Helping Military Spouses Qualify for the Project Management Professional Certification: Volunteer Work Counts.

Military spouses are one of the “best kept secrets” in the talent marketspace.  Unfortunately, they are overlooked and often struggle to get meaningful employment. Certifications are a great way for spouses to enhance their marketability, and project management skills are inherent to almost all spouses. Degrees are not required to earn a certification.   

How Does Project Management Apply to Being a Milspouse? 

Projects are temporary activities that deliver a unique product, service, or result (focused on adding value to the organization). 

Managing families, coordinating PCS moves, supporting volunteer activities, all require spouses to clearly understand task prioritization to ensure goals are achieved, communicate across multiple stakeholders to ensure awareness and action, and manage resources (budgets and schedules) to accomplish the goals. 

These are the foundations of project management and why companies should look at spouses as a valuable asset.

How can spouses get certified and get certifications funded for FREE!!!!

Ok, first let's look at what it takes to earn a PMP certification. 

1.     36 to 60 months of project experience (not for yourself).

2.     35 hours of training (this can be funded for spouses)

3.     Passing an exam.

Capturing experience:

Many people think that to qualify for the PMP®, you need to work for an organization and have the job title of project manager.  This is NOT the case. In fact, you don’t even need to be getting paid to use the experience.  This is HUGE for spouses. The only requirement is that the work cannot be for yourself.  Unfortunately, PCS moves do NOT qualify, but these are massive projects.  (We have directly asked PMI and were told no.   

Common things that spouses can use as experience:

Volunteering with a church or nonprofit to help run an event like a trunk or treat, Christmas production, vacation bible school, food delivery after a disaster, etc.

Supporting command activities like pre-deployment or post-deployment family days, improving command health by coordinating spouse events while members are deployed, birthday balls, or retirement events and celebrations.

Working with schools to plan field trips or other activities. 

Actual part-time or full-time work. 

Training:

To have your application approved, everyone must show that they have 35 hours of training.  This training can come from college courses or other places, but the best way is to take a course through an authorized training partner.  These ATPs are authorized by the Project Management Institute, and their curriculum is aligned with the exam.  Even better is to take a course taught by a military-focused partner like PM-ProLearn, so they can help relate your life and experiences to the content and can help you with the application.  

Funding:

MyCAA: The most overlooked educational benefit for spouses is the My Credential Assistance program, or MyCAA.  This is a federally funded program managed through the Military Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program and military onesource. (MySECO)

Under this program, every active-duty enlisted member and Company-grade officer (O1-O3 and W1-W3) qualifies for $4,000 toward education, $2000 per year. 

This funding will pay for PMP Training and the exam, as well as other certifications.

GI BILL: Too many veterans don’t even know that their post 9/11 GI Bill will cover the costs of certifications and exams, and that it will only use one month of benefits.

WIOA: Every state has a workforce program funded through the Department of Labor's Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Spousal under- and unemployment are known federal issues that allow spouses who have been dislocated due to a PCS move to qualify for this funding.  State approval for trainers is difficult, but we are approved in MD, Ohio, and are working on TX and NC. 

Time to Certify:

Depending on the educational program and your level of focus, effort, and discipline, you could be certified in as little as one month.  It doesn’t take years to earn a certification.    

If you are interested in accelerating your career and would like to speak with an advisor about qualifications and experience, we are here to help.

Contact an Advisor