Continuing Education – Making Yourself More Attractive to Potential Employers
Having a college or advanced degree can be a valuable commodity in today’s workplace. In fact, there are many positions that require a master’s or even a doctoral degree to apply. For example, it’s doubtful you would be able to obtain a position as a company controller without being a CPA – which requires a college degree in all 50 states. Don’t let this discourage you, a bachelor’s or master’s degree in your field is not always required to move up the ranks within your present employer or obtain a better position with a new organization. A lot of the time having the skill and/or ability, regardless of how you learned it, is more important than formal education and a degree in the area you are applying for.
When I recruit for a position, the ability to successfully employ the skills needed is more important to me than where the skill was learned. Very few of my team members have degrees specifically related to their job description. In fact, one of my best employees had a bachelor’s degree in mathematics when I hired him, taught himself programming in his spare time while working for me, and eventually landed a fairly lucrative job in Silicon Valley as a data scientist. And while I would never discourage someone from earning a bachelor’s, master’s, or even a doctorate degree, there are plenty of much lower priced (and in many cases free) options to expand your knowledge and skill set.
By far the most widespread option to further your education and make yourself more professionally attractive are what are known as Massive Open Online Courses, or “MOOCs”. First introduced back in 2008, MOOCs are online courses aimed at providing unlimited participation and open access via the web. They offer remote learning opportunities to students, not just across the country, but all over the world. Numerous world-renowned universities such as Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, and Duke (amongst many others) deliver courses on a variety of topics and at a variety of educational levels.
As their name suggests, these courses can enroll hundreds (and oftentimes thousands) of students simultaneously. And while the format of these classes varies with the provider and subject matter; as a general rule they have no defined enrollment/start dates, but instead offer rolling instruction that will allow you to join a program anytime. And they are self-paced, so you can do as much or as little as you want and when you want. The major drawback of course is that since they are self-paced, you will need to be disciplined in order to complete your educational track. In fact, typically only between 5 to 15 percent of students who start free open online courses end up completing them and earning a certificate.
Below are some of the more popular MOOCs with their primary focus.
Coursera: Business, project management, data science, information technology. As well as, arts & humanities, social sciences, and languages.
Udacity: Business, data science, and programming.
Udemy: Business, finance & accounting, IT & software, personal development, design, and marketing.
This list is by no means exhaustive. I would encourage you to search for your area of interest combined with “MOOC” to see what programs are available to you. Some of the above programs will allow you to participate in the courses for free or pay a fee to fully participate in the course and earn a certificate of completion. Some of these MOOCs even offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees in certain fields!
If you are trying to learn programming or data science, websites like Kaggle are a great resource that publish various projects and notebooks to help you hone your skills. Kaggle even hosts real-life data science competitions from multi-national companies and organizations looking for answers to complex problems they are facing. Solve them and you can earn real money. I’ve seen prizes as high as six-figures offered!
If your chosen pursuit lies elsewhere it might be more difficult to put your learned skills to use, but do not fear anything is possible with the right attitude. A person learning project management for example might start creating Gantt charts to track what their current responsibilities are; or someone studying marketing might create a sample marketing campaign for a product their current employer offers.
Remember, it’s important not to simply take these courses and earn a certificate of completion, but practice what you have learned and work on implementing your new skills wherever and whenever you can.
The bottom line is to ensure you have some real-life experience to demonstrate and discuss during your interview. Being able to show your potential employer examples of your newfound skillset will give you a leg-up on those coming in empty handed.
Advancing yourself in your current career or to a more lucrative and rewarding position, requires hard work and dedication; but it does not always require a lot of money or formal education – just dedication and the right mindset.
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Brian Schonfeld is the vice president of portfolio risk and analytics at Pawnee Leasing Corporation, a small-ticket equipment leasing and financing company located in Fort Collins, Colorado. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Chesswood Group Limited, Pawnee finances a highly diversified portfolio of commercial equipment leases and loans originated through relationships with over 500 independent brokers. Brian’s responsibilities include the creation and implementation of analytical initiatives, credit scorecard design & management, and portfolio risk analysis & loss mitigation. A Certified Lease & Finance Professional, Brian holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California and masters’ degrees in business and applied economics & predictive analytics from Colorado State University and the University of North Dakota respectively. A volunteer EMT in his spare time, Brian resides in Northern Colorado with his wife and two daughters.