In a world of rapid fire change and an increasingly competitive employment market for the sought after jobs, keeping your skills and qualifications current has never been more important.
In the 1970’s year 12, or as some knew it HSC or before that Matriculation, was considered a gateway to great jobs. The 1980’s through to the early 1990’s saw a bachelor’s degree replace this as an entry level requirement followed by double degrees and post graduate degrees in the late 1990’s and noughties.
Education and up skilling has been for a long time a source of differentiation and competitive advantage for career advancement. Today, however, many people now have more degrees than a thermometer and the education bar has been lifted significantly over the past 20 years. What was once considered a clear employment edge has now been relegated to a mere stepping stone for higher education.
The reason that some choose their course focus is for formal education and for others it’s other forms of professional development to stay current, competitive, employable and relevant.
Some posture that if your job can be automated then it won’t exist in 3 to 5 years and while the market has upped the education ante so too it has demanded new skills previously not even conceived. For example, the digital revolution is demanding new skills not previously even thought of and many ‘old world’ technologies, some of which have dominated for more than 30 years, have demanded different skills and experience in the new world and reality.
So what’s the answer when education is costly and time consuming, especially when you’re already working hard in the day job and there are so many demands on your disposable income? Committing your precious leisure hours and savings to further, vocationally focused, education is a big decision. A key consideration is the cost of not staying out in front of job enrichment. This can be a sobering experience for many who find themselves passed over for a promotion or retrenched in the mature stage of their career where they find insufficient or out-dated qualifications compromising re-employment prospects. Many in this category find it necessary to completely reinvent themselves or undertake tertiary studies later in life than expected. This is not confined to the mature aged demographic, as many highly exposed to the technology sector have had to face the same challenges in staying up to date. The pace of change in the employment cycle is now 2 years compared to 5 years or even 10 years in previous decades.
Further education can be a powerful device for advancing your career; however it needs to be carefully and critically evaluated before launching into it. Below are 4 critical considerations when considering whether a higher education program is the right vehicle to drive and achieve your career aspirations:
- Is the targeted education program contemporary and aligned to your longer term career goals?
- Are you really prepared to put in the hard yards?
- Can you commit to the time and financial requirements for success over the entire program of study?
- Are you passionate about the course content and objectives?
If the answer to any of these questions is “no”, then a critical re-evaluation of the program being considered will be required.
Research shows that lifelong learning not only has a positive impact on employability but it can also be beneficial for overall health and well being, so there is simply no downside to further education and learning new skills no matter what career or life stage you are in.
For more information contact deliberatepractice on 1300 deliberate (1300 335 423) or email to info@deliberatepractice.com.au.