ChPP: the career benefits for project professionals

As the second cohort of Chartered Project Professionals (ChPPs) is announced, Project assesses new APM research that shows gaining chartered status enhances a project manager’s employability, and asks three project professionals who have recently become ChPPs to share their experience

On 30 January, London’s Banking Hall was buzzing with the sound of collective celebration. Nearly 400 of the first ever ChPPs from across the country gathered in person to mark the achievement of their new professional status. We spoke to some of those individuals, who shared their experiences with us for this feature, as well as exploring the details of new APM research that finds ChPP is not only a recognition of extensive experience, but could also provide a real boost to career prospects.

Taking a Seat at the Table looks at the potential value of chartered status to employers. The findings establish that 78 per cent of employers are more likely to recruit a project manager holding chartered status than another candidate who does not. The research interviewed 250 employers, and an overwhelming majority (89 per cent) of them cited ChPP as having a positive impact on a professional’s employability.

Encouragingly, businesses also believe that chartered status for project managers will burnish their own organisation’s reputations. Eighty-six per cent of those surveyed said an individual’s chartered status would have a positive impact on the reputation of their business. There were also signs of the importance of the increasing professionalism of project management, as holding a professional project qualification when job-seeking was considered important by 81 per cent of employers.

Debbie Dore, chief executive of APM, said: “This new research illustrates the value of chartership and that ChPP is fast becoming a well-recognised standard for the project profession.”

The second cohort of project professionals, who achieved their ChPP status in December, includes those from a wide range of sectors, including construction, defence, education, finance, and engineering and technology, working for companies as diverse as Network Rail, Costain, BAE Systems, the Ministry of Defence, National Trust, the BBC and United Utilities.

ChPP is exclusively awarded by APM and is a benchmark demonstrating the attainment of a defined level of technical knowledge, professional practice and ethical behaviour. December’s developments swell the ranks of those having achieved chartership to nearly 400, with the next cohort’s results due to be announced in early April, and a further three cohorts in 2019.

Teri Okoro
Director, TOCA

I’ve been working to encourage project professionals to become chartered since it became a possibility, so it just made sense to work towards chartership myself too. ChPP brings a real sense of accomplishment and ensures that project professionals have the same level of assessment as those we work alongside from other professions. Being chartered means that we are now ‘on a par’.

I’ve been volunteering with APM for many years, and knowing that ChPP was in the pipeline was very exciting. Many won’t know the hard work that went into becoming a chartered body, but APM knew it was critically important so perservered. Having got there, chartership is now something we should really treasure, both APM and chartered individuals.

As for me, I already had Registered Project Professional (RPP), so I took Route 2, a straightforward process. There is an interview and you have to provide evidence of your continuing professional development. When I got the final result, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops!

To colleagues, I would say: don’t delay becoming chartered. Get support where you can from people who are experienced. At the Women in Project Management Specific Interest Group, we are already offering an informal support group. We are hoping it can become more formal in time. It’s important that women step forward and be recognised for their capabilities – and that we get a truly diverse group of chartered project professionals going forward.

I trained as an architect and I am still a part of that profession. Engineers and surveyors have been chartered for many years. We need to realise that our role as project managers has changed, and there is a need for further professionalisation of the services we provide. Chartered is overdue – but we are a young profession too.

Jason Pal
Head of programme and supply manager, BAE Systems

From a project management perspective, I sometimes thought chartership was never going to come. I’ve got a degree in manufacturing systems engineering with management, with some project management on the side. Because it’s an engineering-based degree, I would look at many peers finishing the degree and thinking about becoming chartered.

Because I operated in the project management world, I felt a little bit left out. When I became aware that APM was in the process of becoming chartered, and as that process built up momentum, I wanted to be in the first cohort. Based on my experience and history, when it came to chartered, I was banging on the door!

Chartered specifies you’ve hit a standard. Without having to prove the whys and wherefores, ‘chartered’ is well understood in any functional discipline. If you say you’re chartered in X function, whether that be HR, commercial or procurement, it shows you are at the top of your game.

I achieved RPP accreditation earlier in 2018 and had been working on that for close to 12 months to get myself up to that standard. Most of the legwork had been done as part of the RPP. I went down Route 2. My continuing professional development log is kept up-to-date anyway, so submitting my latest log and taking part in another interview was a straightforward process. I knew I’d hit a standard with RPP, so I wasn’t concerned I wouldn’t hit the standard for chartered.

One thing I would say is that I do a lot of mentoring, and people might want to get chartered status just for the accolade. When you actually scratch the surface, they haven’t got the breadth of understanding and knowledge that chartered status actually commands. But if there is an individual who has been in a reputable project management environment that covers the breadth of skills and capabilities in the APM Body of Knowledge, I would say apply.

I love the ChPP post-nominal and also the chartered digital badge. Having that logo on my email signature means a lot. It’s so visible, and people are already commenting on it. They are asking me what it means – and then what they need to do in order to meet that standard themselves.

Steve Maxwell
Project Director, Mott MacDonald

Receiving the chartered standard means professional recognition. I see myself as a project management purist. But project management has been viewed as a secondary competence, rather than a primary one. Having chartered status means seeing project management as a primary competence. It means businesses are recognising the value of project management and our practices, procedures, tools and techniques, and how project managers can do so much to help, not just in terms of making investment decisions, but operationally, too. We are already seeing a big shift in how clients view project management skills.

I was keen to get chartered status. I took RPP beforehand. I was one of the last project managers to gain RPP before chartered status came into being. It was a conscious decision to take the RPP route first – and I think that’s a good route. I got chartered soon after, so RPP prepared me well for the process.

When you work in an industry you can work in a bubble, and it’s nice to compare yourself with your peers in project management to see how your skills match up. After 30 years in industry, to get that recognition is so important.

There aren’t lots of people in the country who have ChPP, so it makes me stand out. I now have the opportunity to talk about chartered and pass my expertise on, and there is a structured approach to becoming chartered that youngsters can look to. There are mentors they can point to.

Engineers know what chartered status means to them – now they will have the same respect for project managers. It gives you a little bit of respect among the engineering team. I’d definitely recommend becoming chartered to other RPPs, and we’re already encouraging RPPs within Mott MacDonald to go through the transition and become chartered.

Full details of the criteria for achieving chartered status and the routes to get there can be found on the APM website at apm.org.uk/chartered-standard, where you can also view the full Register of Chartered Project Professionals