How to hire a project management consultant
How to hire a project management consultant is much like hiring a project manager, only you can pay more for a short period, rather than hire them and fire them when the project is completed.
You’ll need to find someone qualified, and available, for the right amount of money. For the right amount of money, almost anyone is available, but the right amount may be a lot of money. Start by finding someone qualified by looking at project managers on similar projects. Get the word out by using the internet, trade publications, word of mouth, job listings, and headhunters. When that doesn’t work, get creative.
I like to look at assistants on previous, similar projects. They aren’t as qualified, but are looking for the chance to show their abilities. Some assistants are good at managing details but not the big picture, and should remain assistants. Others are just not experienced enough, but if you can find the right assistant, you can hire them cheaper, get more out of them, and push them harder than a veteran project manager with lots of experience, who may not be that good, just overpaid.
A typical project manager position on salary may be making a hundred thousand a year and a consultant may require a quarter million a year, but for six months ($125,000), it’s still more cost effective than hiring an employee for one project. Hiring a consultant also allows you to have the right experience for the right project, not make do with what you have. A pipeline construction manager might be able to figure out how to build a refinery, but I’d rather have an experienced refinery construction manager on the project. Make the pipeline manager his assistant if you want. The consultant may cost you a half million by the time the job is finished, but compared to the cost of a refinery, that’s nothing, and how many refineries will you be building over the years? One? Then hire a consultant, make sure they have the proper experience, and be prepared to pay them well for their experience. It will save you a lot of money in the end.
You also now have an experienced pipeline and refinery construction manager, who will go to the highest bidder, when he gets the chance. So, pay him well, and let him have a leave of absence, instead of losing him completely, when he gets his chance.
