Category Archives: Career
Why a Graduate Certificate Might Be a Better Be Than a Master’s Degree
Today’s highly competitive job market has left many college students wondering whether the extra time and money to get a master’s degree will pay off in the form of improved career prospects. But what many don’t realize is that a master’s degree isn’t the only option for post-baccalaureate education. There’s another, less expensive, faster way to gain industry-specific skills at the post-graduate level — the graduate certificate.
A graduate certificate takes about half as long to earn as a master’s degree, and is a fraction of the cost. In most fields, including project monitoring and evaluation, a graduate certificate can improve your job prospects and raise your salary just as much as a master’s degree. Even if you already have a master’s degree, a graduate certificate is a fast and economical way to upgrade your skills and stay competitive in the jobs market.
Advance Your Education in Less Time
If you want to enhance your skill set and pad your resume, but also want to hit the job market as soon as possible, a graduate certificate is the way to go. Online programs are a popular choice for students who want to earn graduate certificates; you could go to school online for a graduate certificate in project monitoring and evaluation, for example, while still holding down a full-time job.
The typical graduate certificate program consists of four to seven credits, although some programs can comprise as many as 15 credits. That’s about half as many as a master’s degree, so the degree takes a lot less time to earn — usually a year or less, compared to two or more years for a master’s. It’s a great choice if you’re looking for a qualification that could help you get that big promotion you’ve got your eye on, if you want to earn more money, or even if you want to change careers.
Boost Your Earning Power
You already know that people with master’s degrees tend to earn more than people who have only a bachelor’s degree, but you don’t have to commit to a master’s program to bring home bigger paychecks. Graduate certificates are especially valuable for people working in technical fields, such as heating and air conditioning, or in emerging fields, such as cybersecurity, social media marketing, or homeland security. Thirty-nine percent of men with a graduate certificate earn more than their counterparts with a bachelor’s, and 34 percent of women with graduate certificates make more than their baccalaureate-educated peers.
Save Money
If you’re not sure whether you want a master’s degree or you’re in a field where a graduate degree doesn’t necessarily equal a higher salary, a graduate certificate can get you the education you need to advance at a much lower price tag.
A graduate certificate runs about $5,000, compared to the tens of thousands of dollars a master’s degree costs. And if you’ve already got a master’s degree, it just doesn’t make sense to go back to school for another one when a graduate certificate could give you the extra specialization you need at a lower price and with a shorter time commitment.
Improve Your Job Prospects
While it’s true that there are certain fields where a master’s degree is a must — think law, medicine, or business — in most fields, a job candidate with a graduate certificate will always win out over one with only a bachelor’s degree. Employers are impressed by the extra credential, as most graduate certificate programs are tailored to meet industry demands.
Since the programs are so short, there’s no risk of your skills becoming outdated by the time you hit the job market. They’re also a good way to update skills later in your career, especially if you want to break into or advance in an emerging field that didn’t even exist when you were a traditional college student; one-third of people who earn graduate certificates are over age 30.
If you’re reluctant to commit to a lengthy, expensive master’s degree program, why not consider a graduate certificate instead? You can earn a specialized post-baccalaureate qualification in half the time and at a fraction of the cost of a master’s degree, and hit the job market faster and harder with the kinds of skills that make employers stand up and take notice.
How to Network for a Job in Public Health After Grad School
A Master of Public Health can give you the necessary training and skills for a career in public health, but a degree alone doesn’t guarantee you any job opportunities, especially in today’s economy. Who you know is far more important to your future career prospects than what is on your resume. Ninety percent of jobs are found through some form of networking, and only four to 10 percent come from submitting a cold resume to a company where you have no contact information.
You don’t want to wait until you graduate to start building a professional network that can help you find a job. By then, it will be too late. Start building your network of contacts as soon as possible after starting your degree program. Attend as many conferences and networking events as you can. Establish an online presence. When you make a new contact, ask the right questions, and never forget that you’re not going to get anything from someone unless you’re willing to give them something first.
Go to Conferences and Events
As a grad student, you’ll be pressed for time. So going to school online for your graduate degree can really help you fit courses into your schedule, and that’s a good thing, because aside from your familial, academic, and day job responsibilities, there’s one more thing you’re going to have to squeeze in — the networking events. Start going to networking events as often as possible, as soon as you know you’re going to be going to grad school. Conferences, seminars, exhibitor shows, and meetings of local professional organizations put you face-to-face with people who may be able to help you someday, or who may be able to introduce you to people who can help you some day.
Don’t confine yourself to attending events and conferences within your own field, either. You never know which contacts may be valuable someday. Even if you’re still a student, have business cards made so you can hand them out to people you meet at networking events.
Build an Online Presence
When you make an impression on a new contact, that person is bound to go home and type your name into a search engine to learn more about you. You want to make sure something comes up when that happens — if the search engine returns no information at all about you, your new contact may decide you’re not a valuable connection. Establish an online presence through Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other major social media sites. Set up a professional website for yourself. You might even start a blog about matters relevant to your field. Remember to keep it professional — that means no profanity, and no pictures of yourself doing shots with your friends on a Saturday night.
Ask the Right Questions
One way you can learn about opportunities in your field is by setting up informational interviews with people who work within your industry, preferably people who are rather high up. It’s usually best to email these people within a few days of your meeting instead of springing this request on them in the middle of a conference. You can also send a cold email to someone you haven’t yet met.
Explain in your email that you’re a graduate student at Such-and-Such University, and that you’re interested in entering the field, and you’d like to arrange a time for an informational interview to discuss opportunities. Most people will be happy to grant such a request — they know what it’s like to be starting out in the field. However, if your contact doesn’t answer the email, follow up, politely, one time, and then let the matter drop. If you do get the interview, use it as an opportunity to ask advice on how you can get into the field and how you can advance once you’re in. Don’t be afraid to ask the person to take a look at your resume and give you feedback that could help you better tailor it to the position you want.
Give Something Back
The secret to networking is often giving your contacts something that they want or need before you ask them for their assistance. People are more likely to be generous toward people who have already proven themselves to be valuable contacts. Figure out what you can offer your new contacts. Maybe you’re great at social media or have a marketable skill set from a previous career. At the very least, you can show genuine interest in your new contacts and spend time getting to know them as people before you hit them with requests for help.
A degree can give you the skills you need to succeed in a job, but you’ll need to network in order to get the job. Start networking long before you finish grad school. By the time you have your degree in hand, you’ll have companies lining up to offer you a job.
So, You Want to Become a Special Education Teacher?
Special education teachers work with special needs students who must have their lessons tailored to them on account of physical or intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, or mental health issues. Some special needs educators have a classroom of their own, while others co-teach in an inclusive setting where special needs students are integrated with other students their own age.
If you’re interested in special needs education, you’ll need to develop a specific set of skills through education, and obtain state licensure. However, education and skills alone can’t make a great special education teacher. You’ll also need to possess a genuine love of children and a set of other crucial personality traits, including patience, creativity, optimism, a good sense of humor, and strong organization skills.
Education and Licensure Requirements for Special Ed Teachers
At a minimum, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree in order to teach special needs students. However, many states require special education teachers to have a master’s degree. You can earn your bachelor’s degree in an academic subject or elementary education, with a special education minor, or you can go ahead and major in special education. If you major in special education, you can use your master’s program as an opportunity to specialize in a specific field of special education, but otherwise, your master’s program should focus on the basics of special education so you can obtain licensure. You can even earn your MS in Special Education online while working as a teacher, allowing you to earn teaching experience at the same time.
Once you have your degree, you’ll need to obtain special education teaching licensure. The requirements for teaching certification and licensure vary from state to state. Look up the requirements in your state so you know what to expect.
Personality Traits You’ll Need to Succeed
On top of an advanced degree, in order to make it as a special education teacher, you’ll have to really, genuinely like children. Real children, especially those with special needs, may act out when they feel upset or overwhelmed. They may not always be as polite as you’d like, because they haven’t learned this skill yet. They may be messy, and may even struggle with hygiene issues. Special needs children especially require a non-judgmental teacher who can accept them as they are.
You’ll need to be very intelligent to make it as a special education teacher, since you’ll have to adapt your lessons to fit the needs of each individual student. That means you’ll need to closely observe your students and do a lot of thinking about their strengths and weaknesses, their learning style, and how you can make lessons most accessible to them.
Other strengths you’ll need include strong organizational skills, not only so you can provide the students with the structure they need, but also so you can stay on top of federal and state guidelines and meet any deadlines that may arise. An even temperament and a good sense of humor will help you make lessons fun for your students, who will enjoy class much more if they can sense that you’re enjoying their company.
Creativity will help you find novel ways to present information so that special needs students can understand it. Patients will help you weather those moments when special needs teaching inevitably becomes frustrating. Optimism can help you remain hopeful and encouraging when students struggle to master subjects or lessons, as they almost certainly will.
Job Outlook for Special Needs Teachers
While the need for talented special needs teachers is great, the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t predict as much growth for this field in the next 10 years as it does for some others. Special needs education is expected to grow by about six percent over the next decade. So, while there are special needs jobs out there, you’ll need to keep in mind that the field is very competitive. Do everything you can while in school to improve your chances of landing a job. Speak with career counselors, network as much as you can, practice interviewing techniques, make sure your social media presence is squeaky clean, and polish your resume until it shines.
Special needs teachers need a specialized education that can help them make lessons accessible to their students, and they need a specific set of personality traits in order to succeed in the field. If you think you have what it takes to be a great special education teacher, don’t hesitate to start on the path to special needs teaching today. The field needs more educators like you.
How to transition out of academia (and why) once you get your Ph.D.
Traditionally, the Ph.D. is intended to prepare students for a career in academia. Most Ph.D. students hope to obtain a prestigious post-doctoral fellowship, followed by a tenure-track professorship, upon graduation. But The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that 76 percent of the academic labor force consists of adjunct professors who can’t qualify for tenure and make about $2,700 per course.
However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t earn a PhD. Earning a doctorate gives you critical thinking skills, teaches you how to collaborate, and bestows a level of expertise in your field that employers place a premium on. A Ph.D. can still lead to a lucrative career path, as long as you look for opportunities outside of academia upon graduation. You just have to learn how to market yourself, and you may want to seek advice from other Ph.D.-holders who have successfully navigated the transition out of academia.
Decide What You Have to Offer Non-Academic Employers
The smoothest career transitions out of academia belong to those who hold Ph.D.s in STEM fields — industry has long valued experts in science, mathematics, technology, and engineering. But you don’t have to hold a STEM Ph.D. in order to have a lot to offer a company. Ph.D.s in all fields impart some of the following qualities:
- Strong communication skills
- The ability to express complex ideas in a way that is easy to understand
- Creativity
- Problem-solving skills
- Self-direction
Translate the academic skills you learned while doing your Ph.D. into marketable job skills. You may have little industry experience, but if a company wants two or three years of experience, you can argue that work you did in the course of earning your doctorate required some or all of the skills needed for the job. Be specific about which of your skills meet the company’s job requirements. Customize your CV and cover letter to each position.
Allay Recruiters’ Fears About Candidates With Ph.D.s
Companies often fear that Ph.D.-holders will be too introverted, won’t be able to communicate with “regular” people, or will get bored with an industry job if they don’t feel intellectually stimulated. Let recruiters and interviewers know that you’re personable and down-to-earth, with great communication and people skills. An industry job can be just as intellectually stimulating as degree work or an academic position; make sure you can convey a genuine excitement about the job for which you’re applying. Point out that, in many Ph.D. fields, you need to be a team player in order to complete research or teach classes.
When you do a Ph.D., you’re essentially seeing a long and challenging project through to completion — play up that fact in interviews. Make clear that while you’re capable of working well with others, you’re also capable of working independently without a lot of supervision. Draw attention to your sense of accountability and remember, just because you have a Ph.D., you’re not inherently smarter than any of your future colleagues. Don’t act as if you’re owed a position.
Talk to Others Who Have Left Academia
You’ll have an easier time transitioning into an industry position if you complete a Ph.D. that prepares you for work in industry, especially one with strong, expected growth. But if you already have a Ph.D. in French, Russian literature, history, or some other field that appears to have a solely academic focus, don’t worry. You can translate any Ph.D. into a well-paid job.
Start by joining a professional organization for Ph.D.-holders who want to work outside of academia, such as Versatile Ph.D. Versatile Ph.D. sponsors nationwide networking events and more casual meet-ups for Ph.D.s who have, or want to, pursue careers outside of the Ivory Tower. You can discover more about your career options, find job listings on the group’s website, and get advice from other Ph.D.-holders about how to find jobs outside of academia. Registration is free, and members of one of the site’s many subscribing institutions can access premium content designed to help them find jobs.
Though the Ph.D. is traditionally meant to prepare students for a career in academia, the skills it teaches can be useful across a range of industries. Don’t feel that your Ph.D. limits you to teaching at the university level. In fact, it can open doors to lucrative, stimulating, and fulfilling careers in all kinds of industries, no matter what your field of study.
Not a fan of college? Here are a few suggestions!
You’ve got the grades, the aspirations and the brains – but does that make heading to college worth the effort?
It’s the question running through the heads of most 18 year olds, and your decision can change your life – for better or worse.
And it’s not just a question of aspiration. If you’re not a Richie Rich-type, heading to college could leave you in debt for the rest of your life. More than this, the proliferation of applicants with degrees is making most employers shrug their shoulders. They want experience, not grades.
All this might leave you searching for alternatives. Not everyone fits the mold of college – so what are your options? Here are some other ideas for profitable careers without hitting the books (too hard).
Trade on up
The university literati can be a bit snooty about the prospect of those in a trade. But what they don’t realise is the success that grafting as an electrician or plumber can provide. Electrician courses, for instance, can pave the way to success is you’ve got the knack for business.
All you have to do is learn your trade and head into business yourself. After a few years of hard graft for a company, you’ll have accrued enough experience to guarantee your customers an electrical job well done.
Build up a catalogue of references and you’ll soon have a business that’s raking in the cash.
Net yourself success
Gone are the days when you could design a dancing pixel online and become an internet billionaire. Now, successful sites require great content, layouts and a constant stream of new content.
But making money is possible if you put in the work and have a nifty idea. Just look at the billion-dollar megaliths like Facebook and Instagram. Chances are their creators won’t be looking down the barrel of an overdraft charge any time soon.
One of the most important factors is to make Google play nicely with your site. Find out about the world of search engine optimization, also known as improving your effectiveness with Google, and your idea could boom into a global success.
Nowadays, the internet is a perfect place to make millions – you just have to stand out from the crowd.
Hit the art scene
Have you got creativity flooding your veins? Do you fancy yourself as the next Picasso? Does the idea of straining over paint and easel sound like a dream come true? Then show the art scene what you’re worth – it could be the perfect route to success.
It’s not an easy way to make cash, however, and the strain of creativity is no guarantee of results. But art isn’t just about profit – it’s a way of life, and could be the way out of the college path.
