How can further education help your career? – words Alexa Wang

It is a universally acknowledged truth that education is the route to a better-paid job. There is no longer such a thing as a ‘job for life’, so the more employable you are, the easier it will be to find and keep a job.

These days, you are lucky if you stay in the same job for ten years or more and most people experience the pain of unemployment at least once in their life. One way to avoid the pain is to boost your qualifications and skills, but can studying for an online business administration degree or similar really help?

To secure a good job, you need a combination of experience and education. Experience comes with time, but the right educational qualifications on your resume will definitely boost your chances of being offered the job of your dreams.

The Right Start

Finishing high school and studying for a degree is a good start to a life of gainful employment. This will enable you to move into a skilled position. However, you do need to study the right subject, or you will end up with a huge amount of student debt with very little to show for it.

Certain subjects are better than others are. For example, an arts degree is unlikely to help your job prospects, but studying for an online business degree, or engineering or computer science will certainly make you more employable. These types of subjects will also enable you to enjoy a higher salary than your less well-qualified peers.

Studying for a Master’s Degree

A master’s degree is the next step up from an undergraduate degree. Fewer people embark on postgraduate study, but those that do firmly believe their higher-level qualification will help them secure a much better job. So is this true?

Experts say that postgraduate study can be very advantageous. Studying for an online bachelors in business or similar will boost your chances of promotion and help you command a better salary, but if you decide to take your studies to the next level and embark on a postgraduate master’s program, you are in a much better position. Imagine earning thousands of dollars while doing what you love, investing in your education gives a pretty high return, with some industries in tech for example turning out an average salary of a software engineer in hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Building New Skills

Higher education, in particular postgraduate study, is a great way for students to prepare for working life. Undergraduate and postgraduate students are expected to manage their own time and work to deadlines. Higher education is a very different learning environment. In high school teachers push and guide you. At university, you need to be self-disciplined and motivated. Nobody will remind you to complete assignments and if you can’t get out of bed in the morning, it is your time you are wasting.

Working on a master’s degree is different again. This time you are working with your peers as researchers in a specific field, so you will be able to walk into a job as a professional rather than an intern or student.

Higher education is always a good investment, but only if you choose the right courses, so stick to subjects with a greater chance of employment or it could be a waste of money.