
The top PM qualification in the world, for sure, is PMP: Project Management Professional.
It’s awarded by PMI, the Project Management Institute, who are American, but it’s recognised all over the world. In England the equivalent of the PMI is APM, the Association of Project Managers, and they award a British equivalent called PMQ, but it’s nowhere near as well known.
The level “below” PMP is CAPM, which also requires an exam and a degree and 35 hours of project management education, (please do google the details, it’s complicated, there are options and combinations and every now and then they change them!) – the main difference being that to get PMP you need 3-5 years of project management experience while with CAPM you don’t need ANY experience, so CAPM can be a great way to get your foot on the ladder and get the experience, so you can get PMP later.

So already you have the options of CAPM and then PMP, CAPM and never bother with PMP, get experience somehow and go straight to PMP, or, of course, do neither!

Do potential employers/recruiters care if you don’t have a qualification? Some do and some don’t. As you can see, it’s not usually essential but it’s almost always a big plus:

And then, just to muddy the water, there’s PRINCE2. This is sector dependent – the private sector never value PRINCE2, but the public sector sometimes do.

Overall it’s nowhere near as powerful as PMP, but then it’s much easier to get. The exam prep you need to do to get PMP is pretty boring (you’ll never pass the PMP exam without exam prep, however good and experienced you are as a project manager, but there are cheap courses that’ll teach you what you need to know), but PRINCE2 is even more boring, so that’s a great choice you have to make!
Finally, what if they are asking for PRINCE2 in the job advert and you have PMP, or maybe you don’t have ANY qualifications at all? I think you could still apply. It’s entirely possible that someone from HR has added PRINCE2 to the job spec because they’ve vaguely heard of it and think a qualification would be a good idea. I would ring them up and say “I don’t have PRINCE but I do have PMP” or “….but I do have experience of successfully running a number of large projects, and I’ve got all the documentation to show you at the interview – should I still apply?” and I bet they’ll say yes – if they’ve got any sense!

More information on project management careers:
How to get started on a PM career
More information on PRINCE2 here
