Project management is a key skill set in construction to support project delivery and there is increasing interest in project manager competence. The purpose of this paper is (1) to analyze competencies sought by organizations seeking construction project managers, and (2) to understand the correlation between proposed competencies as included in job advertisements. Analysis is also completed to understand how these factors change based on contracting party (owner, consultant, and contractor) and industry (building, infrastructure, and industrial).

A competency framework was developed including 17 technical, 16 managerial, 3 financial, 4 computer, 3 legal, and 2 communication competencies. 220 Albertan job advertisements were collected and reviewed to record identified competencies. The frequency and phi coefficient of each competency were calculated for all postings, then for postings specific to each contracting party and industry. The Fisher-Freeman Halton test was employed to determine dependency of competency frequency on contracting party and industry. Technical, communication, and a selection of managerial and financial competencies were most frequently cited. Owner and consultant postings tended to include more requirements relating to technical and communication competencies, while contractor postings mostly included communication and select managerial competencies. Generally, there is less variation in competency citation frequency between industries compared to between contractual parties. Communication competencies are positively correlated for all postings and across different parties and industries. Competencies included in job advertisements are impacted by the services to be provided, the industry in which work will take place, in addition to other competencies included in the postings. The findings of this research help better understand how competent workforce can be developed to cater the continued demand of the construction industry.