A project control officer helps delegate IT tasks and manage IT projects. He or she typically serves as a mid-level coordinator working under senior staff and senior project managers.
Project control officers or project coordinators typically ensure that IT professionals have clear roles in individual projects. Their duties may also include budgetary and risk management tasks. They work directly with project managers, so some employers ask that they use diplomacy to serve as an effective liaison between different management levels. They may have their own deliverables, handle personal issues, prioritize workloads, work on change orders, or present documentation. Project control officers coordinate various project tasks to ensure they proceed effectively and efficiently.
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What Should Aspiring Project Control Officers Have to Land a Job?
Various qualifications are expected of project control officer wanna-bes, including:
- A degree in computer science or a similar field of study
- Various computer skills and experience working with different software
- Presentation skills
- A master’s degree can be an asset
- Procurement or contract and vendor management experience
- Other skills and experience relevant to a particular project or work environment
What Industries Hire Project Control Officers?
While most industries hire project management staff, including project control officers, these five are probably their top bets for future employers:
- Construction and engineering: Regardless of the economy’s state, all countries still need to replace or repair old houses, build new facilities to meet the rise in population, and refresh infrastructure. These push construction and engineering companies to seek people with the right skills to help project managers lead and manage local and international infrastructure change.
- Financial services: Project management has become integral to financial service providers. As they strive to get better returns on their investment by employing smarter ways to work and aligning strategic plans with evolving customer expectations, there is much left to do. Project control officers need to know how to adapt to change and operate within a highly regulated industry. Financial service firms also have to keep up with IT, customer service, marketing, and human resource (HR) developments.
- Information technology: The project control officer’s range of work in this sector is vast. Apart from developing solutions with alternative currencies like bitcoin, they can also help improve artificial intelligence (AI) projects with big data solutions. They can also help project managers lead development and infrastructure work.
- Healthcare: An aging population and tech developments are transforming this sector radically. Project control officers will also find many opportunities as the industry moves from paper-based record keeping to digitizing patient medical data. Experience with big data projects, databases, and technical awareness at all levels will help land you a job.
- Law: Project control officers do not necessarily need a legal background to enter the field. They often get involved with budget setting. Along with project managers, you will work with solicitors, lawyers, and other specialists to ensure the effective delivery of legal services.
What Does a Project Control Officer’s Career Path Look Like?
The image below shows how a project control officer’s career can progress.
The demand for project management staff is growing faster than that for workers in other occupations. A 2017–2027 report expects an addition of 214,000 new project management-related jobs per year in the U.S. alone. For those in the field, it doesn’t hurt that while the demand for project management roles is rising, the number of professionals is dropping. The need for project management staff and the lack of qualified ones makes related positions attractive for various reasons such as:
- Higher demand leads to higher salaries.
- There is a lot of opportunity for growth and advancement.
- Many industries can benefit from project management staff, so you can land a job in one that matches your interests and skill set.
How Much Does a Project Control Officer Typically Earn?
A U.S.-based project control officer can earn a base pay of US$70,514 each year on average. In Canada, project control officers get an annual average wage of C$82,875.
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Landing a project control officer job is usually the first step if you want to become a project manager in a few years, starting your climb up on the corporate ladder.
