name of the project manager varies from company to company. Project manager, team leader, project coordinator. Whatever the specific details of the job are – by the end of the day, you are responsible for getting the project done.

Just keep in mind – while the general requirements are mostly the same – which is planning, organising and controlling the project and getting it done successfully, there are always small details that vary depending on the company you work for, depending on the project, depending on your team and your client.