Adding a Degree to a solid body of experiences: priceless

If having a degree wasn’t that important, why is it that so many people lie and say they have one? According to research conducted by Ward Howell International among 258 human resource executives, 62 percent of those interviewed reported credential falsifications or misrepresentations by applicants. This does not take into account the numbers of individuals who have listed as part of their personnel file, the attainment of a degree, when in fact, no such thing has occurred and no one has bothered to check. In many instances, the fabrication has become a mere footnote on an otherwise lengthy career. Prior to the globalization binge, employees fabricated their credentials in order to impress others and to impress themselves. No doubt that it was easier to do since the real demand was on applied skills. Now, the demands are far different and the global market is less forgiving. Applied knowledge and skill are two pieces of a growing puzzle called career development and the successful path contains more than just the sweat and seniority of a previous era.

Employees concerned with raising their internal and external profile as well as trying to keep pace with rapid change, will have to look to advanced formal learning to assist their efforts. For the 40 million working adults who want to pursue a degree many, it will mean making a commitment to attend class evenings, weekends and/or online for three to five years. Adding one more task to one already consumed by work, family, community and other distractions is a lot to ask. However, the alternative only tips the scales in the direction of your colleagues and raises whispered questions around the cubicle about your willingness to advance. The time schedule will be daunting and social opportunities will be minimized for a while. The process will seem never ending, but is essentially, a short-term race. In order to position yourself to be seen as someone whom the organization can continue to invest resources, there has to be a self-investment that goes beyond the expanded workweek.

The one and a half act play of being a full-time employee and a part-time student also serves the purpose of expanding the audience or network of people who have the chance of getting to know you in a different context. This broadens the range of employment possibilities since organizations are always on the lookout for good talent. At the same time, the ability to multitask and time crunch projects are seen as applied skills that sprang from a knowledge base. The development of those skills coupled with several opportunities to work on group projects elevates the importance of the part-time experience. The dusk-to-dawn application of knowledge back into the workplace becomes more than just a theoretical exercise. Feedback is immediate and success is the result of the consistent application of what is being learned in the classroom. In return, the employing organization reaps the benefit of having better-educated employees who can handle the smart, tough and aggressive competition coming from all points on the globe.

Those thoughts of fear, reluctance or insecurity about a successful reemergence into the classroom setting are offset by the stark realities of organizational life. The perceived short-term pain is a mild skin burn when compared to the limited long-term possibilities that come when organizations have to make practical day-to-day decisions. The anxiety that percolates the first night of the first class is understandable and very normal. Uncertainty causes the best among us to question the merits of any decision or action. However, the goal of becoming better educated can be the primary driver along that path of uncertainty and a roadmap toward a balanced career path.