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Choosing an external project manager: what IPMA Level C tells you

Anyone looking for an external project manager receives CVs with many abbreviations: PMP, PRINCE2, HERMES, IPMA Level C or B. For clients it is often unclear what these certificates actually prove. This article explains it using the example of IPMA Level C, the level for managing projects independently.

What Level C means

According to the VZPM, which carries out the IPMA certifications in Switzerland, Level C confirms that a person can lead an undertaking of limited complexity or a sub-project in a complex undertaking. For this, 80 per cent of the competences assessed must be demonstrated across the whole process. The official title is “Certified Project Manager IPMA Level C”.

Admission is only granted to those who can demonstrate at least three years of experience as a project manager in projects of limited complexity in the last six years. Alternatively, a responsible role in complex projects counts, but only as deputy project manager or sub-project manager.

How the assessment works

According to the VZPM, certification generally takes eight to nine months and has four steps:

  1. Application: professional career, project experience, references and a self-assessment. This is followed by a short report, the Executive Summary Report. Only then does the VZPM decide on admission.
  2. Written examination: two hours, testing project management knowledge.
  3. Report: The candidate describes a real project of their own according to a VZPM template.
  4. Interview: one and a half hours with assessors. The questions concern specific situations, the candidate's own approach and the result.

Certification costs a total of CHF 3,200 at the VZPM. The certificate is valid for five years. For renewal, at least 30 months of practice and 175 hours of further training must be documented during this period.

What Level C proves

  • Experience: Three years of project management are a prerequisite and are verified, not merely claimed.
  • Knowledge: The written examination tests project management knowledge.
  • Application: Report and interview show whether someone applies the knowledge in real projects and can reflect on their own actions.
  • Currency: Anyone who has been recertified was active in the last five years and has continued their training.

What Level C does not prove

  • Suitability for complex undertakings. Level C stands for limited complexity. For complex projects the system provides Level B, with at least five years of experience, three of them in a leadership role in complex projects.
  • Industry and specialist knowledge. The ICB4 applies to all industries. Whether someone knows your field, your systems or the workings of a municipality is not assessed by the certification.
  • Knowledge of a specific method. IPMA does not prescribe a method. Anyone who is to work according to HERMES additionally needs HERMES knowledge.
  • The fit with your organisation. Whether the collaboration works is not shown by any certificate.

A certificate is a snapshot

A certificate shows what was assessed at a particular point in time on the basis of particular projects. It does not show where someone stands today. You should bear three points in mind:

  • The level is a minimum proof, not an upper limit. Many choose the level that can be documented alongside work with reasonable effort. This is an assessment from practice.
  • The complexity may have grown since then. The VZPM measures complexity using ten indicators, including resources and financing, stakeholders, cultural and social context and the need for coordination. By these criteria, an international undertaking with scarce funds can be more complex than a well-resourced project in a large corporation.
  • The evidence must be documented. Certification requires references and a report on a project of suitable complexity. According to the ZHAW, the experience for Level C must be confirmed by the employer when applying. Research shows that SMEs run their projects more informally and with leaner methods than large companies. Turner, Ledwith and Kelly come to this conclusion in several studies between 2009 and 2018. That this makes the evidence for a certification more difficult is an assessment from practice.

An example from my own case: I obtained my Level C certificate in 2023 alongside a large ongoing engagement, with projects at a large client as evidence. At the time, Level C was the level with the most manageable effort. My undertakings today are often small but demanding: international in Africa and India, spread across several companies, with scarce funds and several projects in parallel. By the complexity criteria of the VZPM, precisely such characteristics count. In addition, however, the VZPM also requires size criteria for Level B, such as around 700 person-days or leading 10 people, which small undertakings rarely reach. In my own assessment, my work today corresponds more to Level B. This has not been independently assessed. That is exactly why it is worth asking in the interview about the projects since certification.

What you can check

  • Validity: Ask for the date of the last (re)certification. The VZPM also keeps a register of certified persons on its website.
  • Level: Does Level C fit the complexity of your undertaking, or do you need Level B?
  • References: Ask for projects similar to your undertaking and speak to the clients at the time.

Questions for the interview

In its interview the VZPM asks questions following the STAR logic: situation, approach, result. You can use this logic in your own selection interview as well. The following questions are a recommendation from practice, not a requirement of the VZPM:

  1. Describe a project in which an important decision failed to materialise. What did you do, and what was the result?
  2. When did you recommend that a client stop or realign a project?
  3. How did you deal with a conflict between the business unit and the supplier?
  4. How do you make sure that our organisation can carry on working by itself after your engagement?
  5. Which method would you use to lead our project, and why?

My advice from practice: look for specific examples in the answers. General statements such as “I communicate openly” say little. A good answer names the situation, the person's own actions and a traceable result, even if it was not only positive.

Conclusion

IPMA Level C is solid evidence that someone has experience and has had their own actions independently assessed. But it does not replace your own assessment: do level, specialist knowledge and method fit your undertaking, and does the person fit your organisation?

Further reading: IPMA project management: competence instead of method · IPMA and HERMES: what is the difference? · The role of the project sponsor in HERMES

Sources: Turner, Ledwith and Kelly, Journal of Small Business Management, 2018 · Turner, Ledwith and Kelly, 2009 · VZPM, IPMA Level C (in German) · VZPM, IPMA Level B (in German) · VZPM, guide to IPMA Level B (in German) · VZPM, recertification (in German) · VZPM, IPMA certification system (in German) · VZPM, presentation of the IPMA certificates (in German) · ZHAW, IPMA overview page (in German) · IPMA Individual Competence Baseline, version 4.0, German edition

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