Qualifications 'can stand workers apart'
Jobseekers can boost their chances of securing employment by undertaking additional qualifications, experts have suggested.
Mike Hill, chief executive of Graduate Prospects, said that people considering taking up postgraduate degrees should do their research before they make a financial commitment.
"My advice would be to see your careers service, talk to them about what you're thinking of doing," he told the Independent.
Speaking to the same publication, Giles Proctor, head of Kaplan Law School, added that qualifications could boost career development.
"Firms are cutting back but they're not stopping recruiting," he observed.
"If you actively do another degree, you're making a positive choice. Firms like that."
Last year, research by a group of professional organisations including the Chartered Management Institute found that holding specialist qualifications could boost lifetime earnings by up to £81,000.
The study also suggested that individuals with such qualifications were nine per cent more likely to be employed.
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Lifetime earnings boost of £81,000 is a perfectly logical when you think about it. When you sign up for a qualification such as Chartered Manager - you're sending out a signal of proactivity that is going to speak for itself when it comes to negotiating for rises or promotions.
You need to have this sort of boost just to warrant the average student debt of £20-£30k at the end of your degree. By the time you add on the cost of the specialist qualifications (if you pay for it yourself) you would probably be worse off (allowing for inflation, the interest you pay and time taken to pay off the loans etc).
Do you have a degree yourself Ray?
I have an MBA which I gained through the Open University. I took this though as a way of formalising all of the knowledge and skills I already had.
Most of it was, to me, not new and some of it was positively basic compared to where I was at (although I was fortunate to have a great deal of development and exposure in my work over the years) - just needed to remember who put their name to a piece of theory that was common sense!
I honestly do not feel that not having an MBA held me back over the years in earnings potential although I feel it probably helps now in presenting myself to clients for the first time - even though I really only work on recommendation and referrals.