Congratulations to youngest ever Chartered Project Professional

Association for Project Management (APM) has awarded chartered status to Hazel Jell, business systems project manager for Sir Robert McAlpine, who is the youngest project professional ever to achieve the standard.

Aged just 25 when she officially became a Chartered Project Professional (ChPP), Hazel first decided to pursue chartered status after attending a presentation by an APM-accredited training provider on the standard in 2018. She has spent the past two years focused on fulfilling what it takes to become eligible to apply, which she mapped out through milestones with support from her manager.

She was notified of her successful application in August, a few weeks before her 26^th birthday.

“I approached it like my own project”, she said. “From the start I set myself milestones over the next few months up to the submission deadline for stage one.”

ChPP status is a professional benchmark that demonstrates attainment of a defined level of technical knowledge, professional practice and ethical behaviour.

Commenting on how it felt to be recognised as a ChPP, Hazel said: “Pride is the overwhelming emotion. It’s a great thing to have independent recognition of the knowledge, experience and skills I have gained over the past four years and how far I have come quite quickly.

“It demonstrates for myself and my career what I have achieved to this point and I will continue to develop moving forward.”

Although only recently awarded, Hazel says she has already started seeing the benefits of her new professional status.

“I posted my achievement on LinkedIn, and I can see how much more visible it has made me,” she said. “Going forward, I’m sure it will help lead to more opportunities to further my experience into programme management and beyond.”

Click here to read Hazel’s case study, including her tips for the application process, and to find out more about becoming a Chartered Project Professional.