What Can You Do with a Project Management Qualification?

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With workforces growing increasingly remote, the value of professional communication and collaboration skills is only growing more prominent. Thankfully, there are plenty of qualifications available for professionals and aspiring business leaders designed to equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in modern teams.

Project management certificates and degrees are amongst some of the most compelling new qualifications we’re seeing pop up in this field. But public awareness of these qualifications is still relatively low, worldwide, which is unfortunate considering that these qualifications may actually be the solution for strengthening your CV. 

So what is a project management degree, and what can you do with it? Let’s get into it.

Popular project management qualifications

Project management qualifications essentially teach you how to plan, execute, and evaluate a project. Professionals with a project management background should be well-versed in managing a project team, overseeing their performance, and ultimately keeping those initiatives on-track for completion – and within budget.

Project management qualifications can span from short courses to yearlong programs and even formal multi-year degrees. Here are some of the most common types of project management qualifications you can expect to find across most reputable tertiary course providers.

Graduate Certificate in Project Management

Designed to be a short course, a Graduate Certificate in Project Management can be completed in as little as 8-10 months. These graduate certificate courses can often be designed as an accompaniment to other larger qualifications like an MBA. 

For professionals looking to upskill to include a background in project management who may already have advanced degrees, a Graduate Certificate in Project Management may likely fill in some skills gaps and keep your business management skills fresh and up to date.

Diploma in Project Management

Often taking between 12-18 months to complete, a Diploma in Project Management delves deeper than a graduate certificate, offering further customisability for students looking to develop project management skills within a particular industry or niche.

Diploma programs also drive a greater focus on practical application of skills, often including work placements or real-world projects for students looking to build project management skills in a more hands-on setting.

Bachelor of Project Management

A Bachelor of Project Management is a three- or four-year undergraduate degree program that delivers a selection of core or foundation subjects alongside elective subjects for students to shape their own learning journey within the context of project management. 

For Bachelor’s students, a degree in project management can open up a variety of career pathways across various industries, ranging from IT and digital transformation, to construction, compliance and risk management, change management, and other aspects of business administration.

Master of Project Management

An advanced degree, a Master of Project Management provides executive-level exposure to the realities of project management across global industries, delivering deeper course content surrounding all the many facets of project management skills.

From financial management and budgeting to project planning, delivery, and execution, professionals with a Master’s in project management are qualified to be considered for top-level project leadership positions.

What’s covered in project management courses?

The qualifications outlined above vary in content scope, but generally speaking, students can expect their project management course to cover some or all of the following key subjects and study areas:

• Risk management

• Project administration

• Project scheduling and timeline management

• Business development

• Financial management

• Business analytics

• Strategic decision-making

• Commercial law

• Corporate governance

Key disciplines for project management upskilling

As we’ve briefly discussed, project management skills can be either general administrative skills (akin to the same insights you’d gleam from an MBA, for instance), or they can be industry-specific and associated with fields where projects make up a major component of daily working life.

Here are some of the fields where qualifications in project management are most likely to be highly regarded:

Information technology

For digital transformation and change management projects (like AI adoption initiatives, for instance), professionals with qualifications in project management are more likely to be considered for leadership and project facilitator positions. 

The same goes for ICT consultants and other types of consultants looking to invest in career growth. With qualifications in project management, you can strengthen the power of your CV for hiring managers looking to man tech and transformation initiatives.

Construction and civil engineering

Project management qualifications are vital to supporting the operational efficiency of construction companies, with a great majority of business leaders in the sector prioritising the inclusion of project management qualifications in their CVs. This is largely because construction and civil projects consist of so many moving parts, ranging from budget management to equipment procurement, labour management, compliance and permit management, insurance, and more.

Professionals looking to take on leadership positions in construction and civil engineering projects may benefit from securing graduate qualifications in project management, including graduate diplomas and maybe even a Master’s degree.

Research and public health

Research projects (like public health initiatives, for instance) also involve intricate moving parts, which demand strong leadership skills. Alongside being adept with people management, project facilitators within these industries also need to be incredibly detail-oriented, taking into account sensitive data points and being mindful of data biases.

Ideally, professionals looking to undertake project management roles within the healthcare industry would have some graduate qualifications alongside their healthcare sector qualifications and accreditations.

Marketing and communications

Marketing campaigns are amongst the most common types of projects used as real-world case studies in project management courses. Across every industry, professionals have the opportunity to work on marketing and communications campaigns, which makes it easy for professionals undertaking project management qualifications to develop hands-on and transferable skills.

Business management

Second to marketing and communications projects, general business management roles also benefit greatly from project management skills. If you’re looking to start your own business or join the leadership team within a small to medium-sized organisation, you’ll find that the teachings from your project management courses translate organically to the daily demands of these leadership roles.

Is a project management qualification the right fit for your CV?

Ultimately, project management skills are diverse and broad, with specialty areas of study available for particular industries like construction, ICT, healthcare, and finance. If you have an MBA, you may find that a certificate or graduate diploma in project management acts as a nice accompaniment to your academic background in general business administration. 

And if you don’t currently have any advanced degrees under your belt but are looking to take on leadership roles in your career, then equipping yourself with a Master’s in Project Management may help you get to where you want to go. In both cases, it’s well worth looking into what project management course options are available to you.