When a career change is wanted or needed you may not always possess the skills or education to apply for the job that you want. Before you can try to apply for a new career you must figure out how and where to upgrade or gain a new skill set. I have decided to upgrade my skills and try to gain some new ones to make myself more marketable when the time comes for me to apply to a new position.
Adults are heading back to school, drawn by the demands of employers wanting employees with more education (Greenberg, 2000). Experts say that the growth in adult education can be attributed to the fact that people are living and staying active longer (Greenberg, 2000). Distance learning has become the schooling of choice for a growing number of adults, more than 1.6 million in 1998 according to the National Center for Education (Greenberg, 2000).
Adult learning takes place at community colleges, four year institutions, corporate training, public-private consortiums and vocational centers (Greenberg, 2000). For Profit universities have popped up so rapidly, an exact count is hard to come by but they likely number in the thousands (Greenberg, 2000). The quality of instruction at these institutions varies widely and it’s anybody’s guess how reputable they are (Greenberg, 2000). The legitimacy of accreditors can be checked through agencies including the Department of Education , Council of Higher Education Accreditation or the Distance Education Training Council (Greenberg, 2000). There is no blanket legal requirement that any school be accredited, nor are these the only legitimate accrediting bodies (Greenberg, 2000).
I have chosen the route of going with a community college and I am also doing distance education. I currently work as an administrative assistant, and I am taking the core classes for an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts right now. I haven’t decided exactly what I want to go for, though I know that I will need to decide that soon. I have thought about going into a medical field, but not nursing, such as respiratory therapy, or ultrasound technician. I realize that these fields may require more specialized training, which I hope that I can receive at J. Sargeant Reynolds, but I may have to seek an alternative, such as Southside Community College, if J. Sargeant Reynolds cannot fulfill my requirements for whatever career that I choose.
My reasons for choosing J. Sargeant Reynolds for my degree are that the campuses are fairly close to where I currently work and live, so that if I need to attend something on one of the campuses it’s not such a big deal. So far this is working well for me, although I have had to spend approximately twenty plus hours per week on schoolwork, which is affecting my family time. I am hoping that this sacrifice now will pay off in the end. So before you just decide to change careers or if you have unfortunately lost your job, check out all of your options. Definitely double check the accreditation of any “quick degree” programs before paying any money.
Greenberg, R. (2000, March). Back to School, Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers; Vol. 75 Issue 3, p14, 3p, Retrieved March 5, 2012 from the Academic Search Complete database.
