Developing your career
Developing your career is important at all stages of your working life. Whether you’re starting out and need to gain new skills to enter a profession, or are an experienced professional who needs to remain up-to-date with skills in their job, developing your career is vital to being successful in your particular line of work. Career development has various meanings; acquiring new skills, carrying out further study or undertaking an internship, to name but a few. There are four things that employers take into account when looking to recruit candidates: academic achievements, practical experience, international experience and extracurricular activities. Higher Education admissions officers will do the same; they will want evidence of your enthusiasm for a particular course demonstrated through relevant work experience or extracurricular activities. Contrary to popular belief, employers and Higher Education admissions officers are not just interested in your academic ability – they will look at your personality, social skills, ambitions and attitude too when deciding if you are a suitable candidate.
Academic achievements
Academic achievements are evidence not only of your intellectual capacity but also your determination and individual strengths. They show employers and Higher Education admissions officers where your interests lie and how committed you are to achieving success.
For students aiming to access a Higher Education course, admission officers will be looking to see that you have excelled in subjects related to the course you wish to study. For example, if you want to study journalism, then good grades in subjects such as English, Politics, Media studies and Foreign Languages will be highly regarded. Admissions officers will also favor students with additional qualifications gained outside of the classroom, for example, through night classes or online courses.
For experienced professionals, academic achievements are equally important. It may be the case that your qualifications are somewhat outdated and you have not acquired any extra qualifications at work. It may therefore be worthwhile taking a night class or enrolling on a distance learning course to update your skills. For graduates, depending on which career you choose, you may need to undertake further studying or specialize in a particular subject. If you want to move into a new field in which you are not qualified, a postgraduate course may be necessary. For example, in some well-paid careers such as law, a conversion course or a certain amount of postgraduate study is needed whereas in others, such as environmental work, further study could give you the edge over the competition. People generally choose further study to:
Continue with a subject of interest to gain more specialist knowledge
Convert to a new area of work or add vocational (professional) skills to a non-vocation first degree, e.g. IT, law or journalism
Gain a professional qualification needed to enter a profession, such as teaching (PGCE)
Gain practical skills, e.g., teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) or basic computing
No matter which stage you are at in your career there are various study programs to help you acquire new skills, experience and training – please read on to find out more.
A Bachelor's degree, also known as a Baccalaureate degree in many countries, is the first-level academic degree (often called an undergraduate degree) undertaken at university and usually lasting three or four years, but more in some medical subjects. There are several types of Bachelor's degrees but the most common are Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BS). The Bachelor of Science degree is tailored to those who want to branch out into the world of science, while the Bachelor of Arts degree is awarded to those studying humanities and the arts. Some other popular Bachelor's degrees include the Bachelor of Applied Science, the Bachelor of Economics, the Bachelor of Business and the Bachelor of Medicine degrees.
A Master's degree follows a Bachelor's degree and is therefore referred to as a postgraduate qualification. A Master’s degree allows you to develop expertise in a new area and people usually study a Master’s degree to advance in their career fields or in order to change careers. The Master of Arts (MA) and Master of Science (MS) are the most common Master’s degrees but Master’s degrees are offered in a variety of fields and some subjects have special degrees, like the MBA (Master of Business Administration) for business. Most Master’s programs require students to complete a thesis or an extended research paper but some offer alternatives to the thesis, such as written comprehensive exams or other written projects that are less thorough. In service-oriented fields like social work Master’s degrees usually involve an internship.
A Doctorate (Ph.D.) is the highest level of academic achievement. It is awarded to students who have completed at least three years of graduate study beyond the Bachelor's and Master's degrees and who have demonstrated their academic ability in examinations and through original research presented in the form of a dissertation.
Executive Education is the term used for programs delivered at graduate level business schools to Chief Executives and managers. Executive Education involves working with clients to identify their exact needs and learning objectives, and then developing the appropriate content and delivery format to suit their requirements. Such programs do not usually end in a degree but many Executive MBA programs offer a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) upon completion of the coursework. Executive Education aids business people in both their professional and personal growth and such programs ultimately contribute to the overall success of business schools, as Executives go on to share their knowledge with the younger MBAs and help them to find jobs.
Distance Learning is learning through printed or electronic media, outside of a classroom. For example, teachers and students may correspond via the internet, with the student submitting work and receiving feedback online. Other types of distance learning courses include:
Broadcast – where content is delivered via radio or television.
CD-ROM – where students interact with computer content stored on a CD-ROM.
Mobile Learning – where students access course content stored on a mobile device or through a wireless server.
Radio learning is particularly popular in developing countries because of its reach. Furthermore, the increasing popularity of mp3 players and other similar devices has provided an additional medium for the distribution of distance education content.
Further study allows you to open new doors in your career and to boost your CV. Moving up the career ladder will always be easier with more qualifications and extra study is just one way of setting yourself apart from the competition. As mentioned above, certain professions demand a particular degree before you are even considered for a job. Yet, before deciding to carry out further studies, you need to be sure that you are willing to spend on acquiring more advanced or new skills – if a career holds all the qualities you find appealing but demands a great deal of time in terms of training/studying, would you be willing to make this time commitment? Also, further study often means extra debt so there’s a financial commitment too. It’s worth investigating all possible sources of funding, such as grants and scholarships to help you. Always think carefully before committing to further study – make sure it’s the right thing for you in terms of career path, time and budget.
Practical experience
Work experience is just one way of broadening your career skills, gaining insight into particular industries and getting on the graduate job ladder. It is valued by employers and Higher Education admission officers because it shows that you can apply your skills within a business environment, you are motivated to find out more about your chosen field and want to develop your skills within a professional setting. If you proactively sought a placement and arranged it independently, this also shows potential employers that you are tenacious, focused and able to use initiative.
There are many benefits to carrying out a work experience placement and these include:
Meeting people during your placement who could be useful contacts in the future, either as referees, providers of career advice or can inform you of vacancies.
Interviews for work placements will improve your interview technique.
Gaining experience of different workplaces will help you to decide which kind of employer is right for you.
An opportunity to try out different industries and develop your transferable skills at the same time.
Earn money, as many forms of work experience are paid.
Practical experience is hands-on training in a particular field and is often referred to as vocational training – training that prepares learners for manual and traditionally non-academic occupations, such as carpentry and plumbing. This is sometimes called technical education as the learner develops expertise in a particular field, and this can be at the high-school or post-high-school level. Apprenticeships are one of the most common forms of vocational training and are becoming increasingly popular in countries like England as they allow students to train on-the-job. As well as on-the-job training, vocational education is also provided by institutes of technology as well as local community colleges.
