What do you actually do?

I have a terrible time with forms that ask me what my occupation is. I do a lot of things that (to a greater or lesser extent) earn me some money but I usually say that I'm an interactive media and database consultant. That works apart from when the form is full of drop-down menus and I have to fit it into someone else's idea of an employment taxonomy.

According to Richard Branson; when asked, Google's Larry Page said "I help people find things". Good description of the original core business there while not being particularly all-encompassing: but certainly short and very sweet. Richard didn't say what he does, probably because the list is too long, but he did ask for user comments. The first one on the page is one I particularly like: photographer Conni Freestone simply wrote "I capture memories & preserve moments". Lovely.

That got me thinking about job descriptions. What lies behind that shorthand title. The UK government, of course, has a standard list. They're very interesting to read, and well thought out. I looked at the one for web developer (a Word or ODT file).

There are skills and requirements, a brief raison d'être for the post and job responsibilities. This last list is particularly interesting because it contains these two items alongside the kind of competencies you'd expect for such a job:

• Being involved in the wider web development community, identifying good practices we can adopt and sharing our experiences
• Sharing knowledge of tools and techniques with the wider team, both developers and non-developers

So you're expected to keep in touch with the outside world and to share your knowledge internally. I approve.

Another set of sample job descriptions comes from Kate Matsudaira on the Dice web site (June 19 2014). These are more conversational than the British ones but no less interesting. The key, as Kate points out, is that "A great description can not only help boost the quantity and quality of your applicant pool, but attract candidates that are a good cultural fit for your organization.".

Similar advice comes from Business 2 Community (June 24 2014). They agree with Kate about including the company's culture in your thinking but also point out that you must "Use the most searchable job titles that the right candidates are most likely to search for". In other words, considering what the role is known as within the industry. I would add 'outside' as well - might as well cover all the bases - but if it's experienced people you're after then the insider name will be important. There is a slight risk, especially with new kinds of job, that the title might not have settled down, so do your research to find out. Ideally you should be able to ask your existing staff, especially if they have been "involved in the wider web development community".

So we come, briefly, to the Register ... a regular haunt of mine. They're looking for a sub-editor (July 3 2014), noting that "this is not a job for those with overly delicate sensibilities" but that the applicant should have "an affinity for the noble art of tabloid-style headline writing". That's my boy!

And finally ... what is the best job description? I once read a suggestion (I think by C Northcote Parkinson ... he of Parkinson's law) that the ideal job advertisement should only attract one applicant, and that person would be the ideal person for the job. This was illustrated by a sample advertisement for a security guard (or thereabouts). After several requirements it ended with words to the effect that candidates should attend for interview at a certain gym at 3 o'clock in the morning ... and bring their own boxing gloves.

Digital Project Managers: who wants what? (Part B)

A continuation of last week's look at what's wanted from a Digital Project Manager's Role.

Here's an amalgamation of several wish lists from job descriptions for a Senior post. The promising thing is that there is no question of what a Project Manager is now, whereas there used to be - and the role wasn't described in this way or by job title. Now there's career progression from Junior, Digital Project Manager to Senior Project Manager. Overall we're positive about this trend. But the recruiters seem to ask for the earth in some cases!

Senior Digital Project Manager

Experience: 5 years minimum of web and social media sites. Prince 2 or equivalent, and/or Agile certification

Salary: £30-60k (non London, but UK based) up to £80k London

Role: managing projects from initiation to launch, managing cross-functional teams, clients, and non-technical personnel, get projects out on time, to brief and to budget. Manage new and potential clients, advising on usability/user planning, accessibility, making business cases, online marketing and branding, delivering successful and profitable projects across technologies, extracting and clarifying requirements from clients, assess risks, manage stakeholders.

Knowledge needed: User-focused website design, user experience and user psychology, Digital project planning, Project management tools and techniques, Team/studio management, Relationship building and account management, Managing suppliers, Open-source frameworks, Technical limitations and constraints, Search engine marketing, Social media marketing

Competence in: Taking briefs and listening to what the client is looking to achieve, Writing proposals with recommendations, have an eye for detail but also be creative, producing an outline of the site/app's proposed functionality with costs, Information architecture planning and mapping, Producing wireframes, Facilitating and contributing to discussion around a project's creative treatment, Writing project specifications, Producing realistic project timelines and then managing the project in accordance with that timescale, Setting and controlling project budgets, Managing change requests effectively, presenting outcomes of campaigns with recommendations, quality assurance, managing conflict, have strong presentation and negotiating skills.

Technical abilities: (Some jobs state several front-end and back end skill sets, internet security, and content management systems among others.)

Digital Project Managers: who wants what? (Part A)

Despite the economic vagaries, the job market for Digital Project Managers appears strong. So what skill-sets are companies looking for? Do you measure up? Below we’ve amalgamated what's been asked for under a Digital Project Manager role and next week we look at the Senior role. Quite an eye-opener!

The most whacky but apposite description about a skill was "to be able to talk the technical" or "talk coding and creative". We interpret those as managing cross-functionally. Then we found "produce a clear paper-trail across the project development", we interpret that as use project management tools. And to "get" creative processes (dude?), we interpret as to understand the mind-set of your creatives – the diversity of the cross-functional team? What about the "can-do" approach which also asks for strong control of clients? What about "some kind of coding background" but to manage creatives?

Recruiters expect understanding and experience across all the digital platforms and media types (site builds, micro sites, social media, game builds, ecommerce, web tv, imedia, apps, campaigns, etc.). The job types were sometimes specific to industry sector (publishing, finance, luxury products, retail, medical, fashion, telecoms, broadcasting, etc.), but the expectations of the role were pretty similar.

This is only scratching the surface of the variety and type of role available. The good news is that the wider needs of Project Management for digital are being identified better now than a few years ago. There is more emphasis on managing the stakeholders/clients, as well as the developers; there is recognition of making a business case that suits the clients' business needs; there is more recognition of how complex it is to manage cross-functional teams. Digital sector specific experience becomes crucial. The mix of platforms is growing and the knowledge associated with their development through experience is key. Happy job hunting.

Next week we’ll be looking at the Senior Digital Project Manager’s Role.

Digital Project Manager

Experience: 2-5 years

Salary: £25-35k (non London, but UK based) up to £80k London

Role: managing projects and programmes from concept to delivery, confidently managing internal development teams to deliver briefs, managing internal and external clients/stakeholders, planning digital campaigns, managing various delivery platform development, producing time, cost and scope documentation, managing and allocating resources, manage schedule, budgets, assets, monitor and anticipate risks like scope creep with timely solutions to mitigate them, link objectives of the client to present and future needs, exceed expectations for delivery and performance,

Knowledge needed: understanding of the technical landscape, strategic marketing ideas translated into digital solutions, enthusiasm for technologies and digital communication, brief designers, developers, Art Directors, Information Architects,

Competence in: experience of using appropriate project management tools including Prince 2, Agile, Scrum Master, Basecamp, Merlin, Sifter, MS Project etc., SEO techniques and metrics, content production/copywriting for web, high-volume, quick-turnaround projects, working alongside Account Teams, managing up to 20 projects a day, excellent project management skills, excellent administrative skills, managing change control in projects, meeting budgets.

Working together – the client/developer relationship

The key word here is relationship. We know that interactive project management is a collaboration between client and developer. Each needs to know their specific role and responsibilities within the project for the project process to flow. The 'relationship' element in the partnership has to be managed sensitively especially in interactive projects because the risks of misunderstanding between client and developer increase over and above other types of project. It's that cross-functional communication again - potentially causing gaps - let alone the changes/slippage syndrome.

The people that have bridged the relationship gap in iMedia projects have had various job titles depending on the background culture of the company. So we can have Account Managers, Project Managers/Team Leaders, and Client or Customer Relationship Managers. The Account Managers come from the Agency type of culture and has been deemed more on the creative side; the Project Manager/Team Leader is from a newer breed of iMedia companies and emerges from the software side; the Client/Customer Relationship Managers hail from the business and management side.

The Account Managers have traditionally had a more hands-on and personal relationship with the clients whereas the client/customer relationship managers are linked with the use of software packages that track and flag information about the clients that action responses from the managers. The Project Managers are in the middle of this. Whatever the role is called, it is a difficult one. A successful relationship manager has great people skills, keen business skills and a strong sense of commitment to finish a project that is successfully perceived from all sides. Hard, yes.

It was difficult to try to define this relationship role. There are some definitions of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and so by inference what a CRM role is: see Verbatims - and is there parity across all the definitions?

Then there is an Account Relationship Manager's job description sample at Great Sample Resume

Andrew Sobel has defined 15 common pitfalls to Client Management in his Client Loyalty newsletter (PDF). Take a look and assess if you fall into any.

Finally - just because I'm a stirrer - have a look at the salary scale for Client Relationship Managers at, SalesTarget.

These don't answer all the questions raised by the various people in iMedia projects who fulfil the 'relationship management' role, but it starts the conversation!

Your UK iMedia salary in these uncertain times

Do you think your skills are undervalued? Have you morphed your role in your company through experience without anyone noticing? What do you think you are worth?

Now and again it's a valuable exercise to try and understand how your salary fits with the average for your role. It may be reassuring but it can be a shock that may prompt you to think about moving, or educating the right people in your company by getting them to take a look. Mind you, a surprising number of you (three-quarters) would forego a salary rise for a supportive and interesting work environment apparently. Would this include you? See the paragraph under 4 in 10 media players unaffected by recession at www.recruiter.co.uk.

There is the age-old problem of what you call yourself since we've griped for years about the lack of role definitions in iMedia, and this means that it is hard to compare like with like. Do you actually have a job title that makes sense?

Still, it's good to get an overview and one of the best matches we've found is at payscale.com

They also allow you to look at related charts according to experience, employer type and location which are useful since these do affect figures, of course. Don't worry if you're a contractor as they offer a chart for you too.

Times are probably going to get harder before they stabilise again so you may need to factor that in to your thinking as well. Let’s hope the great majority of you are pleasantly surprised.

Have fun.