One of the hardest parts about breaking into project management is figuring out how to frame past experience as “project management.” 

This is a key element to landing a project manager role, but often becomes a roadblock to aspiring project managers.

Interestingly, by the time we reach adulthood many of us already have experience managing some sort of project, whether personally, professionally, or academically. 

But often we don’t take the time to fully recognize these projects for what they are - experience!

So leverage that experience by retroactively taking the project through the project lifecycle. 

Think about the different stages the project went through and create documentation as if it is happening in real time. 

Include key project documents such as:

• Project Charter

• Project Plan

• Project Schedule

• Project Budget

This exercise is helpful because you begin to think of your project in a professional light.

You begin to see that you really did manage a project, even if the words you used to do so were different than what you find in a text book. 

You may even decide to write a project case study to include in your project manager portfolio. 

What are some of your biggest roadblocks to landing a project manager role?