Growing Demand for Effective Project Managers?

With the value that project management offers any organization, it is easy to understand why more and more industries are adopting project management as the way to do business. As a result, if you check nearly any recent hiring survey or "hot" careers forecast, you will find project management near the top of this list.

With the business trends of global competition and increased worker productivity continuing for the foreseeable future, the demand for successful project managers will only increase. Even in industries and organizations that are experiencing staff reductions, the individuals who have the knowledge, the people skills, and the management competence to solve problems and get projects done will be the individuals most valued and retained by the parent organization.

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In addition, many organizations have either compliance or competitive drivers requiring them to make process improvements to meet process standards set forth by acts of Congress (Sarbanes-Oxley act), government agencies (such as the federal Food and Drug Administration or Environmental Protection Agency), industry standards bodies (such as International Organization for Standards), or industry process models (such as Six Sigma Quality Model, or the Capability Maturity Model Integration for software engineering or project management). In all these cases, effective project management is a requirement to ensure these process improvements are made, sustained, and can be repeated.

As the demand for effective project managers continues to grow and organizations continue to experience varying degrees of success with project management, more organizations are requiring their project managers to be certified. Specifically, they are requesting PMI's Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Much like a master's of business administration (M.B.A.) degree does not guarantee a person can run a profitable, growing business, the PMP certification does not guarantee a person can successfully manage a project. However, it does provide assurance that the individual does have a baseline level of knowledge and experience.