Need PMP Certification: Do you Qualify?
Like many others, if you are also wondering whether you are qualified for the PMP Certification, then you need to ask yourself some questions. Have you been working towards creating something new? It can be a system, service, process, product, anything. Rather than your existing job title, or the credentials that make you worthy of a new job, it is your role that matters for qualifying for this certification. Alongside, you need to have a fair idea about the number of hours that you input at work (or upgrading yourself), the kind of work you are credited with, and the years in your work experience.
Read on for some essential requirements that come in the way of your receiving the PMP certification.
Types of Work Required for PMP Certification
PMI, the institution that decides whether your PMP application will be approved or denied, accepts your submitted project related experiences, without further scrutiny. However, as these experiences are appropriately back-tracked, checked and asked for references, it’s inappropriate to give any false information. Your act will amount to serious ethical violation and completely bar you from attaining a PMP certification, or any other PMI credentials. Do know that random selection audits are pout into use by PMI for verifying whether the work experiences outlined by aspirants are truthful or not, so share accordingly.
Audits that serve as Selection Criterion
Fairly simple in nature, these audits require evidences supporting your educational background. You need to prove that you have a minimum of 35 hours of defined professional development that’s required for taking the exam. PMI also requires an endorsement for your work experiences by asking for signatures from a person who has worked on the same project as you; along with an accurate description of our work. If all information rendered by you is project related, then you can be assured of the audit ending quickly, and you getting a chance for qualifying for the PMP certification exam. Here, it’s important to know that about 5 percent of total applicants will be audited randomly, and you may be one of them.
Levels of Work Experience needed for PMP Certification
Along with a four-year degree in any stream, you need to have a minimum of 4,500 hours of working on different projects. These projects should have taken place over a period of three years. There are certain PMI regulations that guide the levels of work experience and have to be adhered to totally. Broadly speaking, the requirements are:
1. Total volume of work clocking 4,500 hours
2. 3 calendar years of work in that realm
Non-overlapping Project Management Experience a Must
PMI states that all project management experiences have to be completely non-overlapping, and in every conceivable way. For instance, if you have been working on two projects simultaneously, with one lasting 2 years and the other 3 years, then there exists an overlap. Here, you may like to use the second project that had a longer duration of work hours to gain credits, but not both. In other words, PMI needs proof of you having worked for three calendar years in total before you qualify. Here, you must also secure at least 4,500 hours of time on all projects to secure a seat for PMP Certification.
In case you have an associate’s degree or high school diploma instead of a four-year university degree, you can still apply for the credential, but then, the requirements will increase. Along with a total of five years of project work experience, you need 7,500 hours of work to qualify. Here, all the other requirements remain the same, apart from those linked with overall work experience
Experience and knowledge of Five Process Groups
PMI also requires evidence that across the course of your work experience, you have worked in one way or the other on five PMI process groups, namely:
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Initiating of the project
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Planning of the project
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Executing different phases of the project
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Monitoring and controlling of operations
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Closing of the project
For this requirement to qualify, you may not have touched upon all areas in every project, nor are there any defined hourly requirements for specific process group. In aggregate, you need to document at least some hours that can be assigned to all process groups, across your total work experience.
The Final Word
As the last note on how to qualify for your PMP certification, do know PMI fails to consider any work experience that’s logged 8 years prior to your date of your application. This point is ill-suited for those who may have worked on different projects in the past but have little to show in recent times. Overall, for gaining credence for your works experiences and qualify without a hitch. With careful preparation and consideration of all pre-requisites demanded by PMI, you will surely get a fair chance to succeed.
Best wishes!