by Mike Ososki, PMP

If you answer yes, Al Smith can help you do it—especially on LinkedIn. He is the expert to optimize your information so that when recruiters search there, you show up in the early pages. Mr. Smith says, “Help you get to page 1—that’s what I want for you.”

Al’s prior work was in sales management, and he authored the job search manual called HIRED! Every Employment Method, and thus became known as The HIRED! Guy. Visit his website and check out his bestselling book HIRED! Every Employment Method on Amazon. 

Recruiters constantly use LinkedIn to search for candidates. Ideally, you show up on page 1 of their search results. But even if not, always the earlier the better. This is because just like a Google search, we typically stop looking after ~1-5 pages, which can include dozens of potentially good candidates, and that’s where you want to be.

How do you show up early? First, your job title and keywords are the bait to catch the recruiter fish. If they find you and you mostly line up with the job requisition/s they’re working on, their job is to get your information in front of company hiring managers and talent acquisition professionals.

LinkedIn uses “sequential weighting” to select search results. These include headline, title, keywords and their placement in your profile, recommendations, skills, groups, and more. To rank high, add keywords and acronyms in your headline—up to 220 characters. Make your headline be your desired job title. Your “About” section can be up to 2,600 characters, and descriptions for each position up to 2,000 characters. Use all 100 available skills. Just like your resume, choose your words wisely to achieve maximum early impact that is as relevant as you can make it to job description language that appeals to you.

Use a “word cloud generator” to come up with 10-25 keywords, then load your profile and resume with them. Use words and phrases that recruiters may likely use to search and find people like you. Don’t try to game the system with techniques like excessive word repetition. Spell out poorly searchable acronyms like Project Manager vs. PM, Information Technology vs. IT, and Human Resources vs. HR. To be found, your job is to out-SEO your competition. To test your searchability, search for yourself using Boolean, eg: OR, AND, and quotes.

On the cautious side, Mr. Smith recommends that females especially sign up for a Google phone #, to keep your cell phone number private.

Resume-wise, show as much work history as you’re comfortable with, so that the algorithm has more content to place you higher. Maybe go back at least ~15 years. Don’t drastically change your resume for each job, but be sure to list “core competencies” vertically in your LinkedIn profile. Also create a one-page cover letter that reflects the job description keywords. The computers read everything all the time.

When job-searching, go as narrow focused as possible, then create a “value proposition deck” to tell your story partially in images. Use Pixabay to find free images for your profile cover photo. You can use both paragraphs and bullet points to appeal to both preferences.

Al declares, “I want all of you to have a brand,” and to “stand out from the crowd.”

Tuesday night, PMI Atlanta and Georgia Tech's College of Lifetime Learning teamed up to provide a Professional Development Session reviewing tips and tricks for passing the PMP exam the first time, fundamentals of risk management, and how to manage conflict. Special thanks to our instructors Joe Sisto, Sarv Kohli, and Kizmet Charles for facilitating our dynamic breakout sessions.

The evening began with dinner and networking with a special guest joining us - BUZZ! Attendees had a variety of boxed meals and desserts to choose from as they mingled and exchanged their LinkedIn QR codes. View our Photo Gallery for photos from the event.

We began the program at 6pm with an overview and introductions of our speakers by Georgia Tech's Academic Program Director Chris Carter. Then we formed our groups and moved to our breakout sessions. Each group brought insightful questions and observations from their PM experience which now has Mr. Carter's wheels turning to incorporate more into the course content for Georgia Tech.

Whether the attendee was an aspiring or seasoned PM, everyone came away from the sessions with new takeaways and fresh ideas to implement in their projects.

PMI Atlanta members are able to enjoy a 10% discount in select courses from Georgia Tech. Read more to learn about their programs.

by Mike Ososki, PMP

Bryan Williams, MBA, PMP, PMI-ACP now oversees how UPS’s Global Strategy Group is prioritizing portfolios and programs. His focus is to align strategic initiatives with enterprise-wide goals, and he shared a somewhat sobering view (though maybe exciting, too?) of the writing on the wall.

This isn’t your father’s world of project management, and we all do well to adopt a flexible growth mindset in the swirling semi-chaos that is our current global situation. Here are a few of the ways Bryan sees PM work evolving now:

• Structure : from projects > products emphasis
• Funding : from single, stringent process > multimodal, flexible process
• Getting It Done : from waterfall > enterprise-scale agile and hybrid portfolios
• Oversight : from high visibility of few portfolios > less visibility of many portfolios

Organizational change is expected to continue its dizzying increase. This is due to myriad factors such as market forces, competition, inflation, resource constraints, financial benefits, customer satisfaction, products & services, and value delivery. A recent Gartner survey found that 91% of HR leaders anticipate that change will either remain at its same dynamic pace or increase.

We’re talking about enterprise-scaled agile, product-centric delivery, digital acceleration, technology proliferation, economic & geopolitical uncertainty, and delivery to value realization. Do you feel the pressure?

The project management ecosystem continues to evolve as new complexities emerge

Mandate shifts just keep on coming

The next generation of project management, according to a 2023 Gartner survey of 373 PM leaders, published in the Harvard Business Review, includes

And so, finally, to best keep riding our wild horses, Bryan recommends we focus on

Written by: Tana Glassford-Samuel, MBA, PMP

Executives and delivery teams often speak different languages. In our Agile Forum, Quincy D. Jordan showed how to bridge that disconnect with outcome-based data, governance shifts, and conversations that move agility from buzzword to business value.

Presentation Overview 

We had the privilege of hearing from Quincy D. Jordan, Managing Partner at MarQuiPlus, who walked us through the challenges many organizations face when delivery teams and executive leadership aren’t fully aligned. He shared real-world experiences, sparked interactive discussions, and highlighted how traditional decision-making models can unintentionally hold back true agility at the enterprise level. This conversation was meant to empower attendees to enhance teamwork and alignment, which is critical for driving shared purpose and accountability in the diverse industries we serve.

What stood out most were the practical takeaways we could apply right away. Quincy talked about using outcome-based data to show business impact, suggesting governance changes that make a real difference, and starting meaningful discussions with leaders who are accessible and open to influence. He left us with a powerful reminder: Agile is not the destination—business value is. The session gave us tools and perspective to better connect strategy with execution and move agility beyond buzzwords into lasting results.

    Executive Challenges:

• Legacy Mindsets: Command-and-control habits, slow adaptation to Agile principles.
• Predictability Pressures: Executives, especially in public companies, face demands for precise forecasts.
• Agile as ‘IT Tool’: Agile often seen as limited to IT, not as a holistic business approach.
• Training Gaps: Leadership often lacks Agile vocabulary and context, especially in bottom-up transformations.
• Incentive Misalignment: Performance appraisals and incentives may not support Agile values.

Takeaways

   The aim is business value and agility, not Agile for its own sake.

• Share Outcome-Based Data: Communicate results in terms of business impact.
• Recommend Governance Changes: Propose actionable improvements in leadership or processes.
• Start Agility Conversations: Engage accessible leaders to advocate for strategic agility.

Next Event

Join us at the next PMI Atlanta Agile forum on Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Keynote Presentation: "Beyond Methodologies: Building Flexibility into How We Work” by Andre Whittick

Register at www.pmiatlanta.org/events/event-calendar

Event Pictures

by Mike Ososki, PMP

Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin-yang represents two opposite yet complementary forces that exist in everything, interdependent and striving for dynamic balance and harmony.

These elements were woven throughout Gloriana Teh’s recent presentation, Paradoxical Leadership: The Project Manager’s Edge. We all know to “think outside the box,” and Gloriana suggests that we build a bigger box. Rather than being stuck in either/or thinking, shift to the healthier both/and perspective.

Many existing leadership models tend to be too complicated and/or not sufficiently robust. We struggle to navigate conflict and manage seemingly contradictory yet interconnected behaviors. Using the both/and approach, we can better see both sides are valid, and depend on specific context.

Good project managers have many tools in their belt. They know how to select and apply the best ones as needed to get the job done. Project-wise, we may use both Agile and Waterfall, Always important is to consider whether a decision is reversible (pencil) vs. irreversible (pen). It is a hybrid world, and we do well to adapt and adopt.

LEGO has an excellent collection of paradox examples:

The Paradox Principle: An unresolved paradox is a source of tension and conflict. A well-managed paradox generates alignment and forward momentum. Think of a slingshot, which has great tension until released.

With problems, we have symptoms. Use paradox to get to the root cause, which is often conflicting values. Watch out for “out of balance paradoxes.” Harrison Paradox Theory states that, when combined with stress, we can ‘flip’ to the opposite of our normal behavior, causing conflict.

Excellence = Quality x Acceptance, difficult to balance between, and hard to achieve. Acceptance directly ties into Change Management, an increasingly needed skill for PMs. Consider Prosci’s ADKAR framework ...

Awareness > Desire > Knowledge > Ability > Reinforcement.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the most important factor to predict success for leaders. Research shows it to be twice as important as IQ or technical skills. For senior leaders, 90% of the difference between star performers and average performers can be attributed to EQ factors, and people who have high EQ earn $29k more per year. Consider Daniel Goleman’s 4 quadrants, incorporating a double paradox!

Know the steps to build your EQ:

1. Build self-awareness.

2. Increase self-regulation and build social awareness.

3. Build social skills and improve relationship management.

... and always surround the entire process with empathy.

Psychological safety is critical for teams to achieve excellence. It sources from the belief that we will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. It does not mean the absence of conflict, but that it’s handled in a healthy, respectful way. The best group norm is to trust others and be open and vulnerable.

Spot paradoxes in everyday situations, especially when conflict arises. Use these assessments with your team ...

Know your unique paradoxes and true strengths.

After years of corporate management and process development work, Gloriana Teh changed her career path to one of independent consulting and people development. See more here ... https://www.claritasconsultcoach.com.