TOPIC: PMP application - previous company now defunct

Hello everyone, I am planning to apply for my PMP exam soon. I have run in to a situation and I am not sure if it might become an issue or not.

I have 8 years of experience. The first company I worked for 2.5 yrs (in my first project management role as well) has been defunct since 2010.

So, in the PMP application, how do I use my experience in the first company? The address and contact information for the company don't exist anymore. But I do have contact with my managers from the same company and they have already agreed to verify my project experience statement if needed.

Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hi Ashwin.
I have passed the same situatiin during my PMP application. And below are my advices:
1. As long as your managers agreed to verify your experience, PMI will accept such experience.
2. You will need your managers approve your experience only if your application is selected for audit. But better be prepared like you did.
3. It is better if you use newer experiences, it will be easier for you and for the approvers to remember.
4. Report only enough experience, don't report the whole experience. Because if you get audited, you will have to verify all reported experiences.

Good luck with your application and exam.

Hi Ashwin
You may also find it helpful to focus on reporting the number of hours leading or directing your projects than the number of years at the company. If you can pull together enough hours without including the defunct company you should not need to include the experience from that company. But in case you do, reporting the experience from that company should be fine since you have your manager’s available to support you in the event of an audit. If you still have specific PMP application questions, you may want to contact PMI directly for guidance. Good luck with the application process and exam!

Ahmed, Dawn:

Thank you for the great feedback.

I think this is more of an application specific question... if my previous company is non-existent now, how do I handle that in the application... like should I just use the old address and contact info? and where do I indicate that the company is closed.

May be I will first complete the compilation of project experience and see if I really need to go back 8 years to my first job. That is a nice tip. Thank you!

Hi Ashwin,
Yes you can use your company's old address and contact info, PMI will only contact your previous managers. So make sure you have the correct contact info of your experience approvers.
And as you said, only include this experience when needed.

Good luck

Glad to be of help. The best of luck to you Ashwin!