How to Correctly Fill the Online PMP Application Form?

As you are here to learn how to fill the online PMP application form, you have decided to get PMP certification, right? Project Management Professional certification allows strengthening your career and professional expertise. Many individuals associated with project management are confused about approaches to get an additional boost in their career. 

PMP stands as a credible global standard for project management and is the gold standard for project management personnel. Understanding of best practices in project management, global recognition, and a higher salary are formidable reasons to pursue PMP certification. With so many appealing reasons, you should move towards the PMP application process.

Filling Online PMP Application Form

The following discussion will take you through the different steps for filling the online PMP application form. The discussion would also focus on different elements of filling the application form, such as time of filling the form. We shall also look at general guidelines and tips to prevent application rejection. The discussion would also present insights on preparing for a PMP audit and concerns after applying.

Basic Requirements for PMP Application

Before moving towards the process to fill the online PMP application form, let us find out the basic requirements. You need to verify the minimum criteria for eligibility to apply for PMP. The basic criteria verify your eligibility to fill the PMP application form.

• The first eligibility condition focuses on a 4-year bachelor degree. Also, you need 4500 hours of experience in leadership and management of a project.
• The second eligibility condition is applicable if you don’t fulfill the first eligibility condition. You can opt for the PMP application process if you have a high school diploma. However, the experience requirements are a bit extensive if you have a diploma. In the case of a diploma, you may need almost 7500 hours of experience in leading and management of projects.

Before thinking of online PMP application form, you need to get the required project management education. If you fulfill the criteria mentioned above, then you need to get formal project management education. Why? The details of your formal project management education are significant requirements in the application for PMP certification. So, you need to have 35 hours of dedicated PMP training before filling the online PMP application form.

Also Read: PMP Exam Changes 2019

Timing is very Important!

Now, let us focus on the right time to fill up your PMP application form! Majority of PMP aspirants wait for completing their preparations before filling the application form. However, the recommended approach would be to submit the application form in the early stages of your PMP exam preparation. Let us focus on the reasons for which the timing of submitting the application form matters the most.

• Candidates have to appear for the PMP certification exam within one year of submitting the application form. As a result, candidates can find a restricted deadline to prepare for the exam. This can help in staying focused on your preparations for the exam.
• Furthermore, applying is not sufficient! Candidates have to fill up their application form within 90 days. PMI stores the information of candidates entered in the online application for 90 days before deleting them. So, you have only 90 days as a fixed target to complete the application process.
• Another important reason to focus on the time of submitting your PMP application form relates to convenience. How? PMI releases new versions of the PMP certification exam. Therefore, if you have already started reading the reference titles, then apply quickly. As a result, you don’t have to start from scratch again for your exam preparations.

Different Sections in the Application

The most important part of PMP application assistance relates to the explanation of different sections in the application.

• Contact Information and Education Details

The first aspect of the application form deals with contact information of the applicant. Candidates have to input their work-related and personal information. On the off chance that you are quite confident of filling this part, you have to take some extra care. Candidates should note that only 20% of the forms make it to the audit stage.

Therefore, a slight mistake can lead to rejection of your application form. Hence, candidates should provide their contact details precisely without any errors. The application also asks for filling up details regarding the highest educational qualification of candidates. Candidates should be attentive while entering the names of their alma maters.

The names should match with the ones mentioned on the candidate’s certificates. Candidates should show their certificates at the time of the audit. Therefore, candidates should enter their percentage marks and grades exactly as mentioned in their certificates. Additional attention and careful effort can fulfill the first stage of the application process easily.

• Project Management Experience

However, the most crucial part of the PMP application form deals with project management experience. Candidates have to provide details about all the projects managed by them in the specified project experience period. Candidates have to outline the different projects separately alongside calculated estimates of time spent in different project management tasks. Also, candidates should provide a brief description of their role in the project.

Furthermore, candidates have to obtain validation for their role from supervisors in all the projects they outline in the application. So, candidates should have the active contact numbers of each project supervisor to plan out their roles. Careful planning through communication with supervisors can help in preventing any discrepancies in the audit query stage.

Let us improve the benefits of PMP application assistance by outlining different sections in the project management experience part. Candidates can find a worksheet with five sections in the project management experience section of the form. The sections indicate the different roles assumed by the candidate in different projects. The different sections in the worksheet are as follows:

• Initiating the project.
• Planning the project.
• Executing the project.
• Controlling the project.
• Closing the project.

One of the promising recommendations with your PMP application form filling is to show professionalism. Candidates can use different terms related to project management for making their application look professional. Terms such as stakeholders, closure, scope, constraints, status updates, archives, deliverables, and others in project management experience details indicate your professionalism.

Another notable inference from sample PMP application form filled already refers to overlapping projects. Many candidates face this problem while filling up their application forms. Candidates who have worked on multiple projects overlapping in terms of duration face this issue. However, you can solve this problem by documenting project hours individually without specifying the months separately.

Suppose you have worked on a project from January 2017 to December 2017. On the other hand, you also worked on another project from August 2017 to December 2017. So, the overlapping period is of five months from August 2017 to December 2017. In this case, you have to provide the project hours individually for each project. You can only add your experience as 12 months and not (12+5) 17 months.

Sources of sample PMP application form filled already serve as great tools for understanding the application process in detail. After filling your project management experience details, you will get a score of the required number of hours of experience. The next stage involves filling up a project summary limited within 550 words only. You need to focus on including all the five distinct phases of project management in this section of the PMP application form.

• Details of Project Management Education

Once you are done with the experience sheet, you will proceed towards the project management education part of the form. You need to enter details of the formal project management education you have taken before the exam. Candidates can find two confusing fields in this section of the PMP application form. The two fields are hours and qualifying hours. Hours denotes the total time spent by a candidate for the project management course in hours. The Qualifying hours denote the 35 hours of required formal project management education.

• Review and Final Submission

The next stage in the application process involves adding optional information. You will find the agreement form of PMI with terms and conditions. Candidates should review each entry in the document before agreeing to the terms and conditions. Candidates will receive an overview of their application form along with a request for confirmation to proceed. After the final approval, candidates can submit the application form. Candidates will also receive a notification email regarding submission of their forms on their preferred email address.

The Audit Process also Matters!

Another important concern in the application process is a PMP audit. Candidates will receive notifications if their applications go into the audit. The notification would demand the copies of certificates stating the education qualifications of candidates. Candidates should also submit the reference letter of their supervisors or project heads. Also, candidates should submit copies of certificates or letters from training institutes for project management education.

Check out these top PMP Formulas that will help you in your PMP exam preparation.

Bottom Line

On a concluding note, the process of filling up a PMP application form is not an easy task. However, you can always follow the best practices to make sure that everything goes well. The discussion presented clear insights into the basic requirements for the application process. However, the most important part of the discussion was the outline of different sections in the application form.

The description of individual sections of the form and best practices to fill them up provided clear insights. Candidates could easily follow the information in this discussion to complete their PMP application forms without any prominent setbacks. Hope the details mentioned above will help you. You can also enroll in our PMP certification training and PMP practice tests that will help you in your preparation.

So, prepare well and get ready to become PMP certified!

• About the Author
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About Dharmalingam N

Dharmalingam.N holds a master degree in Business Administration and writes on a wide range of topics ranging from technology to business analysis. He has a background in Relationship Management. Some of the topics he has written about and that have been published include; project management, business analysis and customer engagement.

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