Hiring Project Managers: Should PMPs Apply?

Hiring Project Managers: Should PMPs Apply? Mark Mullaly, PMP June 8, 2005

Workforce Management Project Management in Practice

In the last decade, the popularity of the Project Management Professional (PMP) designation and similar certifications has exploded. Partly, this reflects what the demographics of project management associations demonstrate--the use of project management is growing, most particularly in organizations and industries that have not been considered traditional project management environments.

Ten years ago, the number of PMPs was less than 10,000 (I was the 6,944th). Today, there are more than 100,000 people who are currently certified as PMPs, and the certificate numbers are on the threshold of 200,000. These are interesting statistics--enough people to populate a small city have decided that holding a PMP designation is important; an equal number have thought it important at one point in their careers, but have since let the designation lapse.

Yet these statistics belie the true popularity of the PMP and designations like it.