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The PMP® Application process can be time consuming.  It is important to understand what is required so that you do not have to resubmit.

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Quick reference

PMP® Application

The PMP® Application process can be time consuming.  It is important to understand what is required so that you do not have to resubmit.

When to use

When you have completed the training courses and have met the experience requirements, you can prepare and submit the PMP® Application.  If the application is approved, you will be eligible to sign up for the test immediately.  I recommend you submit your application shortly before you intend to take the test.  Your eligibility letter is good for one year and you have up to three tries to pass the exam.  Submit just before you intend to take the test to maximize your potential retest window if it is needed.

Instructions

Complete the application online at the www.pmi.org website.  As you complete the application, collect your documentation for each of the items of education and experience that you claim.  A portion of all applications are audited and documentation demonstrating your qualifications must be provided.  Typical documentation includes:

  • Education of high school or bachelors degree – a copy of the transcript showing graduation to show your education level.
  • Education of 35 contact hours of project management training -  a certificate of completion of the training, the dates of the training, a syllabus or outline of the training, and a bio of the trainer that demonstrates their competence to provide the training.
  • Experience – the experience verification portion of the application can be one of the more time consuming elements if you worked on multiple small projects.  For each project you must document:
    • The project name and industry
    • Your role on the project
    • The time you started to work on the project and when you stopped working on the project
    • A contact person with contact information who can validate this information
    •  The total number of hours you spent working on the project – allocated to the five process groups of Initiating, Planning, Executing, Closing, and Monitoring and Controlling with a description of what you did in each area. (You do not need to be involved in all five process groups on each project, but you do need to have had experience in all five process groups at some point.)

One of the more difficult elements of determining your eligibility is the requirements for months of experience.  This is determined from the start and finish dates that you provide for each project that you document.  However, if you are working on multiple projects at the same time, you cannot “double count” the months.  All of the hours from all of the projects can be counted.  But if you were working on three projects during the month of May; that month only counts once.

You do not need to turn all of the documentation into PMI at the time of application, just the completed application form.  Once your application has been reviewed for completeness, you must pay the application fee.   This process takes about five days.  The amount of the fee varies depending upon several factors and global exchange rates.  So, check with PMI to determine what your fee will be.  At that time your application may be selected for audit. If selected, you will have 90 days to provide the documentation that verifies your claims.  After PMI receives your documentation, they require five to seven days to review the documentation and check on some of your sources and references.  Once everything is approved, you will receive an eligibility letter that allows you to schedule the exam.

PMP is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

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  • 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen, I'd like to talk with you about the application process for
  • 00:08 the project management professional credential.
  • 00:14 Let's start with a flowchart of the process.
  • 00:16 I'll show you what you need to do and what PMI will be doing.
  • 00:20 First, complete the application.
  • 00:22 This is normally done online at the PMI website.
  • 00:25 Once you start, you have up to 90 days to complete the application.
  • 00:29 Then PMI reviews the application for completeness and
  • 00:31 that normally takes about five days.
  • 00:34 Either your application goes on for approval or you're selected for an audit.
  • 00:38 A portion of the applications are selected for an audit.
  • 00:41 If that occurs, you're required to provide the documentation
  • 00:45 that proves all the application that you listed in your application.
  • 00:48 You'll have 90 days to gather and submit all the documentation.
  • 00:52 I'll describe the kind of documentation required in the next few slides.
  • 00:56 At that point, PMI will review the documentation and
  • 00:58 that requires 5 to 7 days.
  • 01:00 Assuming that you pass the audit or that you are not selected for
  • 01:03 an audit, you pay the fees associated with your status of PMI membership.
  • 01:08 Next, you will receive the exam eligibility letter.
  • 01:11 That letter will allow you to schedule an exam at a test center
  • 01:15 anytime during the next year.
  • 01:17 Let's talk more about how to complete the application.
  • 01:20 This is normally done online at the PMI website.
  • 01:24 The application does no need to be completed at just one sitting.
  • 01:27 You can fill out some items and then go do some other work or
  • 01:30 track down a reference, then come back to your application days later and continue.
  • 01:35 If your application is audited, you will need to prove the documentation references
  • 01:39 for everything in the application.
  • 01:41 For your formal education level, such as a university degree,
  • 01:44 you will need to provide a transcript.
  • 01:46 For the 35 hours of project management training,
  • 01:48 it will depend upon the education provider.
  • 01:51 If they are an approved registered education provider with PMI,
  • 01:54 you just need to show your certification of completion.
  • 01:57 If not, you need documentation showing the course of study, who the instructor was
  • 02:02 and their credentials showing that they were qualified to teach the course.
  • 02:06 And some type of proof that you actually completed the course.
  • 02:09 Generally, if you contact the provider, they can provide the information you need.
  • 02:14 Finally to show the experience, you'll need to complete the experience
  • 02:17 verification form for each project that you're claiming as part of your months and
  • 02:21 hours of your experience.
  • 02:23 These experience verification forms can take a great deal of time and
  • 02:26 effort to complete, so let's review what's required for each.
  • 02:30 A key criteria for PMP is that you've actually done project management.
  • 02:35 This is demonstrated on the experience verification forms that
  • 02:37 are part of a PMP application process.
  • 02:40 They are fillable forms that must be completed.
  • 02:43 You can't just attach a resume, you must use the form.
  • 02:47 These are required that you provide reference and contact information for
  • 02:50 each project that you list.
  • 02:52 The reference will be contacted if your application is selected for audit.
  • 02:55 You'll need to describe the type of project and your role on that project, and
  • 02:59 you'll need to provide the timing of the project start and finish.
  • 03:02 When completing the experience form, you will also need to identify how many
  • 03:06 hours you spend on each project doing project management related activity.
  • 03:10 And each of the five project management process groups.
  • 03:12 That is initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing.
  • 03:17 You don't need to have activity on all five areas on all projects, but you do
  • 03:21 need to have experience with at least one project in each of the process groups.
  • 03:27 Feel free to include projects that are not part of your formal business duties.
  • 03:31 If you did a project for a community organization or a charity, include it.
  • 03:34 In fact, often that is where you will get your hours for initiating or closing.
  • 03:39 With respect to the hours that you are claiming, these should be associated with
  • 03:43 either doing or leading some project management activities.
  • 03:47 Don't include the task work that you do in your technical specialty
  • 03:50 unless you are directing a team of individuals.
  • 03:53 That doesn't mean you need to have the title project manager for
  • 03:55 the hours to be included.
  • 03:57 In fact, if you are a core team lead,
  • 04:00 much of your work would count toward project management hours.
  • 04:03 Finally, when you're determining the number hours and months across multiple
  • 04:07 projects, if you have overlapping projects you cannot double count a month.
  • 04:12 But you can include hours for multiple projects in the same month.
  • 04:16 In this example, project 1 is running from January through May.
  • 04:19 There's a 5 months project.
  • 04:21 Project 2, runs from April to August.
  • 04:23 It is also a 5 months project.
  • 04:25 The months of April, May can only be counted once, so
  • 04:28 those two projects combined for just eight months.
  • 04:31 However, you can use all of the project management hours for
  • 04:34 both projects when adding up your hours.
  • 04:38 Don't be lackadaisical about your application.
  • 04:41 This process can take a long time.
  • 04:43 I spent over eight hours on mine and
  • 04:45 I had all my documentation readily available to refer to.
  • 04:49 Assume that you will be audited.
  • 04:50 And if you are audited,
  • 04:51 everything that you state will have to be verified by a third party.
  • 04:56 So make sure you have access to that.

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PMI, PMP, CAPM and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

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