Query About PRINCE2

I came across a query from an Indian banker migrating to UK with no experience in project management about change of career and possibility of sitting the PRINCE2 Exam.

QUERY follows:

Hello All, I’m a professional from Banking industry in trade finance and compliance profile. Currently I’m employed with a one of the largest bank in India. My current profile makes me work for operation group in international trade finance, remittance and compliance, however, I’m willing to move my career ahead in project management. But since I have no previous project management experience I cannot go for PMP certification. However, I can pursue Prince2 ( foundation + practioner) as it doesn’t require any pre-requisites to be met. And I hope that Prince2 will aid me to change my job profile to project coordinator/ assistant. I have completed MBA in marketing and HR, Post graduation diploma in Banking and Finance. Please advise me if Prince2 is worth doing for me. By doing this certification, Can i able to get job in UK

MY RESPONSE follows:

Kiran, first of all, I must highlight that having no experience on project management may be a misconception at your end. While you had been involved in banking and finance, I am sure, you must have participated in and/or managed many projects which you probably are unable to anticipate due to absence of any formal project management education. If you look closely, you will be able to justify some project experience. Maybe you fulfill the criteria for PMP Exam and you can keep that option open.

Having said that, still I would say PRINCE2 is a different certification and you should go for it as you are moving to UK and in UK, it is greatly appreciated. Still you need to have some experience in project management. If you completely lack any project management experience, I can assure you it will be difficult to pass PRINCE2 exam, even if they may not require you to have that kind of experience in exam pre-requisites. As far as I know they require you to have managed at least two projects on PRINCE2 Methodology. That way, it may be even tougher than PMP.

PRINCE2 has two certifications, Foundation and Practitioner. Foundation is easier and if you take a course and then appear, I am sure you can easily pass that. As far as Practitioner exam is concerned, it is comparatively difficult to pass and requires you to have competence in use of PRINCE2. I would suggest you go for Foundation Exam and then give yourself a year or two to prepare for Practitioner Exam while you gain physical and practical experience on at least two PRINCE2 projects.

Your knowledge from MBA will help you both in PMP as well as PRINCE2 exams but naturally you have to prepare specifically the exam you decide to undertake.

My last recommendation would be that you stick to your own specialization even if you are certified as a PMP or PRINCE2 Practitioner. You will find many projects in banking and finance where you can apply this knowledge. Never ever try to take up a project with different specialization (which is not your own), like IT or construction, as technical expertise is also required in addition to project management knowledge to undertake projects.

Hope this helps.