According to a study conducted in 2017 by PMI (Project Management Institute), it is no longer sufficient to possess just exceptionally good skills and passion to grow a business. You require a project management degree or certificate to be able to do it since today’s businesses are dynamic and without the right kind of education and training, you cannot really move ahead.

A project management course helps you learn several things. These include: managing time, leading the team and directing them in the right path, motivating all team members, communicating with everyone involved, managing budget and much more.

You need to make sure to pick the right institution so that you learn everything that project management aims to teach you. Not picking the right institution would result in a wastage of scarce resources, including time and money.

So, before you start your search for a project management institute to get into, make sure it has the following qualities:

Good Reputation

Before you decide to get into a project management institute, make sure you do your homework first and figure out if the institute is capable of helping you out or not.

Reading reviews can give you an insight about how the institute is when it comes to providing training. You can find testimonials online and even check third-party sites for reviews. Third party reviews are generally more reliable since the institution has no control over it.

You can even check forums and groups to know what others think of a specific institute.

Exceptional Trainers

It is important that the teachers responsible to train you for the PMP exam or any project management course have great experience, amazing teaching skills and passion to teach.

They should teach keeping the real world scenario in mind. At the end of the day, you will be going out to use your education and experience in the real world where you will face real world problems.

Once again, you can see how good teachers are by doing some research. Speak to current students and find out what they think of the faculty members.

Motivation

Half the race is won when a person is highly motivated. This is because motivation is actually the will to act. A good institute is the one that motivates you to do better.

Opportunities

Look for an institute that offers you opportunities. Many institutes have links with different organizations that allow you to get more insights and experience, so make sure to keep this point in mind when looking for an institute to get your PMP certification.

Unlike other departments, project management require both soft and the hard skills. Soft skills are concerned with leadership qualities such as resolving conflicts, managing a team, building trust and promoting communication among the team members. On the other hand, hard skills are skills that help plan a project better. These include making a budget, assessing a situation and the outcome of the project and most importantly, managing the project related tasks smartly.

Innovative Teaching Ways

Whether you’re preparing for a PMP exam or simply completing 35 hour course hours to be eligible for appearing in the PMP exam, you need to be an out of the box thinker because PMP exam or project management world isn’t easy.

The institute should have a good record of making candidates innovative thinkers and capable of applying creativity in everything that they do or will be doing.

You can look at the past records of the institutes to discover how many successful candidates have studied at the institute. The bigger the number, the higher is the success ratio of that institute.

If you are looking for institutes, you can start your search online. Just go to a search engine and look for PMI ‘your area name’. For example, if you are in Sacramento, you can search for ‘PMI Sacramento’ and you will get a list of project management institutes in Sacramento to choose from.

From here, you can see which institutes meet the criteria we have mentioned above and make a careful decision. This is something you should not do in a haste so make sure to take your time and put in a good amount of research.