Project Management Experience for PMP Certification

The PMP certificate has such weight in the industry because someone who has this certification is a qualified project manager with all of the necessary qualifications. If you want to earn your PMP certificate, it may seem daunting due to the requirements.

PMP certification Requirements

In order to have a PMP certificate, there are a couple of requirements −

• Project management education of about 35 hours

• Experience in hours (a specified number)

The PMP certification is one of the most prestigious degrees for project managers. The job expectations for a project manager are diverse, which makes it easy to meet the benchmark for entry-level requirements.

For an internationally-recognized certification of project management competence, you'll need to meet a set of criteria. Along with taking the appropriate education and passing the exam, you'll also need two to four years of relevant project management experience. The amount of experience you need is determined by your formal education level, with 4,500 hours for four-year degrees and 7,500 hours for non-degree holders.

It takes 4,500 hours of work to become qualified with a four-year degree. But if you don't have that degree and need the 7,500 hours of experience, it will require about four years of full-time work as an area of expertise.

What do you Understand by Project Management Experience?

Congratulations, if you have spent time leading, planning, or managing a project, you are eligible for PMP experience. But you might be thinking by now that PMP experience is high, and can only apply if your job title is "Project Manager." That's where you're wrong! If the nature of your job requires it to be project-driven in any way, then you can apply for this position. Such titles as supervisor, Assistant Project Coordinator, Team leader, or any other job title that entails project management are good examples of PMP application experience.

You Can Show Your Experience by Providing the Following Documents

The work sample required for this position would be a project or assignments, detailing the roles and responsibilities you managed, which are the results of the project, and how long it took.

You can add pieces of training that you have completed detailing the institute and the hours it took to complete them.

All projects have phases: if you've worked within any of these phases, it counts as relevant experience. The first phase is the initial planning. You draft and present goals and the project timeline to your clients in this step. The second phase is the planning phase. Here, you make and present a plan for the project to your clients. This includes deciding on objectives, resources, and milestones for the third phase (i.e., execution). In the third phase, things are executed according to your client's needs. The fourth step is the monitoring of results, which allows for any oversights or deviations to be rectified early on. This leads into the fifth and final stage, closing out this stage with a final report detailing the results of the project.

Qualifications of Project Management Experience

Becoming a PMP without experience is not possible. You'll need at least four years of project management experience before you can apply for the certification. The answer comes from the experience section of the application, which is one of the most challenging tasks to complete. However, sometimes jobs don't tell you that you're working as a project manager and instead just list your job title. If this is the case, you need to go over all aspects of your role on each project to determine if your past work satisfies any PMP project management experience requirements. In order to find out any PMP certification experience requirement, go through each area below:

Some of your previous roles, especially those that have required you to oversee projects, may help you find a new career.

Did You Spend Any Time Volunteering For Event Planning Projects?

If you have more than one PM role, you might need to find more time to focus on the management aspect of your job.

These project description examples can be indispensable tools for PMP applicants. For example, if your goal is to take the PMP exam, then the benefits of keeping a log of your work are very useful while filling out the application form. The candidates should maintain logs of their work.

Project management is a very broad skill, used in many industries. Here are some project management skills that can be used as PMP experience requirements

Planning

A project's scope, timeline, and resource allocation are determined before they start. Once that's been established, the work is allocated to different people in order to be completed on time. Project planning can be done using a number of software tools or with a piece of paper and pen. For example, you could use graphics like Gantt charts to plan a project out visually.

Leading

As a team leader, your job is to motivate and inspire the team. Think of it as your responsibility to bring out the best in every member. But above all, be sure that you are keeping a people-centric approach.

Execution

Execution begins with the initial step of mapping out a project on paper. Executing a project, while seemingly simple in theory, takes up most of the project's time, and many steps in this stage need to be carried out simultaneously to meet deadlines. This step, among others, is crucial for examples of project management experience for the PMP certification exam.

Time Management

Project management is all about time. So, any changes that are required can happen in time. When planning out the project, you have to know how much time it will take for every section of the project and also set aside a certain amount of time for mistakes and human error.

Budget

One of the skills a project manager needs is the skill in staying within budget. To stay on budget, allocate funds to each process according to its associated time and cost. The worst thing that can happen to a project manager is spending too much money.

Documentation

When managing a project, it's important to keep detailed records of the project's duration and completion. One way to do this is to chart the process's start and end dates as well as its current percentage of completion. This kind of documentation can serve as a future reference for the project, or for other projects that have a similar timeline. The most commonly used apps for this purpose are project management apps.

Maintenance

Maintaining the project timeline is a key component of project management. It can be achieved by keeping track of the project, and making adjustments to it when necessary. When obstacles arise, they should be addressed quickly to ensure the timeline and budget aren't disrupted.

Acquiring Project Management Experience

The best way to find the experience you need to apply for the PMP exam is by finding a position with the title of project manager and working your way up. If this isn't possible, you could also look at other portfolios to try and find projects that are similar to some past experiences.

To find out more about PMP experience samples that you've had in your career, you should do the following

Keeping Work Records

If you're looking for alternative ways to track your career, it's time to think of work as being done. Tracking the daily progress of a project may seem tedious, but doing so aggregates all your work into a summary of your career.

Having a record of all your work makes for a disciplined approach to your work-life balance--so you can have more time to focus on personal obligations. And you get the added benefit of being able to keep track of all your activities, which you can use to fill out the PMP application accurately.

Volunteer

PMP application offers the ability to list out any volunteer projects with company details that you have managed. Find out if you can handle any projects by giving back first! This can then be added to your PMP application.

Network

Most job seekers have at least one friend or family member in the field they're looking for. Networking is a great way to find people who know about jobs through word-of-mouth, which is especially effective with project management. If you need to get connected with other professionals, networking provides opportunities for collaborating and working together.

Conclusion

The key is to remember that your job title does not need to be "Project Manager" in order for you to get experience points. Whenever you've been responsible for coordinating a project, whether you were the designated Project Manager or not, then those experiences will count.