Project Management can help Veterans Overcome
Challenges of Transition to Civilian Life
Interview with Matt Quick
Head of Military and Veterans Program
Project Management Institute
Interviewed by Yasmina Khelifi
International Correspondent, PM World Journal
Paris, France
Introduction to the interviewee
Matt Quick joined Project Management Institute (PMI) in January 2022 and has been leading its Military and Veterans Program since 2023. He focuses on empowering the military community to explore project management as a viable career path.
With 25 years of service in the United States military, including three years at the Pentagon and over 15 years managing diverse projects, Matt brings a wealth of experience to his role. He is passionate about aiding transitioning service members in their career journeys, offering coaching and resources to ensure they are job ready.
Serving as an active presence on LinkedIn, Matt shares valuable insights from his conversations with veterans, practical tips, and lessons learned.
Matt currently resides in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and enjoys spending time with his wife, two boys, and his best friend, Marley.
Interview
Q1: First, thank you for accepting an interview request from PMWJ. You are the Head of Military and Veterans Program at Project Management Institute (PMI). Can you explain your responsibilities and objectives?
Matt Quick (Quick): Thank you; it’s my honor to be included. As PMI’s Head of the Military and Veterans Program, I develop and manage initiatives to support veterans and actively serving military personnel and their families in understanding project management as a possible career path. A large part of the program is educating them on how the skills honed during military service translate into project management. My passion for this developed after I made the transition from military service to a civilian career – project management is a skill and profession I was completely unaware of while serving.
Q2: Why did PMI create this position?
Quick: The U.S. currently has 2 million actively serving military personnel, and according to the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification is the most requested certification amongst them. While it may “take an army” to keep up with this type of demand, we’re building a small but mighty team to add value to the military and veteran community by partnering with organizations to offer project management-focused resources and a supportive community.
With 200,000 military personnel leaving service each year, we can step in and support these individuals in identifying their skills and how they translate into project management as a prospective career path. On the flip slide, transitioning military personnel entering the profession helps fill the project management talent gap. According to PMI’s research, 2.3 million people are needed to enter project management employment every year through 2030 to keep up with demand.
The U.S. military develops its personnel into amazing project professionals—many of them not even realizing it. That’s where PMI and our community come in to support by offering training and certifications for transitioning military personnel, veterans, and their spouses – often at no cost through military-funded programs.
Q3: Some PMI chapters have established programs to support veterans, such as the Dallas, Texas chapter. Do you promote or support such chapter initiatives? If so, in what ways? How can PMI chapter leaders learn more about your programs or services?
More…
To read entire interview, click here
How to cite this work: Khelifi, Y. (2024). Project Management can help Veterans Overcome Challenges of Transition to Civilian Life, Interview with Matt Quick, Head of Military and Veterans Program, PMI, PM World Journal, Vol. XIII, Issue X, October/November. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/pmwj146-OctNov2024-Khelifi-Interview-with-Matt-Quick-PMI.pdf
About the Interviewer
Yasmina Khelifi
Paris, France
Yasmina Khelifi, PMP, PMI- ACP, PMI-PBA is an experienced project manager in the telecom industry. Along with her 20-year career at Orange S.A. (the large French multinational telecommunications corporation), she sharpened her global leadership skills, delivering projects with major manufacturers and SIM makers. Yasmina strives for building collaborative bridges between people to make international projects successful. She relies on three pillars: project management skills, the languages she speaks, and a passion for sharing knowledge.
She is a PMP certification holder since 2013, a PMI- ACP and PMI-PBA certification holder since 2020. She is an active volunteer member at PMI France and PMI UAE, and a member of PMI Germany Chapter. French-native, she can speak German, English, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and she is learning Arabic. Yasmina loves sharing her knowledge and experiences at work, in her volunteers’ activities at PMI, and in projectmanagement.com as a regular blogger. She is also the host and co-founder of the podcast Global Leaders Talk with Yasmina Khelifi to help people in becoming better international leaders.
Yasmina can be contacted at https://yasminakhelifi.com/ or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasminakhelifi-pmp-telecom/
Visit her correspondent profile at https://pmworldlibrary.net/yasmina-khelifi/
To view other works by Yasmina, visit her author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/yasmina-khelifi/
