| Home>>Career>>Midlife education need not be a midlife crisis | | Midlife education need not be a midlife crisis | | Source: www.articlesnatch.com Time:2008-1-27 14:34:30 Hit: | | |
| Career changers often begin their transition with a return
to school. These days, you have more choices than ever:
online, teleclasses, on-site seminars, and traditional
classes.
If you're pursuing a traditional degree, such as an MBA,
you'll see ads and brochures from schools you've never heard
of. If you're embarking on a new-to-the-world career, such
as coaching, the choices seem even more bewildering. Cathy
Goodwin, Ph.D., who spent many years in the classroom as
both professor and student, suggests some tough questions to
ask before you write your check.
1. Do you really need formal training?
After ten years of management experience with a
well-regarded Fortune 50 corporation, Alice developed a
training program to help managers retain their best and
brightest employees. Should she return to school for a
coaching certification?
Alice needs to learn what her clients will value when they
hire her. Some firms will prefer an MBA to a coaching
certification. Others will be more interested in dollar
savings she can document than in any letters after her
name. Before investing in more education, she needs to dip
a toe into the water through networking and speaking to
business groups.
2. Where have all the graduates gone?
Harold's forty-year management career culminated in a vice
presidency of a company that is a household name. Bursting
with energy, Harold decided he wanted to share his hard-won
business wisdom with the next generation. He would get a
Ph.D. degree and teach at a university.
Soon Harold noticed ads for BusyPeople University, promising
flexible classes that were offered weekends, evenings, and
online. Forget the horror stories of fussy dissertation
committees and delayed diplomas: BusyPeople would see Harold
out the door in three well-ordered years -- two if he really
hustled.
The tuition was high but Harold had the money. More
important, he valued the flexibility and believed "you get
what you pay for."
Three years later, Harold was turned down for one teaching
job after another. Unaccustomed to rejection, he finally
found someone willing to speak frankly.
"We don't take BusyPeople degrees seriously," said a senior
professor at Traditional U, on condition of anonymity.
"We think BPU is a diploma mill. Okay," he cut off Harold's
protest, "you say you had to do real work. But you have no
idea what students learn in more tranditional programs.
You'll have to try a junior college or maybe a small
religious college.
"Frankly, you would have been better off to skip grad school
altogether. Many business schools would have been thrilled
to invite you to serve as an Executive in Residence. This
degree actually lowered your value."
Before you sign up for any program, talk to half a dozen
graduates. The alumni office may be willing to share names
attached to success stories, but don't stop there. Ask your
contacts for names of less successful classmates.
And probe deeply. One BusyPeople Ph.D. listed a
prestigious university as his current employer. He was
telling the truth -- but he was working as a lab technician
while hunting for a full-time teaching job.
3. Do you fit the profile of the successful graduate?
Clarissa enjoyed her job as a systems analyst but she
dreamed of completing an MBA at a top-tier program. At age
thirty-two, she was accepted to several prestigious
programs.
When she graduated at thirty-four, she discovered that many
of the most desirable jobs were closed to her. The greatest
salary and career gains were registered by those who entered
the MBA program at twenty-three, following two years of
experience. Graduating at twenty-five -- twenty-six, tops --
these young rising stars were in demand.
Clarissa 's post-MBA salary and title did not compensate for
the high MBA tuition and lost income for two years. She
realized she would have done better to enter an Executive
MBA program, where she would make contacts with her true
peers.
Fresh from a four-year stint in the US Army, George signed
up for an expensive two-year coach training program. As a
drill sergeant he had coached hundreds of young men and
women into leadership positions and he knew leadership
involved a lot more than shouting orders.
George did well in the program but found he had difficulty
attracting clients. He had no business network and people
transitioning from military life couldn't afford coaching,
even if they recognized the concept. After three years of
struggle, George saw his savings vanish.
George realized he would benefit from taking a civilian job
and building his network of contacts. He also realized that
a college degree would have given him more options.
4. Where did the faculty come from?
Top universities will not hire their own graduates as
professors. There are exceptions: you may be hired to teach
in a different department or you might be invited to return
in triumph following a successful career at an equally
prestigious institution.
Quality training requires a faculty that is diverse in
experience and education as well as race, sex and age. If
many faculty were trained by the university where they're
teaching, you have to ask tough questions about innovation,
growth and change.
If you are applying for a training program, such as writing
or coaching, learn who designed the curriculum. If one or
two people design the program, wrote the textbook, and
conduct the classes, you are entering an apprenticeship
program. This program may be the perfect route to your
dreams but it will be a single-lane highway with limited
turnoffs.
For maximum growth and flexibility, look for programs that
offer textbooks authored by professionals outside the
program. Look for faculty who come from diverse backgrounds
who can generate controversy and debate. Tolerance of
disagreement will allow you to stretch your mind in new and
exciting directions.
Bottom Line: Decide your career goal and network for
information. You may be surprised to discover that you can
fill your dream without setting foot in another classroom.
You may learn that some programs actually exclude you from
the career path of your dreams.
We have been taught that school is a steppingstone to
careers and even to riches. That lesson holds -- if you are
the right student and you choose the right program to meet
your goal.
Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D. Author, Career Coach, Speaker
*When Career Freedom Means Business*
http://www.movinglady.com
Classes: http://www.movinglady.com/classes.html
Mailto:cathy@... 505-534-4294
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