PMP Experience Examples: Filling Experience in the PMP Application Form

I often receive emails from PMP aspirants asking for PMP Experience Examples. Many sent me their experience to verify PMI compliance, and I have replied to hundreds of such emails.

In today’s blog post, I will provide a few PMP Experience Examples and then guide you on correctly writing and filling in the experience in your PMP exam application form. 

PMP Experience Examples

Create a list of projects where you have worked. Your role must be leading and directing the project through the job title but not necessarily be a “project manager.”  

If you have worked as a supervisor in a call center, do not count this experience. Instead, count only on project management experience.

The experience can be in any industry, for example, IT, construction, pharmaceutical, etc. PMI is not looking for your field but for your project management experience. Also, while providing your experience, use PMI terminology instead of your industry-specific acronym.

Ensure the following to meet the PMI work experience requirements:

• The work should be in professional responsibility, not volunteer or personal work.
• The work should be strictly project management.
• Involve one or more process groups as described in the PMBOK Guide.
• Do not count overlapping experience
• Do not leave any project management domain blank.

Describe the PMP work experience coving the five project management process groups.

The PMBOK Guide grouped the project management processes into five groups:

1. Initiating (IN): Initiate the project, appoint a project manager, and identify stakeholders.
2. Planning (PL): Collect project requirements and develop a project management plan and performance measurement baselines.
3. Executing (EX): Carrey out the plan, complete the project, and achieve project objectives.
4. Monitoring & Controlling (MC): Tracking progress, managing changes, and ensuring the project is within limits set in performance baselines.
5. Closing (CL): Signing off the project deliverables, compiling lessons learned, and releasing the team.

Ensure you have experience in all five domains of project management. Missing any one of them can lead to disapproval of your application.

You should provide detail of your experience for sixty months if you are a diploma holder. If you are a degree holder, provide details on thirty-six months. You must have earned this experience in the last eight years; you cannot go back more than eight to provide your project management experience. 

The Length of Content in PMP Experience

The PMI has specific instructions for providing project management experience. You must provide a high-level description of your experience that summarizes your experience and includes the project objectives, role, outcome, responsibilities, and deliverables. The summary should be between 200 to 500 words.

Providing all details, including activities for all five domains, objectives, roles, deliverables, etc., is challenging.

PMP Experience Example

Use the following guideline to provide your experience:

• Objectives: Provide the objective, why the project was started, what it intends to achieve, and its benefit.
• Role: Provide details on your role and how you led and directed the projects.
• Responsibilities and Deliverables: Details on tasks you have completed in the five phases of project management.
• Outcome: What was the project output, a tangible product, software, or result, etc.

Now let me show you some examples of PMP experience.

PMP Experience Example -1

• Objective: Design and launch a new clothing line for newborn babies within six months.
• Role: I worked as a lead project engineer and was involved with it from initiation until completion.
• Responsibilities/Deliverables: I identified stakeholders (IN), collected requirements, developed project plans (PL), and got involved with the team to carry out the work (EX); on-site, I ensured they carried out the work as planned (MC).  Finally, the design was ready, and I handed it to the production team (CL).
• Outcome: The project outcome was a new product outline for infants.

PMP experience example – 2

• Objective: to construct a school building with twenty rooms with a 3,000,000 USD budget in one year.
• Role: I was working as a project manager. I managed the project team with forty-five members from initiation to closing.
• Responsibilities/Deliverables: I identified the stakeholders (IN), developed plans to construct the building and performance baselines (PL), managed the team to carry out the construction work (EX), ensured the construction was as per requirements (MC), and finally handed over the school building to school management (CL).
• Outcome: The project outcome was a school building with twenty rooms.

How to Ensure Your PMP Experienced Example is Correct?

Now, you might wonder if your PMP experience example is correct. 

Ensure the following:

• Provide the correct information, and do not manipulate the data.
• Use complete 500 words.
• Provide high-level project-specific examples, as I did in the school building example.
• Includes tasks from all phases of project management
• Do not use “we” instead, use “I.” Emphasize your roles and tasks.
• Avoid using confusing or industry-specific jargon.

Audit of the PMP Experience Example

These days PMI is selecting many candidates for audit, and they are strict about it. Ensure that you have provided the correct information. You will need to provide the email addresses of your previous and current bosses.

Make sure these addresses and email IDs are correct. Then, inform your previous supervisors about your PMP application and tell them that the PMI may contact them to verify your details.

Summary

I have provided two PMP experience examples, and you can see that you need to provide PMI with high-level information about your experience covering all stages of the project and your role in it.