10. Leveraging work readiness to develop a professional identity

Approximately a fifth of global economic activities are project-based, making project management graduates valuable resources for organisations worldwide. Despite being in great demand, research shows that many project management graduates are not ‘work ready’ upon completing their degrees. ‘Work readiness’ is a concept encompassing values, behaviours and skills that enable individuals to perform successfully in their professional roles and contribute to their organisations. As such, work-ready project managers are those who possess the work-readiness attributes (values, behaviours and skills) that enable them to positively contribute to projects and their project-based organisations. Ensuring that graduates possess the work-ready attributes that allow them to thrive in their early careers is fundamental to ensuring a healthy pipeline of project management professionals. This chapter aims to develop project management students’ awareness of their own work readiness for the purposes of helping graduating project management professionals develop their professional identity.