FPT Korea’s Sales warrior earns prestigious PMP Certification

Despite not directly taking on the role of a Project Manager (PM), Pham Thi Hong Nhung (BD.BCO) has successfully conquered the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. For Nhung, this achievement embodies FSOFT’s spirit of “up” & “life-long learning” while also serving as a key to building trust with clients and enhancing collaboration with project teams.

As a Business Development (BD) professional, Nhung’s motivation to pursue the PMP certification stemmed from her desire to better understand the company’s products and services as well as the work of her clients—most of whom are Project Managers. “By understanding their responsibilities, it’s easier to gain their trust and work more effectively with the delivery team during project implementation,” she shared.

To achieve the PMP certification, she dedicated about five months to studying and practicing. Fortunately, she passed the exam on her first attempt. However, the journey was far from easy. Starting as someone with limited practical experience in project management, she initially struggled. “In the beginning, I was very pessimistic as many concepts were unfamiliar, and my problem-solving approach didn’t align with the standards,” she admitted. Fortunately, with the support of her colleagues, especially the advice of a close friend, helped her refine her study methods and improve her exam strategies.

The next challenge was time management as Nhung had to balance her full-time job at FPT Korea, family time, and study time. Nhung opted to tackle small practice test sets of 20 questions, aiming to complete them in under 20 minutes. “I practiced everywhere—from buses and trains to… even the bathroom,” she joked.

The PMP certification has equipped Nhung with a comprehensive perspective on project management processes and strengthened her ability to collaborate and solve problems with internal teams and clients. Holding an internationally recognized certification not only boosts her work efficiency but also elevates her credibility among partners and colleagues.

For Nhung, commitment was the most critical factor in achieving her goal. “From the start, I told my boss I’d earn the certification this year. Failing to deliver would have been embarrassing!” she confessed.

“To anyone striving for the PMP certification, especially those facing difficulties in their preparation, my advice is: push yourself a little further so that one day, you can look back without regret,” she encouraged. Recently, Nhung also achieved remarkable results in meeting her productivity OKRs for Q3 2024 in the Korean market.