The Project management Institute (PMI) is a boon for project managers. With global reach, it helps project managers worldwide with resources that allow them to upgrade their personality and constantly gain insights about their field that help in career enhancement. This certificate acts as a badge to showcase your profession's seriousness and increase your market worth as an employee.
Employees get a chance to work with premium organizations, but companies also benefit by employing certified professionals with updated skills and knowledge about their field.
Today most companies have the option of PMP certified professionals added to their job description, and it shows how much value PMI offers to its members. So, now let us have a detailed know-how of what PMI is and how it benefits both the employees and employers alike.
What is a Project Management Institute?
The Project Management Institute is a non-profit association meant explicitly for project management professionals and provides access to resources worldwide to enrich them with knowledge about their field. It also dedicatedly works to enhance the technological growth of the project managers by specializing in PMTQ (project management technical quotient).
To stay ahead of your competitors, you as a project manager must be aware of the latest technology trends in your field. As an organization, you should motivate your employees to be aware of trends projected by PMI. Employees who understand the current trends can more effectively carry out the company’s tasks leading to success.
Benefits Offered by the Project Management Institute
PMI membership offers several benefits to its members. You get access to their yearly publication, official networking events, and tons of other valuable information to excel in your chosen field. The members get a chance to polish their professional skills and raise their standards and work ethics to move ahead in the industry.
Apart from this, it also offers various certifications like Project management Professional and Risk management Professional. To acquire these certificates, you need to have extensive expertise and work experience on a specific subject. Nowadays, many employers prefer to recruit PMI-certified candidates that show dedication to their project management profession.
Tips for Organizations to get Maximum Benefit from PMI Certified Employees
Employing a PMI certificate holder is one of the best decisions to scale your organization to new heights. Here are a few essential tips that you can implement to extract the best out of your employees.
Motivate Non-certified employees to get Certified
Professional certifications are a great way to showcase your skills to prospective and current employers. Though you can always hire certified professionals, encouraging your existing staff to get certified will be more beneficial as they already know the company culture.
You should keep a little budget aside for educating your employees as it increases employee retention rate and provides more value to the existing work. However, not all project management job roles require PMI certifications. But adding it as a preferred option will help you appoint a more talented workforce.
Allow Employees to be a Part of Professional Events
PMI regularly hosts official events for project managers and people working in the related fields. These events are one of the best ways to collaborate and grow the existing knowledge. The employees will gain a lot from the lectures and presentations covering different aspects of project management. Also, networking with other professionals helps them gain valuable tips that improve their work performance.
Educate Employees about the Value of Life-long Learning
PMI provides various educational opportunities for its members. Members can have access to several reading materials, a quarterly scholar journal, a quarterly membership news bulletin, and a monthly magazine covering the latest happenings and new trends in project management. All this helps employees to keep themselves updated with the current information. Apart from these, PMI also offers various online educational resources, such as an article library and research studies for its members.
Frequently Asked Questions about Project Management Institute (PMI)
Q. What are the certifications offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI)? A. Several beginner-level to advanced-level certifications are available for members to gain new skills or enhance their existing knowledge. Here is a list of eight certifications offered by PMI:
Project Management Professional (PMP): Enhance your project management skills.
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM): Equip you with project management best practices and technologies to handle and organize projects effectively.
PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP): Help you gain knowledge to apply Agile practices and principles like XP, Scrum, and Lean to project management.
PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA): Equip you with business analysis knowledge related to project management business requirements.
PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP): Help you gain an understanding of various risks involved in projects, how to identify them and what measures to take to prevent their occurrence.
PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP): Teaches you how to create and handle multiple project schedules simultaneously.
Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP): It equips with the knowledge to manage several portfolios simultaneously and improve your organizational skills.
Program Management Professional (PgMP): Trains you to handle multiple projects and teams and what working methodology you must follow to extract maximum output from team-building efforts.
Q. What are the Locations at which the Project Management Institute is Located? A. PMIs are located worldwide, including Africa, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East. Also, you can look at the list consisting of details of all the chapters within each state by visiting PMI’s official website. However, if you do not find PMI located near you, you can also join their online community.
Q. Are there any Specific Requirements to Receive PMP certification? A. You need to fulfill a few conditions before applying for project management professional certification. These are:
- Three years of work experience leading projects
- 35 hours of project management training
- A Bachelor’s degree
If, however, you do not possess the above qualifications, there are a few alternatives too. These are:
- Five years of work experience leading projects
- A high school diploma or an associate degree
- 35 hours of project management training
The Final Words
We covered what Project Management Institute is and several benefits of joining its membership program. With economic globalization at its all-time high, the demand for trained project managers has also risen. There is a sharp increase in the competition worldwide, and companies need to improve their work constantly in alignment with the current trends to stay ahead of their competitors.
So, having only basic knowledge about your field will take you nowhere. To demand a bespoke salary package and stand out from other candidates during an interview, you need to add something special to your existing skills. As a project manager, you should consider opting for PMI’s membership and gain knowledge.
