Graduate Citation Programs
Most people know about masters degrees and doctorates, but graduate citations are a new and powerful option when it comes to graduate education. A citation gives you recognition for a much smaller unit of study than a degree. Most of the time a citation is presented for taking 4 or 5 classes that are all finely focused on a particular subject or topic. A citation is not a degree, but it does confer some advantages with a lesser amount of work. In fact, hour for hour, a citation will often give you a better bump in pay vs. the amount you have to spend than actually getting a graduate degree. While this isn’t true in every situation, a number of human resources departments and hiring managers are likely to view a citation in much of the same light as a masters degree. This is particularly true if it comes from a well recognized university with a lot of prestige. When the citation is focused on a specific topic that is vital job success, a citation might be seen as extra valuable because it is so specialized and a masters degree is usually more general.If you want to be noticed in the job market, you will need to take steps that the average person simply isn’t going to do. This is where your graduate citation can be very worthwhile. A citation gives you an above average academic experience and can show that you have the work ethic required to go beyond your peers. When many employers look at your educational history, they are simply wanting to see if you can start and complete a large scale project like college. In some cases, what area you studied isn’t as important as the the fact you finished the degree. A graduate certificate demonstrates that you can complete something beyond the what the average person does.Don’t overlook the value of having a “easily recognized “brand name” academic institution on your resume. If you do your bachelors coursework at an unknown university, a citation from a well known university will really boost your perceived value. Your resume should be crafted to get you in the door for an interview. Everything you can do to make sure that your name stands out as being above average is going to help your career. A citation from an easily recognized institution is one of the things that that will stand out when sorting through a stack of resumes.While a graduate citation can help you create a powerful resume, the value of the training you obtain are even greater. The job market changes rapidly and many careers that seemed like a sure bet a few decades ago don’t exist any more. Your career will not be immune and you should expect your job skills change dramatically over the next 10 years. A continual approach to education can help you weather these changes with ease. Your ability to keep educated on current trends and methods will help keep your value high when companies are looking for people to take on new roles and responsibilities. Graduate citations help you stay current in a recognizable way, without requiring long absences from work or stepping out of the workforce all together for a few years to go back to school. This means you can stay current and keep your value as an employee growing beyond that of new graduates who are trained in modern methods, but lack that long term career experience you possess from working on the job.
