No matter how far you are into your business career, you can always benefit by further investing in your education and training, especially if it means learning an entirely new subject area. You can also acquire different certifications, such as a project management certificate, and these are often attractive to people in the business community. Aside from that, you can enjoy a number of benefits associated with these kinds of certifications.
1. Give Yourself a Competitive Edge
If you have yet to receive a job or are searching for something new, hiring managers may take particular notice of these credentials, especially if the other candidates lack such experience. Project management can be fairly complex so when a hiring manager sees that you have invested extra time into your understanding of it, you may stand out from the rest of the candidates.
2. Improve Company Projects
Perhaps you are already leading a project team at your company or are working on climbing the corporate ladder. Your certificate indicates that you have learned a set of standardized practices that are specific to project management and you can implement what you have learned in any given project. You can better contribute to, organize, and develop projects by having a stronger grasp of what it takes to be successful.
3. Ask for Higher Pay
You can often argue for higher pay when you are a certified project manager and this is definitely something to bring up in a job interview. Depending on your current position, your pay raise can be fairly substantial, especially if you are vying for a project management position for the first time.
4. Look Out for Networking Opportunities
Chances are that you won’t be going through your project management training alone and you can use this opportunity to connect with other people in your training program. While this includes your fellow future project managers, keep in mind that professionals who already have certifications are the ones teaching the courses and you can build relationships with these individuals as well.
5. Make Better Judgements about Team Members
You will be better equipped to assess the quality of your project team when you hone your project management skills. By learning the best practices and what it takes to be successful, you can identify where the weak spots are, which may mean eliminating or taking time to work with a particular team member.
6. Train Others to Lead and Contribute to Projects
You will a team leader as much as you are a project manager and it’s important that you can effectively take charge of your team. This means guiding team members and training them in ways that generate the most success.
You may not only be able to coach your team toward a common goal but you may also be able to train people to eventually take over your position or venture out into project management positions of their own. Most importantly, however, you can develop as a manager and contribute to your company as a whole.
