Filling the PMP® Application Form

Sounds simple and that’s why its suprising to find many professionals struggle to complete the form. Agreed its not rocket science, but spending time to fill is taken for granted or slighted till it get escalated to a “do-it-now” situation.

How to become PMP® certified? It can be an article in itself but our intent in this write-up is to help you fill the application form and hence we will focus on the ‘application form ‘in detail. To become PMP® certified, you must be meet the standards set by PMI.

1

         1. Qualify with Education and Experience

  

You must have a Bachelors’ degree and possess 4500 hours of leading and directing projects or High-school with 7500 leading and directing projects. Click here for more information about the Prerequisite in terms of education and experience.

2       2. Earn 35 hours of contact hours

It is mandatory to earn 35 contact hours in order to become eligible to take up the test.  You can get the 35 contact hours by attending the PMP® Certification preparation courses. Please note that PMI does allow PMP® aspirants earn the contact hours  through classroom (offline) or instructor-led online trainings too from a reputed vendor.

       3. Fill the PMP®  Certification application form

Most tend to sidestep this requirement and fail to pay due diligence in providing proper information and also miss out the time slot in scheduling the exam.

To complete the form, we strongly recommend to furnish information that can be proved and verified any time. Remember, PMI conducts audit and in case your application is selected for scrutiny, then every word entered in the form will be vetted.

For your reference and better understanding, a PMP® application form that can be accessed after registering with PMI.org is presented below:

Contact Information

You need to fill the Name for correspondence from PMI and Contact Information.

·  Make sure the information entered is accurate and confirm again before moving to the next field.

·  Your Name and Contact information are vital and the choice is yours in selecting the name to appear on the certificate.

·  Also don’t miss out any fields as it will delay processing of the information after submission. 

Attained Education:
Enter your academic qualification starting from the highest level and capture all the information relevant and required.

Project Management Experience:

Your work experience information is equally important, just as your educational in meeting the eligibility requirement. In showcasing your work experience, start from the career early on in aspects of management, for example, Team Lead or Tech Lead and then move onto the next level , just like the promotion in your career span till that point in time. Lets say in “Tech Lead in ‘XYZ’ organization in ‘abc’ project from <start date> to <end datee>organization.  At the end of the project, you probably got placed in some other project in the same role, and over due course in time moved up in position or you switched organization with a change in designation and responsibilities as well. PMI is concerned about your work experience in the capacity of leading or managing projects. So you can use this block to fill as many project details so long there is proof for any entry made in the form.

Tips:

• The timeline from the start of the first project listed in the form to the last should clock 7500 hours of directing/managing projects.
• Get the numbers of experience endorsed by your superiors. The PMI audit will check for the certification during scrutiny.
• Don’t be misled that every project you are involved either as directing or managing need to clock the prescribed hours. It’s a sum of hours put together, and not on individual project. Of course, it helps if you are involved in project that runs for yours - long-terms projects.
• While filling the form, provide information about your Project title or role; reporting person' name.
• Calculate the hours spent in a project as an offline exercise - plus or minus is not advisable.
• Enter proper description more in terms of project objective and its description, goals set, key deliverables, challenges faced and solution proposed, the end-result of the project and your roles and responsibilities. Its encouraged to use the PMP terms and your role in the project especially with regard to project charter, scope, stakeholder, schedule, Quality, deliverables, stakeholders Management. Besides, you must read the PMBOK® Guide before writing the 'Description' and in case the details are not in line, then PMI® may seek for a rewritten Description. So be cautioned. 
• Please be informed that PMI will provide 90 days for filling your form online and will delete after 90 days. AS per PMI, once you start filling the form online, you are allowed to edit changes and revisit to make more changes bout cant cancel. PMI will post reminder mails to complete the incomplete applcaition and keep it open for 90 days after which it gets deleted.
• It will good to be acquantied with the MI Code of Ethics and the Professional Conduct and the Certification Agreement/ Renewal Agreement more from self-awareness and information about certfication. You can to get know more about the same by clicking here .

Project Management Education

Finally, the information about 35 contact hours earned. You can enter institution/organization that conducted the PMP® Certification preparation courses with the duration and of course the 35 contact hours. 



4. Prepare for the Exam
There are enough resources to complement the PMP® Certification preparation course, and it highly recommended to become conversant with PMBOK®-5 Edition. Get access to study aids, and join study groups to get onto the next level of prepration. PMI will schedule the exam  once your application is approved. So ensure your state of readiness is at all-time high.  PMI will notify you about the exam by mail.

You may please refer to details pertaining to examination by clicking here. And refer this document for Scheduling Exam

5. Get Certfied
Now that you are armed to the teeth with solid prepration through books and mock tests, your confidence must be at an amazing high. The PMP® Certification will be a 200-question, multiple-choice test. You will be clear the certfication in your first attempt - without a doubt.

We would like to connect again about “when to fill the form” and keep you posted about more topics on PMP® and Project Management. Thank you for your time and do visit our other blog posts.