Applying to become a Chartered Project Professional is a rewarding exercise but it is definitely not a trivial task. You should plan on the basis that this will be a full week’s work. That’s around 35-40 hours when you put it all together. Most people will complete their application in stages and this guide is designed to help you prepare for this.
We recommend you plan this commitment over a three-to-four month period aiming for a published ChPP Submission deadline. This period of time will make it feel achievable (at around 3 hours per week), will maintain the momentum at a steady pace and will keep the end in sight. Mark it out in your calendar and get to work!
Planning over a much longer period of, say, a year makes it much easier to procrastinate and find something else to do. There are lots of other things to do!
When planning to complete your application there are a number of simple preparations which will help you to make effective and efficient use of the precious time that you have set aside.
- Prepare a list of your previous projects over the course of your career. You will need to recall the name/title of the project, your specific role title and the start and end dates for the period you spent working there.
From this list identify the projects you will need to use on the basis that they both:
- Demonstrate the required complexity characteristics and satisfy the chartered standard.
- Showcase your best evidence of competence on the basis that you only submit your best examples.
Remember that the further back you go, the harder it is to recall (or research) the precise details of what you did.
- Determine which competences present your strongest evidence. You have five choices to make within the mandatory competences plus two fixed competences together with a wide range of electives from which to choose just five. In choosing your competences there are four main considerations:
- Where am I most competent and confident? This is the fundamental decision criteria. Only submit your best evidence.
- Which project is my evidence coming from? Using strong, specific examples will bring your application to life.
- Does this give me broad enough evidence to demonstrate four of the Professional Practice Criteria?
- And … looking ahead to the Stage 2 Interview, do I know enough about the theory and practice of this competence to answer more technical questions?
- You will also need to identify two proposers who know you and your work and are willing to endorse your application for Chartership. You should approach them now and then put this to the back of your mind. It’s one less thing to worry about. A line manager, Project Sponsor or Head of profession/function would all be great choices.
- You should also read through the APM Code of professional conduct as you will be asked to confirm your agreement to abide by this during the application. You can find this here.
- Finally, during the process you will be asked to confirm that you have completed 35 hours of CPD in the last 12 calendar months. It is unlikely that you will be asked to upload any personal records of this at application stage but you may also wish to gather your records together just in case.
Taking time to gather this information together first and give some thought to your approach and choices will make for a smoother application process. Now plan out your goals and targets over the next 3-4 months with your personal deadline in mind and set to work. Good luck.
Changescope. The project leadership people.
We have helped many people through this process before. Why not contact us to learn more about how to plan, structure, draft and submit your ChPP application. enquiries@changescope.com
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