| Navigation |
 |
|
Visit our career center to view the top job sites and resume
posting services. >>> |
|
 |
Representation
It is disappointing to think that, after all the hard work you have invested in gaining the qualification you require to further your career, you must now approach a new task - how best to represent your qualification to prospective employers. It is a sad comment on today's interpretation of education that the mention of a particular accredited school might be enough to impress, when the qualification earned remains a simple piece of paper regardless of the institution that awarded it. You have invested your time and effort into learning the information that would be invaluable to any employer, and now, it is your job to convey the hard work you have put in, and to demonstrate the knowledge you have acquired.
It has been suggested that graduates of non-accredited schools feel ashamed of the place they earned their qualification. But a true education encompasses so much more than the campus you attended. The knowledge and understanding that is found in education is a factor of the attention and the effort invested; the quality of a qualification depends more on the student than the teacher. You have worked hard, both inside and outside the usual learning environment, you have sat at your computer and learned through experience, and it is evidence of these facts that any good employer will use to relate your abilities to the job they have to offer.
What use to any company is an Ivy League graduate who is unable to apply their knowledge to real situations? What value is a degree from an accredited college that was only barely achieved despite missed classes and half done assignments? If an employer is looking for an accredited college graduate, then it is your job to disabuse them of the idea that such a graduate could perform the job any better than you can. Any employers who cannot recognize the value in your hard earned qualification are only hurting themselves, because they are losing out on all you have to offer. But if they are a product of an education system that values only the name of a school, then you must be the person to change their minds.
You have earned a degree, and gained an education; this is what a prospective employer requires, and you fit the bill. But it is not the degree that will be doing your job; you will. It is true that your degree was not awarded by an accredited school, but it is not the school that will be doing your job either. It is down to you, and you alone. You know that you have gained the knowledge and the skills to perform the task required, so go out there and prove it. And remember, as Jim Rohn, the leading motivational speaker, philosopher and entrepreneur says, ' Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.' Go out and prove that it is your hard work that will get you places, and not the name of your alma mater.
Signifying the Achievement
If you wanted to learn to drive a racecar, would you look up one of the Andretti brothers or go down to the local arcade and pick the kid who had the high score on the Gran Turismo game? If you wanted to learn how to sell real estate, would you talk to a Realtor who's made millions or call the local Monopoly champion?
Silly questions, aren't they? Well, when a business hires someone fresh out of college over someone with years of experience they're essentially putting the video game and Monopoly champs to work.
Unfortunately, most human resources departments filter resumes when they come in the door without even reading them. Ones that don't have a degree listed go in the trash even if they're submitted by a proven professional with years of experience. In this case, the degree doesn't mean a thing. It has no more function than an identification badge used to get by a security checkpoint. It's the little plastic card that opens the door to further consideration.
Big business has been slow to realize that the best choice for most jobs is not the person who took classes, but the person who has the hands-on experience in the field. In business, they would rather hire someone who aced Marketing Theory than someone who has successfully sold hundreds of different products over a career.
In this environment, a life-experience degree does a tremendous amount to level the playing field. It gives tremendously qualified applicants that "access card" that will get the door opened.
Getting a life-experience degree is NOT "cheating" or "taking the easy way out." It is signifying the achievement attendant upon years of work. It is allowing people who are, in the main, vastly more qualified than people given preferential treatment over them an entry into the "degreed" world.
Of course, traditional universities aren't at all pleased with this concept. If someone is able to pair a degree with years of experience, they will immediately shoot to the top of any heap of job applicants. That's why they have pulled out all the stops to discredit life-experience degrees. More and more, however, corporations are realizing that by not giving nontraditional degrees full credit, they are depriving themselves of eminently qualified, superior-quality employees.
So, would you hire the kid who got top grades in Business Theory, or would you hire the vice-president of a Fortune 500 company who pulled himself up with his own wit and determination and succeeded.
Simple choice, isn't it?
|
