Mostly the employer perception and awareness about having a PMP Certified professional on board was known in the IT sector predominantly, because there it was without saying that any software development project must be handled by a certified PMP professional, later on this perception and awareness slowly started imbibing in other sector and domains as well, where there were projects initially also, however the need for a skilled PMP professional was not felt to that extent by the employers, that is the reason there use to be so may challenges and loop holes and no solution issues cropping up time and again. As the years passed by employers from almost every domain now understand the importance and how critical it is to have a certified project manager working and managing the project for its successful completion.
The biggest challenge is the apprehension about doing certification courses, many candidates think that only experience counts and doing certification does not really help in career growth and salary hike, the problem with this kind of mentality is purely defensive mechanism, fact is the recruiting managers are going to hire the best people around, not the ones who say they are smart or capable, they will be hiring someone who have proven they can run the long marathon and takes interest, pride and passion in educating oneself. There are many living examples and proofs that certifications can change your life forever.
Employers always care the most about an employee’s performance so whether it comes just by experience or whether it comes after doing some certification courses, really does not matter for him, although the employers feel that unless someone is having that particular degree and knowledge or certification to do a particular thing, he or she will not be able to show performance in their respective field.
Hiring managers are more worried about getting people who are able to do their job and fulfill their delivery schedules, whereas HR people care more about having the certification in hand, so as per few experts at least for the sake of getting entry into the position one has to have a certification in hand, because later on its going to benefit him in any way as its training is based on practical aspects of project management and how to effectively use them in your day-to-day work. All in all Certifications are important to employers, to hiring managers to HR professionals.
It also depends on what kind of organization you are looking to join and register. Some organizations may not be scaled up to really have or can afford a PMP Certified professional. Although for the betterment of any organization a certified professional is always beneficial.
So before any candidate applies for the exam he or she should be very much clear whether it is going to be the right time to apply for the exam. There are many aspects in PMP Certification which if not done in the right way and at the right time could adversely affect your career growth and its associated salary hike. It’s always the best practice to attend training through an approved PMI Institute rather than doing it for any other institute just for the sake of saving some money one should not compromise the quality of training, course material and end to end support which the candidate should get post the training.
Apart from the PMBOK guide one should also focus on reading through the various other study material such as definitions, flash cards, few other books referred by the institute along with mock test and chapter tests. As per your academics you should apply for PMP Exam with the no of hours of relevant experience of project management. There are numerous other things to be considered once a candidate gets certified. With all the efforts taken to study and pass the PMP Exam anyone would like to continue its credentials and validity for at least 2 terms that is 6 years. To renew the certification for another 3 years the candidate must be able to submit 60 PDUs to PMI. 36 Contact Hours Certified Training approved by PMI.
It will definitely have you spend additionally for obtaining those PDUs and also the PMP Certification renewal fees would cost you around 150 USD. But looking at the salaries the PMP Certified professionals are getting and the opportunities it is bringing for the career growth, this money is worth spending on its renewal and for gaining PDUs. Not for all PDUs earning one needs to pay as it’s a give and take for PMI for those 60 PDUs. Even one can conduct training sessions on project management in their organizations and every hour of training session conducted fetches them 1 PDU. Certified Manager Certification worth it.
There are instances where some employers do not care about any certification related to Project Management very few though. For them the experience one gains as a project manager while handling the projects is by far the best way to excel in their career. However one point to be noted here is to excel in your career as a project manager one needs to go through the appraisal process which almost 100% of the times have PMP Certification as their KPA or KRA.
As PMP Certification has been a worldwide accepted for Project Management, the employers do care about it, according to them it not only proves skillset and knowledge in project management but also the strength and capability of handling single or multiple projects. In the end the employers care about their profitability and their projects success rate and their reputation in the world market, and that is decided by the success of each and every project they execute, so PMP Certified people are their back bone to achieve this success.