Over the past year as many of us have been thinking about our lives, relationships, and careers, we have discovered a mismatch between where we are and where we want to be. In terms of our careers all too often we have found our jobs do not have the work-life balance we would like, nor do we feel supported by leadership. We may even wonder if our job is in alignment with our values. After taking time to really think about the jobs we have and if they help push us towards where we want to be in the future, many of us are considering switching careers. Continuing education is a great way to switch careers and move towards the job we always wanted to have.
What educational opportunities are available?
There are many educational opportunities that are available. Some of these opportunities involve longer-term degree programs while others involve shorter-term certificate programs. For example, there are a wide range of master’s programs in California that allow us to take on a new career in fields as diverse as marriage and family therapy, applied criminology, or even teaching. In other cases, we might not seek to switch careers but rather just want to learn new skills to use at the job we currently have. In these cases, there are also a wide range of online course providers which allow us to audit a class (some are available for free) or earn a certificate for a modest fee. A well-structured course can help you learn how to land a TEDx talk or how to become proficient in data analysis. Programs, degrees, certificates, are all types of educational resources that are available to us as we think about changing careers or jobs.
How can we fit in educational opportunities?
We often find that our days are already filled with other tasks, and we might wonder if we have the time to fit in continuing education. For those of us always on the go, there are numerous online educational programs that can fit our needs. These programs mean that we can further our education from home whenever it is convenient for us, no matter if that is waking up before anyone else in the household, staying up late once others are in bed, or fitting in course work on our lunch breaks. This conveyance means that we all can fit in education no matter how busy our lives might be and gives us the freedom to choose from any career we might desire.
What are the benefits of continuing education?
Continuing education can benefit us all. For example, if we plan on staying at the same career, education increases our chances for promotion, generally increases our salary, and even increases our job security. Many of our jobs provide financial assistance so that we can sharpen our skills through degrees, certificates, and other professional development. If we have a job that will help pay for our educational costs, we should take advantage because these skills will help us at our current job as well as help us when we are ready to switch to a new job.
If we are seeking a new career, education increases our ability to make a career transition while helping improve both our image and marketability. There are many educational programs that will provide us with the certifications we will need for our new career. There are also educational programs that give us the skills we need to be confident in a new role, such as business management courses if we are planning to be an entrepreneur, public speaking workshops to improve our communication and leadership skills if we now have been put in charge of a team, or tech skills if our work has transitioned to the virtual world.
Finally, the benefits of education move beyond our vocational lives by helping us with personal development. Sometimes to be able to position ourselves so we can thrive in our lives we need to learn organizational or self-care skills. In other cases, education can be for purely because we value growth and learning new things and can take the form of an art or history course. Education can help us no matter if we want to move up the ladder at the job we currently have, if we want to switch to a completely different career, or if we simply want to grow our minds so that we can stay more engaged with our lives.
