Show NotesWhat do you do when you get laid off at the biggest project management conference in the world? You work the room, go home, and build your own company.Parmjit Kaur did not set out to be a project manager. She wanted to be a Bollywood actress, then a doctor, then a teacher, then a radio host. What she became was one of the more interesting career stories you will hear – born in Scotland, raised in England, claiming New Jersey, and now running her own consultancy in Las Vegas. Her path moved from retail sales at Macy’s to door-to-door fragrance sales to healthcare IT to program management, and eventually to building and leading the PMI Southern Nevada chapter as president before a layoff at the PMI Global Summit pushed her to go out on her own. This conversation covers the career, the setbacks, the framework she built from all of it, and the community she has grown along the way.WHAT PARMJIT DOES NOW:Parmjit runs her own project management consultancy, where she takes on project management contracts across different industries. She is also an active public speaker and the host of the Your Life Projectized podcast. At the time of this episode, she is managing a large website modernization project for a community-facing organization.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS CONVERSATION:Sales teaches you something a job description never willThe law of averages is real. Parmjit credits door-to-door and healthcare IT sales with building the resilience and communication instincts she still uses in project management today.The kindergartner test for communicationWhen sharing information with a team or stakeholders, ask yourself: could a kindergartner walk away understanding what you just explained? It is not about being simple. It is about closing the gap between what you said and what they heard.Stop waiting for the annual reviewParmjit applied the Agile concept of sprint retrospectives to her own career – seeking feedback at regular intervals instead of waiting six months or a year to find out she had been doing something wrong.The CPR frameworkCommunication, Project Management, and Resiliency. Parmjit says these three things are all you need to revive any project, any business, or any season of life. The framework grew directly out of her real experiences: a house fire, a misdiagnosis, three car incidents in seven days, and a layoff she did not see coming.Community is built on authenticity, not utilityPeople can feel when you only want something from them. Parmjit’s approach to building a professional community is rooted in genuine interest, servant leadership values from her Sikh upbringing, and the kind of human connection that does not start with an agenda.TOPICS COVERED:• From retail sales to door-to-door fragrance sales and healthcare IT• The law of averages and learning to hear no without stopping• Growing up in a conservative Indian household and developing her voice• How a coast-to-coast healthcare speed dating program became her entry point into project management• What the PMP certification formalized that years of experience had not• Failing the PMP in 2018 while also training for a bodybuilding competition• Passing the PMP during COVID after a month of daily study sessions with people from around the world• Her first speaking experience at a HIMSS conference for 200+ physicians – and the accidental laugh• Five years on the PMI Southern Nevada chapter board, including serving as president• Why she applies Agile sprint retrospectives to her own career development• Building a professional community through authentic human connection• Getting a layoff call while standing inside the PMI Global Summit in Atlanta• Launching her own consultancy and speaking business three years ago• The CPR framework and how it was developed through real-life setbacksWHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR:• Project managers at any level looking for a more grounded perspective on the career path• Professionals in sales or client-facing roles considering a transition into project management• Anyone who has experienced a layoff and is wondering what comes next• People who want to build a real professional community, not just a LinkedIn contact list• Career changers who came from a non-traditional background and are figuring out how to make it work• Anyone studying for the PMP who needs to hear an honest take on what the certification actually does and does not doCONNECT WITH PARMJIT KAUR:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parmjitkaur/ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS:Career Downloads explores technology careers through conversations with professionals who share their journeys, lessons learned, and practical advice. Hosted by Manuel Martinez, each episode exposes listeners to different technology roles and helps them manage their own careers more successfully. New episodes release every Tuesday.Connect with Career Downloads:Website: https://careerdownloads.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloadsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloadsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloadsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloadsFaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249

Parmjit Kaur: Okay, yeah, Manny, thank you. So firstly, should I call you Manuel or do you prefer Manny?

Manuel Martinez: Either one works for me. So normally I, Manuel’s obviously my legal name, but as I get to know people, I just tell them like, “Hey, you can call me Manny.” So whatever you feel comfortable with.

Parmjit Kaur: Okay, absolutely, yeah. I’m very big on what folks like to be called and how they like their names pronounced, so thank you.

Manuel Martinez: Same, and that’s why I remember asking you, like, how would you pronounce your name? So I really tried to do my best to say, “Okay, how do you like your name being pronounced and help me pronounce it properly?” Yeah, and I really appreciated the question, thank you.

Manuel Martinez: So if you don’t mind, tell me a little bit about what your current role and responsibilities are so that people can get an understanding of who Parmjit is.

Parmjit Kaur: Sure, sure, absolutely. So right now my current role, I have my own business, so I have a project management consultancy, and so I take on different project management contracts. I’m not at liberty necessarily to say who. I’m working with currently who my client is, but currently I’m working on a very big website modernization project. So I’m working with an organization. They have a great website, but that website hasn’t necessarily been maybe revamped in some time, and so we’re looking to modernize that website to ensure not just a great experience for employees that utilize the website, but community members who access that website.

Manuel Martinez: And I know that there’s a lot of skills that kind of go into project management and things of that, so I’m excited to get into that and how you develop those skills over time.

Parmjit Kaur: Yeah, absolutely, I look forward to talking about it.

Manuel Martinez: So now if you can tell us a little bit about kind of where you grew up and then eventually what kind of got your career started and what you thought you were probably gonna do and then eventually how you started.

Parmjit Kaur: Sure, so this is gonna be a little bit of a long story.

Manuel Martinez: Even better.

Parmjit Kaur: So you might be surprised to know I’m actually born in Scotland, so that is where my life started. I’m born in Scotland, I moved to England. I lived with my grandparents for quite some time. So my father’s side of the family is from the London area of England, and then my mother is, her family’s from the West Midlands. So I lived there for about six, seven years before we migrated to the US. First to Pittsburgh and then we went to New Jersey. So I lived in New Jersey for a majority of my life, but I moved around a lot. I’ve lived in California, I lived in Florida, I lived in Kentucky, I lived in Connecticut. I feel like I’m missing a place in there somewhere, but yeah, that’s for the most part, I grew up in New Jersey. So that is what I claim, I’m a Jersey girl through and through.

Manuel Martinez: That’s gotta be, at the time you may not enjoy kind of moving around, but at the same time, I would think that just in the little bit of experience that I’ve had traveling within the US and to other countries, like it brings you a lot of exposure that probably we don’t realize it at the time, but later influences how we approach people, our careers and things of that nature.

Parmjit Kaur: Oh, sure, absolutely. I talk about that a lot. Being exposed to, well, travel...