To PMP or not to PMP? That is the question facing many transitioning military members, veterans and military spouses looking for a job as a project manager. Yet passing the test to get the PMP certification is not easy. How do you know if earning your Project Management Professional certification (PMP) is really worth your time and effort during your military transition?
One reason getting your PMP might be worth it is the availability of jobs in project management. According to the Talent Gap report by the Project Management Institute, the global economy will need up to 30 million new project professionals by 2035. Even with market disruption due to artificial intelligence (AI), project management jobs are out there for transitioning service members.
Do You Really Need a PMP Certification?
I usually tell clients to get their PMP certification, especially when you can earn it for free through the Onward to Opportunity program.
I tell them that the PMP is a powerful sign to business leaders that you are truly ready to leave the military and become a member of a corporate team. You are ready to speak their language. Work their way. Value their values.
Yet there are at least 13 reasons you will not need to get your project management certification. Here are those reasons:
1. You already work as a project manager. Project management certification does not make you a project manager. You must have the experience. If you are already working as a project manager outside the military — yet you do not currently have the certification — you probably don’t need it.
2. You already have a job offer. If someone in your network wants to bring you aboard their company as a project manager and you don’t already have the certification, you probably won’t need it. As always, networking is everything on the job hunt.
3. You’re not suited to the role. Sometimes, the reason you don’t need a PMP is because your temperament is not going to lend itself to the actual work of a civilian project manager. For example, if you hate meetings and deadlines as much as I do, you should give that job a skip. Project management is all about managing meetings, meetings, meetings. And Zoom.
4. You don’t enjoy socializing. You have friends. You have a family. Yet most people annoy you. For project managers, meeting with and talking to people takes up the whole day. The job is people first and people focused. If you spend a day surrounded by people and feeling like you did not accomplish anything, this might not be the role for you.
5. You do enjoy socializing. You are, in fact, a people person! Mentoring a young officer or figuring out a complicated family situation for one of your soldiers was the part of the military you will miss most. Even though you will likely spend your whole day with people, most project managers are not people managers. As a PM, you will manage projects — which is a completely different thing.
6. Project management is a leadership position, but it is not a command. Most project management does not come with authority over a team. The project manager is not the boss and not the decision-maker. No one on the project works for the project manager; they are “on the project.” That can be weird for military folks.
7. You’re not a storyteller. Project management is a leadership job, especially the kind of leading you do while using your ability to persuade, motivate and understand the motivations of every team member. If the word “supporting” makes you cringe and “storytelling” is something you would never do, skip the PMP certification process.
8. Slack is a tool you would never use. I once knew a project manager who interviewed prospective candidates by text. If you hate texts and don’t respond quickly to texts or Slack, you won’t need that PMP certification. Again, you gotta get the zing factor, or the job won’t energize you.
9. You are orderly. Once problems are solved and order is created, you like things to stay solved. Yet if you find problem-solving intriguing and you are motivated by thinking up new solutions and adapting to changes, you might need that PMP certification.
10. You don’t like being the center of attention. As a PM, you are often called on in meetings by executive leadership to answer questions about the project, the problems and the schedule. You need to think on your feet. If you are great at one-on-one communication but freeze in front of a group, you might look into other certifications during your transition.
11. You’re not a proactive problem-solver. When things go wrong, you think it is best to keep that info to yourself and give the project time to recover. As a PM, your job is to communicate risk. You have to know the project and know the problems and how they might prevent the project from being completed on time and on budget.
12. You’re not good at predicting when things will go wrong. Project management is a job for people who not only realize work has to get done, but they realize that there is work in figuring out what has to be done, when, how, in what order and at what time. The best project managers easily imagine a future where the work is completed on time and on budget — and then work backward to devise their plan. Anticipating problems is what they do best.
13. You don’t love checklists. You are a great worker. You are the kind of creative, adaptable, spontaneous person who loves beginnings. Middles can bore you, though. Endings give you a massive panic attack. If this sounds like you, you will not need that PMP certification. PMs are checklist/schedule/calendar people who get a little zing every time they can check something off as complete. Without that zing, the job is just one headache after another.
Project managers are a special breed of people in the civilian world. Your experience in the military, leadership abilities and personality traits can lend themselves well to the job of a project manager. If you have great project management potential, go ahead and pursue your PMP certification. It can be the sign that leads the hiring manager straight to you.
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