Is the PMP for Me? Why Getting Your Certification is the Best Shortcut to Advancing in Your Career

The Wake Up Eager Workforce Podcast

Episode Description: In Episode 120 of the Wake Up Eager Workforce podcast, Suzie Price interviews Tamara McLemore, a seasoned PMP instructor and executive consultant. Tamara shares how the PMP certification can empower professionals across industries, offering practical tools for project management and career advancement. She highlights the versatility of project management skills, emphasizing that everyone—from corporate professionals to homemakers—can benefit from them.

Tamara’s signature two-week PMP boot camp accelerates the learning process, helping participants pass the exam in 30 to 60 days. The episode also covers essential strategies for retaining information under pressure, such as creating a study schedule, embracing failure as part of learning, and leveraging community support. Tamara stresses the importance of balance and self-care, as well as finding the right community to support personal and professional growth.

This conversation will inspire anyone looking to elevate their project management skills and career trajectory.

Overview of Episode #120 ---

• How Project Management skills will enhance every area of your life.
• Learning strategies for individual and organizational success.
• Two actions and one focus area that can lead to Wake Up Eager work and a Wake Up Eager Life.

In this episode:

[00:06:16] Tamara McLemore: So the PMP is the project management professional certification and it is historically a certification for IT, government, military. HOWEVER, I have to say that with all caps, however, project management is for everybody. I mean healthcare, executive admins, education, you name it. Every industry is requiring project managers. Now you don't have to all get the certification if you don't want to. But my belief is that everybody is a project manager. The end. Period.

[00:07:52] Suzie Price: If you can't organize your day and your time, you're not waking up eager, which is my whole driver in life is to, you know, enjoy every day. And if everything is pure chaos, you're not going to enjoy every day and anything.

[00:09:25] Tamara McLemore: But what we found is project managers suck at managing people.

[00:18:32] Tamara McLemore: It is not about passing an exam. Yes, you're going to pass exam, but it is about showing up different. It is about utilizing your time. It is about working in your strengths. I'm a huge component of strength finders.

[00:21:25] Tamara McLemore: The first one is create a study schedule. Like we're scheduling everything. We're scheduling our vacations. We schedule what we're going to do on the weekends our kids, our nieces and nephews, our fur babies. We're scheduling everything. But for professional development, you're just going to wing it?

[00:22:05] Tamara McLemore: The second thing is, which is a project management methodology that I didn't realize I was doing until recently, is fail fast.

[00:30:16] Suzie Price: It becomes a part of the culture. And for executives and HR leaders thinking about this, make project management a part of the skill set for everybody.

[00:31:31] Tamara McLemore: So just doing things different, it's not a switch. You know how you flip a switch to turn a light off and on? It's a knob that we have to turn, and gradually, gradually, you know, change the way we're doing business.

[00:41:08] Tamara McLemore: I did know it. I just didn't know how to apply it. So I knew I could verbalize it, but the application, there was a disconnect and answering the questions.

[00:42:24] Tamara McLemore: I haven't had the Sunday night scaries in years and my people don't. Because with the PMP certification, the number one thing they have is options.

[00:51:51] Suzie Price: And your whole approach to PMP is outside the box. You know, that's a forward-looking approach that's working.