The Ideal PMP Candidate

There is no "ideal" PMP candidate. The requirements for the PMP certification allow for a broad range of applicants with a mix of qualifications; however, minimal levels for experience, education, and training must be met. You can apply to PMI based on your hands-on experience in the field of project management or use your educational background to offset less experience in your discipline.

Education and Project Management Experience

Candidates for PMP certification must meet both educational and experience requirements. Candidates possessing a university degree apply under Category One and have a lower threshold for work experience. Candidates without a university degree are deemed Category Two and can substitute years of work experience for the degree requirement. Verification forms showing compliance with these criteria must be submitted with your PMI application for either category.

Applications with a University Degree

Category One is for applicants possessing a bachelor's degree or equivalent. In this category, fewer personal project management experience hours are necessary, although you must possess a minimum of 4,500 hours of hands-on project management activity within each of the five PMI process groups (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling, and closing). You must have led and directed specific tasks within all five process groups. This must occur within a minimum of 36 nonoverlapping (unique) months within the last 6 years.

Table 1. Category One

Criteria	Minimum	Explanation
Bachelor's degree		Or equivalent from a university.
Personal project management experience within five process groups	4,500 hours	Within the last 6 years from the date of application.
Nonoverlapping months of personal project management experience	36 months	Individual months count toward the 36 months requirement once, even if you worked on multiple projects during the same month.
Specific instruction that addresses learning objectives in project management	35 contact hours	Must include instruction on project quality, scope, time, cost, human resources, communications, risk, procurement, and integration management.

Applications Without a University Degree

Category Two allows applicants with significant work experience to submit additional work history in lieu of a university degree. In essence, your extended period of job experience serves as your educational requirement.

In this category, you can use 7,500 hours of project management performance to substitute for holding a college degree. You must validate that this work occurred within the last 8 years, of which 60 months must support nonoverlapping periods of personal project management experience. Your work experience must cover all five process groups as noted in category one. A high school diploma or equivalent and/or an associate's degree or equivalent are a requirement of this category.

Table 2. Category Two

Criteria	Minimum	Explanation
Personal project management experience within five process groups	7,500 hours	Within the last 8 years from the date of application.
Nonoverlapping months of personal project management experience	60 months	Individual months count toward the 60 months requirement once, even if you worked on multiple projects during the same month.
Specific instruction that addresses learning objectives in project management	35 contact hours	Must include instruction on project quality, scope, time, cost, human resources, communications, risk, procurement, and integration management.

Regardless of whether you opt for category one or two, you must complete 35 contact hours of project management education. This training must provide specific instruction addressing project quality management, scope management, time management, cost management, human resources management, communications management, risk management, procurement management, and integration management within the learning objectives.

Courses, workshops, and training sessions in one or more of the following categories satisfy the education requirement:

• University/college academic and continuing education program

• Courses or programs offered by training companies or consultants

• Courses or programs offered by PMI Component organizations (not including chapter meetings)

• Courses or programs offered by PMI Registered Education Providers

• Courses or programs offered by employer/company-sponsored program

• Courses or programs offered by distance-learning companies

Experience Verification

To document your qualifications, you will be asked to complete an experience verification form as part of your PMI application. For the training component, you will document your training by providing the institution name, the name of the course attended, the dates of attendance, and the contact hours earned. You should save any document related to the course, such as a completion certificate in the event that you are randomly selected for an audit by PMI.

For your work experience, the experience verification form will ask you to note the project title, your role on the project, the approximate number of hours spent working in each of the five process areas, the project start date, the project end date, and contact information for the company where the work was performed. You will also be asked to summarize the deliverables you managed on the project and provide contact information for each project.

Prior to starting your experience verification form, compile all relevant information. Your résumé, work records, time-management tools, and related documentation will be essential to detailing your professional experience. Any work breakdown structures and resource allocation spreadsheets detailing the time you spent on each process area can be particularly helpful. Be thorough in your explanations of your work experience. This will be beneficial if you are selected for an audit.

Review each of the process groups in the PMBOK to ensure you are correctly documenting your work experience. The PMI might differentiate between process groups in a manner contrasting with your past work experience, so it is imperative that your work experience aligns with the correct PMI process groups.

For your education component, you are simply asked to name the institution from which you graduated, your field of study, and your date of graduation. A photocopy of your diploma or transcript should suffice if you are asked to verify your degree as part of a PMI audit.