How to document your experience for the PMP Certification

One of the most common questions we hear from people going after the prestigious Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is whether they have enough experience to qualify—and how to document it properly. If that also troubles you, don’t worry! In this article, we’ll explain everything about experience eligiblity criteria, so that you will easily understand if you can qualify for PMP, and how to document them in your PMP applicatioon.

PMP certification, offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI), is the globally recognized gold standard in project management credentials. With more than 1 mil. certified professionals over the world, it validates your expertise in leading and managing projects, making you stand out in the competitive job market.

Experience documentation seems to be one issue that troubles most PMP candidates! Specifically, how to accurately complete the PMP experience hours section in the PMP exam application. 

What are the PMP exam eligiblity criteria?

As you may know, demonstrating your project management experience is a crucial requirement for PMP eligibility. 

In order to get certified and be eligible to take the PMP test, you must meet certain requirements, which are:

1. You need to have completed 35 contact hours of Project Management Education,
   and,
2. You must have at least 3 years of project work experience, equivalent to 36 months of project experience, with a 4-year degree (BSc, BA, etc),
   OR,
   You must have at least 5 years of project work experience, equivalent to 60 months of project experience, with any secondary degree.

So the first step is to assess your overall experience. Do you have at least 3 to 5 years of professional experience? If you hold a degree that's less than a 4-year Bachelor's Degree, you will need to have worked for at least 5 years. If you have a 4-year Bachelor's Degree or a higher qualification, such as a Master's Degree, then 3 years of work experience is sufficient.

Next, evaluate how much of your experience is directly related to project management. Project Management experience refers to working on projects where you collaborate with teams and stakeholders, make key decisions, and provide direction for the project. It’s important to distinguish how much of your work involves managing projects as opposed to handling operations. As long as you can demonstrate that your work was within a "project environment" and that you actively managed the project, you should be eligible to apply for the PMP.

Documenting your project management experience for PMP

The online PMP exam application form will require comprehensive details regarding your work experience on projects. 

You'll be asked to provide: 

•    the project's title

•    the organization and its primary domain

•    your job title – not necessary to be a Project Manager title

•    functional reporting area

•    chosen approach or methodology (traditional, agile, or hybrid)

•    project team size

•    project budget, 

•    project dates (including an option for ongoing projects), 

•    and a description summarizing your role, project objective, outcome, deliverables, and responsibilities.

Aim for a word count ranging from 200 to 500 words, highlighting your significant contributions and showcasing your project management skills. 

What to include

Be specific and brief by documenting all your actions across the five process groups: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing a project.

For example, you can describe your experience in initiating projects by explaining how you identified project stakeholders, defined project objectives, and obtained project charters. In the planning phase, you can mention your involvement in creating project management plans, developing schedules, and defining project scope. Similarly, you should provide details about your execution, monitoring and controlling, and closing activities.

It is not mandatory to have experience in each process area on every single project you have worked on. However, your project management experience should cover all process areas. This means that over the course of your career, you should have gained sufficient experience in initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing projects.

How to calculate project hours experience

You can add multiple projects to fulfil the required experience criteria based on your educational background (60 months for a secondary degree, 36 months for a bachelor's degree).

Many PMP exam candidates find it challenging to demonstrate their 4500 hours of project management experience. If you were solely focused on project management during a calendar year, working an average of 2000 hours annually, you could accumulate the required 4500 hours in about two years and a quarter. However, most candidates may not spend all their time on project management tasks and often have responsibilities in operations as well. Additionally, PMI only considers project experience gained within the last 8 years, so any experience prior to that won't count. Therefore, you should review the projects you’ve worked on in the past 8 years and calculate the time you spent managing them. Your total project management experience needs to sum up to 4500 hours of leading, directing, or managing projects.

Each calendar month counts as a single month of experience, even if you managed multiple projects simultaneously. For example: if Project A lasted from March 2021 to August 2021 and Project B from June 2021 to December 2021, you can count Project A experience from March to May, a total of 3 months, and Project B experience only from June to December, a total of 7 months. Adding the experience of Project A and Project B gives you a total of 10 months of experience.

Be careful not to exaggerate on your hours or juggle too many projects at once. The key is to present a realistic and focused description of your experience.

While it's acceptable for project dates to overlap, remember that elapsed time is what matters. If you managed multiple projects in a single month, it still counts as one month of experience. 

Start with your most recent project and work backward until you meet the required total months of experience. For instance, if your current project started in January 2023 and is ongoing, and the previous project ran from July 2022 to December 2022, you can count experience from January 2023 to the present first, and then count July to December 2022. If these projects provide the necessary total months, you don’t need to go further back. Always avoid double-counting overlapping periods.

Ensure your reported hours align with a reasonable workload of around 40 hours per week. Although there might be legitimate reasons for recording more hours occasionally, such as during critical project milestones, be prepared to justify such instances with written documentation if your applications gets audited and PMI asks for proof.

Some more tips:

• When providing examples of your experience, remember that PMI values diverse projects from various industries. 
• Begin with your current or most recent project and progress backward until you have accumulated the required number of months. You don’t have to list every project you have ever led.
• Share fewer details about what the project was about and more about what you, as the project manager, did during the project.
• Avoid industry-specific acronyms and technical jargon that may not be universally understood. Use project management terminology as provided in the PMBOK while writing your project descriptions. For example use Developing a Project Charter instead of Documenting the Project in a Company document.
• It is essential that your PMP application is honest and accurately reflects your personal experience, using your own words. Don’t try to copy/paste text from various sources you may find on the internet. 
• Only complete the experience section of your application, after you have completed your training course. If the course end-date is in the future, the system will not allow  you to save it.
• Be careful with spelling and grammar. Use an app like grammarly.com. 

Here is an example of a project description

• Project Title: Organizing a Conference on Digital Marketing
• Description: Led the organization of an onsite conference on digital marketing, with the goal of creating a dynamic platform for industry professionals to exchange knowledge and insights. The project had a XXX$ budget and a 4-month completion window. 
• Project Objective: To plan, organize, and execute a successful digital marketing conference, bringing together industry professionals for knowledge exchange and networking opportunities.
• Project Outcome: A well-coordinated and impactful digital marketing conference ready to host attendees from across the industry.
• Role on the Project: As the Project Manager, I was responsible for the execution of the project.
• Key responsibilities included: developing the project charter and identifying key stakeholders during the initiation phase. In the planning phase, I carefully determined the scope of the conference, considering time, cost, and quality aspects. During execution, I facilitated the call for speakers and the speaking slots with speakers, I facilitated research and development of conference materials by collaborating with graphic designers. Throughout the project, I closely monitored the schedule and quality to ensure smooth progress. Finally, in the project closure phase, I documented the project's outcomes: the material presented. The conference resulted in engaging sessions and valuable networking opportunities for attendees, contributing to the advancement of digital marketing practices.

How does PMI verifies work experience for the PMP application?

To verify your work experience, PMI conducts an audit of your PMP application. During this audit, PMI will reach out to your listed references via email and ask them to confirm the project management experience you’ve outlined in your application. You can include anyone as a reference, such as your manager, supervisor, coworker, or anyone who is well-acquainted with your project management experience. Once your references have validated your experience and PMI is satisfied with the verification, they will notify you by email that you’ve passed the audit, allowing you to move forward and schedule your PMP exam.

Showcasing and justifying your project management experience is not as daunting as it may sound, because PMI has provided a very easy to follow step by step process in the application form. You just need to be thorough, sincere, and precise in documenting your experience. 

Remember, the HAU Project Management Insightys team, is here to support you on your journey to becoming a certified Project Management Professional.  

Feel free to contact us for more information in the form below,  and stay tuned for more insider tips and expert guidance!