When an independent contractor with project management experience is hired to complete a specific project, this is known as project management consulting. This contractor frequently holds project management (PM) certifications, which guarantee a certain level of education and experience. All project management consultants have at least two years of industry experience and a four-year undergraduate degree.
Depending on the industry, the skill set required, and the project to be completed, there are various types of project management consulting. Construction consultants must be professional engineers or architects with extensive experience in senior project management in the construction industry. Before hiring a consultant, thorough reference checks are required.
Consultants are frequently used in the software industry to provide temporary assistance when implementing or migrating software. Their expertise and experience are usually limited to a single product. This type of project management consultant has a more diverse educational background, with a minimum undergraduate degree in computer science or business.
In project management consulting, the consultant is in charge of completing the project within a certain time frame and on a certain budget. The company establishes the deliverables, benchmarks, and timelines. The hiring department is responsible for ensuring that the scope is properly defined.
People who work in this field typically have a combination of industry or software product expertise as well as the ability to manage people. To successfully coordinate a group of people to achieve any goal, excellent communication, negotiation, and administrative skills are required. Consultants in project management are typically hired for complex, large-scale projects and must possess above-average skills in these areas.
In the field of project management, the project management professional (PMP) certification is an internationally recognized designation. The applicant must have between 900 and 1,500 hours of actual, verified, hands-on project management experience to earn this designation. All candidates must also pass an exam, which consists of a series of multiple-choice questions based on project management theory, organizational behavior, scheduling, project life cycle, and accepted project management theory. Many companies provide exam preparation seminars to assist applicants in passing. A growing number of companies are requiring consultants to have this certification because it guarantees their level of expertise and experience.