Most Important Skills for an Associate Project Manager at Adobe
For an associate project manager at Adobe, strong people skills are paramount, as the role necessitates navigating diverse personalities and delivering difficult news effectively; furthermore, the position demands organizational prowess, efficient written communication, and surprisingly, mathematical aptitude for budgeting, forecasting, and utilizing Excel for resource allocation— "hours equal revenue," making Excel "your best friend."
Project Management, Communication, Teamwork, Data Analysis, Problem-Solving
Advizer Information
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Job Title
Company
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Grad Programs
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Jessie Nigel
Associate project manager
Adobe
California State University, Chico
N/a
Business Management & Admin
Technology, Advertising, Communications & Marketing
Operations and Project Management
Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School
Video Highlights
1. Excellent people skills are essential for effective teamwork and communication with diverse personalities, including clients and management.
2. Strong organizational abilities are crucial for project planning and scheduling, ensuring tasks are well-coordinated.
3. Proficiency in written communication and Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables and formulas, is vital for efficient reporting, budgeting, and resource allocation.
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
The skills I would say are people skills because I'm working in teams all the time. I have teams with different personalities, and I also work with clients and upper management, reporting everything.
Having people skills is number one because you need to know how to deal with different personalities and keep everyone happy. You also need to know how to deliver bad news if necessary.
Another thing is being organized. As the PM, my team looks to me to have things scheduled or to create a project plan. It's on me to be organized and make sure we have everything in line.
Written communication is also important. I'm writing emails and sending calendar invites all the time, so I need to be able to write things efficiently. Putting together an email that makes sense and is professional is key.
Weirdly enough, math skills have come into play because of budgeting and Excel. Knowing how to use Excel and pivot tables is important; I use them every day.
There's a lot of forecasting for different resources, which we basically call people. People are a resource and spend different hours on projects. I need to ensure we have enough hours for each person and that my forecast is up to date regarding what I predict everyone to bill.
Hours equal revenue, so I need to make sure we're hitting our revenue. It's a big math equation. So, a little bit of math, but Excel is your best friend as long as you know how to use it and its formulas and pivot tables.
I think those are the main things: people skills, organization, a little bit of math, and a little bit of Excel.