After receiving the notification that I didn’t progress to the assessment stage for the recent Graduate Project Management role, I took some time to reflect on the feedback. While it’s disappointing, I see it as a valuable learning opportunity. The main takeaway was that my CV, while strong in general management and technical skills, didn’t clearly enough connect my experience to the specific demands of a technical project management role. My time at McDonald’s gave me real-world experience in leading teams, improving processes, and ensuring safety—but I need to better articulate how those skills translate into managing engineering projects, not just operations.

The process was slick when in communication but months went by waiting for any progression from the initial application to the situational awareness test to the assessment centre to the final interview. I think that was due to the COVID 19 pandemic effects but still took a lot longer than anticipated.