For the last several months, I have been preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP®) Certification exam. Over the holiday weekend, I was talking to a family member about it who was very successful in his own career. He told me that he saw the importance early in his career of being able to distinguish himself from his peers. To that end, he sought after and achieved a license within his field that at the time he gained it, there were only 3,000 people in the United States holding this license. He assured me that this played no small role in his successful career trajectory.

Thinking about my own ambitions, I decided to find out how many people currently hold the PMP® certification. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI®), there are currently 636,384 holders of the PMP® certification. That seems like a big number, until you factor in that is a global number, out of a population of 7.125 BILLION people.

So I decided to dig a little deeper to truly see the demand for qualified project managers. Last year, PMI® published a report entitled, "PMI's Industry Growth Forecast: Project Management between 2010 + 2020". In this report, PMI states that "between 2010 and 2020, 15.7 million new project management roles will be created globally". But that is globally, you might say. The report goes on to say that in the United States, double-digit percentage growth is expected, with 6.2 million jobs by 2020. Furthermore, the report goes on to identify the industries within the U.S. that will experience the greatest growth in project management jobs, with Healthcare and Business Services leading the way.

The report concludes by stating what I had already surmised: "The rapid growth of demand for project management roles and the exceptional salary levels in the profession make the project management profession highly desirable to job seekers. Currently, demand for project management professionals is not matched by availability of resources with relevant project management skills. This will create an unparalleled opportunity for discerning job seekers to build valuable project management skills."

Taking into consideration that the demand for qualified project managers is outpacing the available talent pool, I believe that I have made a wise decision to set myself apart by pursuing the PMP® certification.
Contributed by Cory Camic (aspiring PMP®)

References:
PMI's Industry Growth Forecast: Project Management between 2010 + 2020, Project Management Institute (2013)

By Cory Camic
Business Development Manager at The Solarity Group