by Mike Ososki, PMP

Jeff Justice recommends fun ways to deal with stress, especially at work—to make your day a little better. As the Humor Resources Director at www.JeffJustice.com, he has helped lighten up the likes of Fortune 500 companies across the country, and been featured in Time, Newsweek, TV Guide and more. Jeff has authored seven books and is president and founder of Jeff Justice’s Comedy Workshoppe, the US’s largest and most successful school for stand-up comedy.

Humor is a vital management tool and everyone can do it. Even if you see yourself as a dead serious professional, you can find your own style of humor, and grow by baby steps. Yes, unfunny people can learn to be hilarious and heard, and still get good, quality things done in scope, time and budget.

Some of Jeff’s comedy tips:

• Only use humor to make a Point.
• The Punch Word is the Last word of the sentence.
• If you want to be funny you have to learn to Shut Up!
• Don't drop your Voice on your punchlines.
• Your mom was wrong. Lying is OK ! Exaggeration is one of the keys to comedy.
• Don't Telegraph your punchline by saying, “Here comes the bad part, unfortunately or surprisingly.” Make it immediate. It happened Today , Yesterday or Last Week.
• Attitude is Almost everything!. It's 10% material and 90% delivery.
• Poke fun at Yourself especially in the Beginning of your program.
• Don’t Tell them, Show them.
• It’s your voice and not your words that tells the listener what’s important.
• Humor breaks down resistance and stops situations from escalating.
• Humor is better than anger, and you don’t want heart lesions.
• Laughing is healthy. Women laugh more and live longer.

A couple of samples of Jeff’s standup material:

1. A fellow is driving home one night. He coasts up to a stop sign, looks around and doesn’t see any traffic coming. So he slows down a bit, but he still runs the stop sign. A police officer is waiting around the corner and pulls him over.
   The officer asks, “Do you know why I stopped you?”
   The guy says, “No, I don’t.”
   “Well, you ran that stop sign back there.”
   “Oh, no, didn’t you see? I slowed down.”
   “Well, you’re supposed to stop.”
   “I slowed down. It’s the same thing.”
   “Look, the law says you have to come to a complete stop.”
   “GIVE ME A BREAK! I slowed down. We both know it’s the same thing!”
   At that point, the cop whips out his nightstick and starts whacking the guy
   over the head. The guy yells, “Owwwww! That hurts!”
   And the cop replies, “I know. Now, do you want me to stop…or slow down?”
   
   
2. I stopped at a minimart for gas and a Coke on my way to the airport. I was standing behind a man at the counter — he was about my height but a big, muscular, workout kinda guy. He was trying to buy a pack of gum with a hundred dollar bill. The woman at the cash register gave him her best you’re-an-idiot look and said, “I don’t have enough change for that.” 
   He snarled, “Well, go get it!” 
   She said, “I can’t leave the register because the manager’s not here.”
   The guy was really giving her a hard time. And finally she told him, “Do us both a favor and stand off to the side. Let me take care of the customer behind you because you’re holding him up.” 
   I’m thinking, “Oh, great! Now Godzilla’s going to look at me.” 
   He turned and said, “Hey, Mac, am I holding you up?” 
   I was mad, and I said, “Yeah, pal, you are holding me up. As a matter of fact, you’ve been rude to this young lady. You apologize to her right now or I’m gonna take you outside and kick your tail!” 
   Well, to myself I said that. To him I said, “Oh, no-o-o-o — take your time! I’ve got all day, buddy. Boy, she’s got some snotty attitude, doesn’t she?”

Yes, humor can make yours and everyone’s day a little better. Loosen up on your ego. Take yourself lightly and poke some fun at yourself. Find laughter. Everyone does self-talk—what are you saying? Don’t be like the boss at the cemetery, with lots of people under him, but no one is listening.

And finally, Jeff performed the wondrous and amazing blue-ribbon-through-the-microphone trick over and over, then showed us how it was done—in slow motion! Who’d a-thunk-it?

Please join us in congratulating our new Executive Board Members!  We look forward to providing more value to our members in 2018!

Vice Chair

Nagendra Roy, PMP, SAFe, CSM, ITIL, MBA, is Sr. Director at Aptude, Inc., a global IT consulting company. He has a Masters in Business Administration.

Nagendra is strategic leader and drives performance and achieving superior results across industry domain with world-class organizations; Playing enterprise executive role for prime utilization of IT technologies and driving business innovation by processes improvement and enhancements, leveraging project management expertise & leadership to accelerate growth and gain competitive edge of business Intelligence and transformation expertise. 

Nagendra has been an active member with the PMI Atlanta Chapter since 2013 and has held multiple leadership roles in Industry Forums, Membership and Engagement teams. He is currently the VP of Engagement. In his spare time, Nagendra mentor college graduates and junior team members. A metro Atlanta resident since 2013, he lives with his wife and one boy in Alpharetta, GA.

Treasurer

Selena Buchanan is a professor at Ohio Christian University (Adult & Graduate Studies, e.g., Business & Government). As a current member of the Project Management community, she serves dual roles as a Special Interest Financial Coordinator and as the Project Manager on the Operations team spearheading the PM in the AM/Airport. Selena financial expertizes stems from working closely with business owners for over ten years to help resolve financial issues and problems.

My vision for the chapter is future-focused by using project management as an element to influence the innovative, creativity and ideas of the small business owners. My educational background includes an MBA and graduate certification in Project Management from Walden University.

Director-at-Large

Nazanin Aslani, PMP, CSM (nickname Nazy) lived in Southern California before moving to Atlanta.

She has worked in education, healthcare, transportation, food and utilities industries and has extensive experience in leading projects in areas of software development, change management, system integration and information security.

Nazy has a B.S. in Computer Science from Kingston University, England. She is also a Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Certified Scrum Master (CSM). She has been a PMI member since 2011 and joined PMI Atlanta chapter in 2016. Nazy was on Board of Director for PMI Los Angeles Chapter from 2013-2016 where she served as VP of Professional Development (2013-2015) and VP of Administration in 2016.

How to Apply

General

Q1. What is Mentoring?
A1. Mentoring in the PMI-Atlanta Mentorship Program is the volunteer act of helping someone to improve their project management skills. Mentors are facilitators and catalysts in a process of discovery and insight. In a learning partnership, the Mentor’s role is to “guide on the side” rather than be “the expert with the answers”. Instead of being Mentor driven, with the Mentor taking full responsibility for the Mentee’s learning, the Mentee learns to share responsibility for the learning, setting priorities, learning, and resources and becomes increasingly self-directed.

• The Mentoring program is not a job placement or resume writing program.
• The Mentoring program is not recommended as a PMP study group. For information about PMI Atlanta Study groups, contact PMP Study Group Program Manager.
• Under no circumstances should a mentor/mentee enter into a mentoring partnership for financial gain or with the intent to sell a product or service.

Q2. Who is eligible to be a Mentee?
A2. PMI Atlanta Chapter members in good standing. Typically, a Mentee is somebody who is in or seeking the role of a project manager, program manager, project coordinator or project scheduler and is looking to enhance skills in a particular Knowledge Area or learn more about project management within a particular industry.

Q3. Who is eligible to be a Mentor?
A3. PMI Atlanta Chapter members in good standing. Typically, a Mentor will be:
• Be considered an experienced project manager by his/her peers
• Have 5+ years of experience as a project manager or project related roles
• Have a PMP designation

Q4. Are only professionals from specific industries allowed to participate?
A4. All industries are welcome.

Q5. How much time is required for the Mentor?
A5. The Mentor will spend a minimum of 2 hours with the Mentee per month. This can be face to face or over the phone. This is a minimum 6-hour time commitment plus attendance at the 2-hour Kick-Off Meeting.

Q6. How much time is required for the Mentee?
A6. The Mentee will spend a minimum of 2 hours with the Mentee per month. This can be face to face or over the phone. This is a minimum 6-hour time commitment plus attendance at the 2-hour Kick-Off Meeting.

Q7. How long is the program?
A7. The Mentor/Mentee partnership will last approximately 3 months (with a minimum of 8 hours: a 2 hour kick off meeting plus 6 hours within the 3-month period). If you wish to continue in the formal Mentoring program at the end of this period you must re-apply. The Mentor/Mentee can continue informally but will not include any PMI Atlanta involvement.

Q8. How do I apply to the program?
A8. Anyone interest in being considered for the program must be a member of the PMI Atlanta Chapter and needs to complete the following:

Q9. Why is there a Kick-Off session?
A9. Best practices indicate a successful Mentoring program is based on:

1. A good Mentor/Mentee match
2. A Kick-Off Meeting to provide guidelines and set-up expectations for Mentors and Mentees
   
   

PDUs

Q10. As a PMP, how many PDU’s (Professional Development Units) will I earn?
A10. Both the Mentor and/or the Mentee, if they are a PMP, can each earn PDUs as follows:

Q11. I am working on obtaining my PMP designation, can I claim Mentoring as part of the required 35 contact hours of Project Management Education towards my PMP qualifications?
A11. No, unfortunately, Mentoring programs do not qualify for the 35 contact hour requirement. This portion of the PMP Certification examination application is specifically focused on structured learning programs addressing specific PM knowledge areas exemplified by a classroom setting. A classroom setting specifically focuses this portion of the PMP Certification examination application on structured learning programs addressing specific PM knowledge areas exemplified.

Q12. If I obtain a PMP status during the Mentoring program, will I be eligible for PDUs?
A12. Due to the short duration of the program PDUs will be available to participants who have a PMP designation at the start of the program.

Q13. How do I get my PDUs?
A13. Upon completion of the Mentoring program you submit your PDUs through the normal PMI procedures (CCRS account).

Q14. What time is and is not considered eligible for PDU credits?
A14. The following activities are considered eligible for PDUs:

• Attendance at the Kick off Meeting
• Time spent together by both Mentor and Mentee
  o Face to face
  o Telephone conversations

The following activities are considered not eligible for PDU’s:

• Work (decided upon by Mentor/Mentee)
• E-mails
• Reading
• Travel

Q15. If I complete my contact time before the program ends, can I claim the PDU’s earlier?
A15. PDUs will only be awarded at the end of the program. See the next question.

Q16. To which category do the earned PDUs apply?
A16. PDUs earned during the Mentoring program for the Kick off Meeting are applied to Category: Education, Activity: Organization Meeting. PDUs from time spend in the mentoring partnership are applied as follows: for the Mentor: Category: Giving Back, Activity: Shared Knowledge; For the Mentee: Category: Education, Activity: Informal Learning.

Mentor/Mentee Matches

Q17. Can I continue my current Mentor/Mentee relationship for a second term?
A17. Due to the limited number of spots available, all interested parties must reapply to participate in the program. If the Mentor/Mentee relationship continues informally outside the program, a PMP should review his or her Mentor/Mentee activities to establish if additional PDUs can be claimed.

Q18. How many Mentor/Mentee partnerships are allowed in the program?
A18. At this time there is not a specific number of pairings targeted, but the group will work to accommodate as many pairings as possible. The number of partnerships is limited to the number of mentors that volunteer for the term.

Q19. How will the Mentor/Mentee pairs be chosen?
A19. Generally they will be chosen on a first come/first served, best match basis. However, the logistics of matching may mean that even if your application was #1 and no appropriate match was found then you would not be paired. The general concept for matching is experience, industry, professional specialization, Mentoring preferences, location proximity and a variety of less important considerations.

Q20. How many Mentees will be assigned to a Mentor?
A20. One Mentee will be assigned per one Mentor, unless there is a 'Group Mentor' offering for the term. 

Q21. Who participates in ‘Group Mentoring’?
A21. The profile of a mentee candidate for group mentoring is someone with 'zero to less than 3 years' experience LEADING projects. In most cases, the person does not have their PMP. The person may know about Project Management from an intellectual perspective but not much in practice, or they want more fundamental information about Project Management from a day-to-day perspective. There will be one mentor with multiple mentees. The group will meet and examples of topics which may be covered are listed below. Each group mentoring session is a little different, so topics may vary.

• Overview of skills that are typically needed by anyone pursuing a new career as a PM or developing their PM career
• Aspects of certification (CAPM/PMP) including maintaining a PMP certification (but this is not a PMP Prep class)
• How project Management helps organizations improve
• Tips/tricks for interviewing (but not job search or resume building)
• Handling challenging situations/stakeholders
• Aspects of becoming/maintaining a PMP certification (but this is not a PMP Prep class) 
• Disciplines of and additional helpful skills for PM's
  o Vendor Negotiations/Vendor Management
  o Managing Project Resources
  o Project communications
  o Handling challenging situations/stakeholders
  o PM Tools (discussion and good uses of MS Project vs Excel, what is a PPM? Word, PowerPoint, E-mail)

Q22. What if my Mentor/Mentee and I don’t get along?
A22. It is expected that both Mentors & Mentees will put forth their best efforts to create a positive relationship. If these efforts are unsuccessful contact the Mentorship Program Manager.

by Mike Ososki, PMP

Happy Summer! And welcome back to PMI Atlanta’s annual hosting of recruiters and career advice panel. This year, we had 4 professionals chipping in their knowledgeable opinions and sage advice on how to play the hiring game well. Participants often echoed each other’s statements to emphasize, agree and complement opinions.

Lisa Leff, Director of Recruiting, Genuent graced us with a return appearance, as we enjoyed her contributions in the 2016 panel, too. Her 20 years of IT staffing expertise encourage us to listen up in general, with Genuent emphasis on Fintech and IT infrastructure. Lisa says that flexibility is key, so if you can do contract or contract-to-hire, then it’s always worth asking to go direct, if it’s what you want. In your resume, Lisa feels it’s important to emphasize accomplishments, purpose, IT certifications, and technical abilities. Customize to reflect buzzwords in the job description, and be ready to answer questions about gaps (volunteer work is good). She encourages us to always engage in both internal and external networking, and use employee advocates wherever possible at target companies. Reach out to recruiters and work closely to help them help you and sell you. Be sure and tell them when you get more certifications and/or references. If you do a Skype interview, be sure your “set” is clean and fresh, with decent lighting.

Peter Sherman, Managing Partner, Riverwood Associates specializes in Lean Six Sigma (LSS) programs, training, coaching and consulting, especially in healthcare, logistics, and technology. Peter asserts that all organizations seek cognitive problem solvers—professionals who think on their feet and learn on the fly. He says that the demand for LSS know-how is very strong, with pressure to get the release out faster and define root cause problems before solutioning. In the new gig economy, resume gaps are more of a non-issue. He advocates being authentic and genuine, and says that leaders look for the core competency to lead project teams, which is bigger than skill sets. For interviews, Peter references the SAR method: Situation, Activities, Results, and says that behavioral questions are fading out, with a better success predictor being, “What is your 90-day plan?” He’s a fan of the stealth interview, wherein a potential candidate contacts the company as a prospective customer to gather information. Peter also recommends being a member of professional organizations, and recommends these media resources ...
• Adam Bryant of The New York Times
• Atlanta Business Chronicle
• Indeed and Zip Recruiter

Bianca Guidry, Senior Recruiter, Hollstadt Consulting primarily serves Delta Airlines, seeking Program and Project Managers, BAs, Scrum Masters, and Project Coordinators. For the higher level roles, she’s always on the lookout for problem solvers who can manage large budgets. Delta likes to hire for the long-term, with 6-7 year average FTE tenure, and 6-12mo. contract temp. In resumes, she feels that the summary is most important, because “some managers stop at the first period.” She typically invests about an hour with each candidate to help optimize their resume, highlight core competencies, remove work history older than ~15yrs, and recommends both month and year for each job/project duration. On LinkedIn, Bianca recommends to consistently use the same professional picture, with a simple background. She feels that companies appreciate candidates who set personal career goals, and do 3mo. reviews to assess progress. Bianca shared about the Delta process via Hollstadt: 1) resume to her, 2) 30min phone screen, 3) resume to her manager to present to Delta, 4) 30min. phone screen w/Delta manager, 5) in-person interview within 5 days, 6) offer within 2 days. For Skype interviews, she says to dress professionally, and affirms that the millennial mindset is to leave the job if they’re not happy.

Stephanie Warner, Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist, North Highland is also a return panelist, having been with us also in 2012. She states that Project Managers and Business Analysts are the bread and butter at her company, and that working contract can open more doors. She recommends to keep a comprehensive record of all work you’ve done, then extract to customize to each specific opportunity. LinkedIn is a great tool to expand networks, and you are wise to partner with quality recruiters to increase options for your best success. Stephanie shared a current statistic: The mean rate of a job vacancy is 35 days, in contrast to the 48hr. shelf life of a quality candidate with the right skills and core competencies that is drug-free and has good references. She believes that age discrimination is real, but that being a confident communicator to sell yourself with a little bit of oomph energy is highly beneficial to counter it. Stephanie mentioned that continuing work on certifications is important, and that Honeywell’s recently joining Atlanta’s IoT Tech Center is very beneficial.

It seems that the going hourly rate for Sr. PMs is $55-75, but avoid shorting yourself to a lower rate during interviewing. You’ve likely heard much of this before, and there’s a good reason that it is often repeated: in the world of business, recruiting, talent acquisition, hiring, resumes and interviews, most of it is most often true.