PMI PMP® Certification

PMP is an acronym that stands for Project Management Professional. The PMP is one of the most important and most prestigious industry-recognized certification for the project managers. It is a certification that can add the most to the credibility of someone who wants to make a career in the field of project management. It is a professional designation that is internationally recognized. It is offered by the PMI (Project Management Institute). The professionals who have a PMP certification in their bag are given the first preference everywhere. This certification is the second one among the three formal credentials administered by the Project Management Institute.

Today, one can find PMPs leading projects everywhere, in every country. Unlike many other certification programs, the program is truly global. This certification does not focus on any particular geography or domain. In almost every country around the world, one can see professionals having this certification leading in their field. When you have this certification, you can work in virtually any industry and with any methodology. PMP is synonymous with the global language of project management, and having this certification signifies that you understand and speak this language better than most people around. This understanding of project management connects you and helps you in identifying yourself with a community of professionals, organizations and experts of project management worldwide. In the simplest of words, when you get this certification, you do not become a PMP, you become a project hero.

Who should take up this certification?

As mentioned above, this is one of the ace certification programmes in the field of project management. So, anybody who wants to make a name and a career for himself in the field of project management should take up this certification. With this certification, one can work in virtually any field. Moreover, this certification is not just for all those who want to kickstart their career in project management, it is preferably for all the professionals who have already been working in this sector and want to advance rapidly. As mentioned above, it is the second of the three certification programmes offered by PMI. So, there is already a program that is specifically made for the individuals who want to start their career in project management. Although this certification helps such individuals also but is preferably mad for the professionals who have already been working in project management. If you’re an experienced project manager and you are responsible for all the aspects of project management, then PMP is made for you. If you lead and direct cross-functional teams, then PMP is for you.

How is PMP beneficial?

Project Management Professional is one of the best certification programmes that a professional of this field can take up. There are hundreds of benefits that one can think of about this. This certification programme can prove to be beneficial for every individual that takes it up and dreams of building a career in project management. Many people believe that this certification programme is something that is only made for people who wish to have a career in the project management, but it is not so. PMP can prove to be beneficial for every professional. The PMP professionals are working successfully all over the world, not just in project management but almost every field. In simple words, you do not need this certification only if you are a project manager. You would want to have this certification under your belt if you manage a project in any way whatsoever. It is not just about getting that prestigious certification on your CV, it is about the knowledge that you get when you study to pass the exam. When you take up this certification Assignment, you do not just take up something that will improve your credibility, but something that gives you an immense amount of knowledge about project management. As a PMP, you can work virtually in any industry.

Also, PMP can prove to be really beneficial when it comes to salary. It can provide a significant advantage to all the professionals when it comes to salary. The earning potential of a professional can see a great improvement once he has completed this certification. There have been many surveys responding to the PMI’s earning power salary survey, and according to most of them, the professionals who have a PMP certification garner a much higher salary than those who do not have this certification. On an average, people with PMP, on an average garner a 20% higher salary than those without PMP. In fact, the employers also benefit by having PMP professionals. According to ‘Pulse of the Professional Assignment’, PMI, 2015, when the organizations have more than one-third of their project managers PMP certified, they complete more of their projects on time, meet original goals and complete their projects on budget.

Project Management Professional expands your market reach and scope to a very great extent. The holders of this certification form a close global community. This group contains a huge plethora of project management for and online communities that attract PMP professionals from across the world. These professionals share their experience, give tips and share their insights with each other and thus resulting in the broadening of the market reach and scope of each other.

PMP also improves the quality and the number of job opportunities for the professionals. According to a survey, more than 80 percent of the performing projects use PMP credentialed professionals. Moreover, according to the Pulse of the Profession Assignment, the organizations that have more than 35% PMP certified project managers have much better project performance than the rest of the organizations. Thu, PMP certification improves the job opportunities to a great extent for the professionals.

A PMP professional is more likely to get the more challenging projects than the professionals without PMP. The PMP certification on the CV showcases that the professional has the required experience and knowledge to handle challenging projects, and thus the PMP professionals get to do the best job of the industry. They get to handle the best of the projects and the best part about that is that they are considered deserving of these projects.

The PMP certification guarantees the professional that he will be more visible to the recruiters. PMP certification is a standard that demonstrates that the professional has expertise in project management and this catches the recruiter’s eyes immediately during the profile evaluation. Moreover, the PMP professionals enjoy utility across industries. PMP is a great certification for project managers in various professional fields. These fields include IT, telecom, finance, research and much more.

One of the most important merits of having a PMP certification on your CV is that you have a better chance of getting a job than all the candidates without this certification. The reason is that the PMP certification is that it indicates to the recruiting officer that you have a commitment to the project of project management. If you have a PMP certification, it means that you have spent a lot of time and effort for attaining the PMP certification. And the recruiters notice this quickly.

How to prepare for PMP?

Preparing for any exam requires a huge amount of effort, diligence and time. The PMP exam is tougher than most of the exams and therefore it requires a huge amount of preparation over months. Since this exam is not for the beginners, most of the candidates who apply for this are already very well established in their careers and therefore in most of these cases, it has already been years since they last studied for an exam. So, with the rusty skills, it is imperative that the candidates have the right preparation routine and material.

There are several things that one can do to prepare well for this exam. Some of them are:

1. Use the latest version of PMBOK guide: It is important that you prepare with the latest version of the PMBOK guide to understanding all the knowledge areas, concepts, processes and formulas of the PMP. You should be well aware of the latest project management concepts and changes in the latest version of the PMBOK guide to be in a good shape before the exam.
2. Use a good PMP Prep Book: This exam is loaded with a very difficult question. Passing this exam is not everyone’s cup of tea. Therefore, it is important that you refer to a really good PMP Prep Book. It is important for you to know what and how to study for this exam.
3. Utilise the PMP exam prep workshops: If you are somebody who prefers the classroom setting and you need more and more one-on-one interactions, then these workshops for you. Apart from the obvious benefits these workshops provide the candidates, one more is that these workshops satisfy the 35 contact hours that the candidate requires to apply for this exam.
4. Take online PMP exam simulators: These exam simulators are like mock tests. These simulators are practice exams for PMP hosted online. These online exams test the candidates with the same standard of the question as one gets in the actual PMP exam. Also, these exams aim to replicate the exam environment to make the candidates used to the environment of the actual exam and with the timing and the pressure that the candidate faces while giving the actual exam.
5. Participate in discussions and study groups : Participating in study groups and discussion forums are something that helps the candidates a lot in preparing for this exam. When you become a member of such discussion forums, you can get all your concerns and queries clarified and at the same time, you can help others as well pass the exam.

How is this exam conducted?

There is a huge network of Prometric testing centres and this big network provides the PMP exam as on online computer-based test. There are also paper-based options available for the locations which do not have any prometric testing centres nearby. The question paper consists of 200 questions. Out of these 200, 25 are pre-release items. For these 25 questions, there is no scoring done. The score is calculated on the basis of the other 175 questions. The questions are multiple choice questions, each of which has one correct answer and three wrong answers.

The candidates who take the online computer based test get their results instantly after completing their exam, i.e. whether they are passed or not passed. On the other hand, the candidates who take paper based tests receive their test results generally within four weeks after the test.

What are the career benefits of having a PMP certification?

There are many benefits that a professional gets and enjoys when he completes this certification. This certification is synonymous with success. When a professional get this certification, he gets many career benefits.

During the Assignment of getting this certification, one learns a standardized set of project management best practices to implement in the projects that he undertakes as a project manager. Therefore, the company or the organization benefits as well from the employee.

When somebody completes this certification, and gets it on the CV, it is a sign that you have learned the best practices for project management. Therefore, after completing this certification, you get the most challenging projects. You get to deal with the best project managers around the world and thus, you improve your knowledge about the project even further.

There will definitely be a salary hike. The PMP certified professionals usually get a higher salary than the professionals without this certification. Moreover, once you have achieved a PMP certification, you will have more job opportunities. The project manager is a job profile that is available in every industry… and the candidates who have a certification like PMP have way better chances to get the job.

What are the requirements?

The pre requisites for a candidate to apply for PMP are:

The candidate must have completed a high school degree or an associate degree with 60 months and 75,000 hours of project management experience, or a bachelor’s degree with 4,500 hours and 36 months of project management experience. However, in both the cases, the candidate should have at least 35 contact hours of project management education. There is no exception. A candidate who does not fulfil any one of the above-mentioned conditions, he cannot apply for the certification. The candidates can apply online and the verification of the education and experience is done online at the PMI website.