1In today’s rocky economy, many people are quite naturally worried about the security of their jobs. It’s no fun to get a pink slip on a Friday afternoon announcing that you no longer work where you thought you did. More and more large companies, some thought to be invincible, are laying off large numbers of employees. Some retail outlets like Circuit City are closing outright, giants such as Google are laying off large numbers of employees, and others such as Kay-Bee Toys or Wilson’s Leather are massively contracting their operations by closing all, or a large percentage of their retail stores. Even government employees, formerly thought of as having recession-proof jobs, are worried about the stability of their positions. Is there any way, in such difficult economic circumstances, to make yourself immune to your employer’s cost-cutting considerations? Along with keeping active in your job search and frequently checking online job listings, there is one other huge step you can take, too.
One really good way to let your employer know how much you value your job is to educate yourself. Put yourself in your employer’s shoes- if you had two employees, both equally qualified, equally experienced, and equally salaried and benefited, wouldn’t you want to retain the one with a higher level of education? An employer wants a worker that is always going to strive to better themselves by upgrading their knowledge, to the extent that some of them even provide 100% reimbursement to employees for the cost of education! Higher education allows employees to learn as much about their chosen industry as possible, and that’s in both the employees and the employers best interest.
You may say to yourself that it’s impossible to work a full time job, keep up with the demands of family and friends AND attend college all at the same time. It is difficult, but it’s not impossible, many people over the years have found time to attend law school at night, for example. However, a great alternative has arisen in recent years- the alternative of home school, distance education. You can earn a degree in much less time than you thought possible, and from the comfort of wherever you keep your computer! You get the same high quality learning that you would on a college campus while avoiding all the hassles of attending brick-and-mortar classes such as buying books, finding parking, dressing presentably, and adhering to a rigorous schedule- all at a comparable cost to that of a traditional classroom education.
Most online classes require you to read an electronic textbook or course pack (usually at no separate charge, unlike traditional textbooks), complete writing assignments, and stay in contact for group discussion via message board or email, a couple of times a week. You’ll want to get familiar with the tools that allow groups in disparate time zones and geographic locations to stay in contact, such as Internet Relay Chat and instant messenger- this is because there is group work involved in many of these types of classes. The two biggest attractions of online learning are that you can go to class wherever you can find an internet connection, and on your own schedule. Get the urge to have a discussion at 5 AM? Log in and post your comments, and the next time you visit, someone will have responded! Costs are about the same of a traditional physical classroom (maybe a little bit higher), so the cost isn’t prohibitively expensive, either.
You will need a healthy dose of self discipline to succeed at distance learning, and you’ll need to be personally responsible and provide your own motivation, as well. You’re going to have to be tough on yourself- no classes to attend means no instructors to harangue you or remind you about assignments, so you’re going to have to keep abreast of things all on your own. If that sounds doable to you, you should strongly consider online education as a way to improve yourself- it’s a no-lose proposition!
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