Craig Bush ⋅ Boston , MA IBM ⋅ 11 years experience

I wrote about this elsewhere. But here is my two cents.

I think military experience is directly transferable. Consider the training of your troops as an example.

Let's say you are assigned to a new unit. One of the very first things you do is size up the capabilities and weaknesses of your team. In consulting we call this "establishing the As-Is state." You'll look through their proficiency reports and records, you'll take them out for a run to see who's the fastest and who's the slowest. You'll take them to the range. You'll discover how much of their basic skills are up to snuff. This is basically the analysis phase.

From there you figure out where you need to go. We call this "gap analysis" but it's basically the same thing. Then you'll consult with the leadership and figure out a training schedule to get them where they need to be. We call this the "To-Be" state along with a plan, a schedule, milestones, meetings, etc. You naturally establish a planning phase, an execution phase, and finally an assessment and testing phase. Afterward, you work on remedial training until everyone is at or nearly at where you want them.

Of course, your experience will influence the efficiency of this process but in my mind they are exactly the same.

Hope that helps.

Dr. Scena Webb ⋅ Auburn , WA Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) ⋅ 15 years experience

Hi Larry,

I will be more than happy to review your resume if you like. Sometimes having someone else look over things is helpful. If you are on LinkedIn, please send me an invite to connect! That is one way to grow your network.

Scena

Paul Trejo ⋅ Austin , TX University of Texas at Austin ⋅ 40 years experience

First, Sergeant Hughes, thanks for your years of service.

In my view, it will be fairly easy to transfer your military PM experience into non-military PM experience. Most bureaucracies are smaller than US military bureacracies, so your experience in large bureacracies is already an advantage.

Also, the PM field is a little like the accounting field, in that the same basic principles always apply from company to company, all over the world.

Perhaps the key difference to consider in your transition is the difference of Mission. The Mission of the US military is national security. The Mission of civilian companies is economic success in the marketplace as measured by the profits accumulated for the Stock Holders (and thus the taxes paid to the US government).

For best effect, when we join any company, we should always buy some stock in the company. It helps to orient us toward the Mission of the company.

Aside from that, you can fine-tune further by aligning as closely as possible the work that you are currently doing in the military with civiilan, non-military work. Do you supervise people? Do you work with computers? Do you deal with inventory? Do you deal closely with accountants?

The more closely you can link your current work with a job in the civilan environment, the smoother your transition will be.

Best wishes,
--Paul Trejo

Richard Buck ⋅ Patterson , NY EY ⋅ 25 years experience

I have many years in consulting and Project management. Send you our details and I can help you.

Richard Buck
76warrior85@gmail.com.

Fouad Malik ⋅ Los Angeles , CA ⋅ 7 years experience

Starting point may be your resume: Look for any thing which is a project (Definitive start and end date, unique outcome). For example, deployment of equipment or troops can be a project. Building a aircraft is a project. Developing a curriculum may be project and so on. Once you have identified sufficient number of projects (3 years experience with a bachelor degree. Experience has to be between last 8 years), you have 500 characters to describe it. So start with the objective of the project. Then list key deliverable. What was your role (As project manager, i did this that this). The outcome of project (for example deliverable handed over or all performance measurement baselines met and product completed). Apart from describing project you have to list number of hours worked in each process group. Working a 40 hours work week means that you will approximately 2080 hours a year. Remember even if you do not have exact hours per process group, you should know that most of time is spent on executing.

Initiating: 3 % of 2080
Planning: 7%
Execution: 80 %
Monitoring and Controlling: 8%
Closing 2%

This is just an example. PMI will ask about name of supervisor and company information. Make sure put project you can verify. Do not over document projects. For example, if you need to show 3 years experience show 3 years or so not 8 years. Otherwise in case of an audit, you will have to spend lot of time tracking these people who will have to verify that you worked on that project.

If you need assistance with you application, feel free to contact me. Thank you.

Arvind Mallikarjuna ⋅ Fremont , CA Siemens ⋅ 9 years experience

Hi Larry,

Thanks for your service!

I have a PMP which i cleared 2 years ago. Apart from all the advice/suggestions mentioned here one most important thing to remember is your reference.

on the PMP form there will be a place to add reference to prove that you have worked as a project manager, so talk to your co-worker or your lead/boss or anyone willing to certify that you have worked and had an impact as a leader. You do not have to be a Project Manager to manage a project. Anything you have done in planning, procurement, accounting .. etc to create an impact on the mission that was assigned to you or the one you have chosen.

Another important aspect is the resume you will be uploading on pmi.org along with your hours in different areas as classified by PMI

Make sure your experience listed in the resume matches the hours/duration of pmp application and yes LinkedIN Profile is a powerful way to show that your career oriented and if you can get endorsements from connections for your linkedIn profile that helps

Goodluck with your application and do send me an email if you have any questions

Best Regards
Arvind Mallikarjuna
gupta305@gmail.com