How would you ensure succesful project completion after having been assigned as the project manager for a team comprised of "entry-level" consulting staff.

Question

In case of a team comprising of new employees just out of college and "entry-level" consulting staff; what steps can you take to ensure the project is completed against a very tight time deadline?

Answer 1

I think if you're on a very tight deadline, then this project is more or less like a career suicide (or assassination, depending on whether you asked for this project or were just assigned to it).

I have discovered that consulting staff has no loyalty, has a bad quality output, and simply doesn't care. You are saying that it's an entry-level consulting staff. I find this project hard to achieve success, unless the requirements are very simple, and the project is very short, I can't see an option for this project to succeed. Normally I would have recommended training, but I did not for 2 reasons:

- There is a tight deadline looming.
- These are consultants, why would invest in a consultant?

Maybe I have been spoiled with the resources and the projects I had, but this is very bad situation that I hope no project manager would experience (in fact I've seen a very similar scenario where the project was a complete flop).

Maybe someone else has other thoughts/recommendations?