College Grads Enhance Prospects by Learning Additional Skills
Posted March
21, 2016 06:35 am | Op-Ed
Welcome to March Madness – sixty-eight college
basketball teams vying for a national championship.
March Madness also refers to the period when many
soon-to-be college graduates are returning from spring
break.
After four years of classes, tests, lab reports,
student-organization meetings, homecoming events and
papers, the time has come to enter the working world.
Getting that first job can be scary. The fear of the
unknown can be daunting for even the most seasoned job
seeker. For the first timer, it can be downright
paralyzing.
According
to the National Association of Colleges and Employers
(NACE), 2016 is supposed to be a great year for new
graduates. NACE anticipates that the labor market will
be up 11 percent from 2015, offering the best labor
market for new graduates in years.
However, the employment landscape is changing, forcing
graduates to change with it.
According to the employment-trend experts at the Boston
firm Burning Glass, more and more jobs will not only
require a degree, but also additional credentialing
focused on a number of skills, including information
technology, sales, graphic design, computer coding and
programming, and assessment.
These skills can enhance not only your job prospects,
but also your earning potential. For example, according
to Burning Glass, a student coming out of college this
year with a liberal arts degree will find nearly 1
million job opportunities tailored to his or her degree.
Add one certification and the job prospects nearly
double to 1.8 million anticipated openings.
It does not stop there. Students who achieve specialized
badges and certifications in areas such as coding and
programming can boost their earnings up to 27 percent
over just having a degree alone.
Many of these credentials can be acquired through a
number of sources. LinkedIn is now offering certificates
and training and many companies such as Microsoft, IBM,
and Cisco are offering their employees access to
certification bundles to boost productivity and support
their growing need for credentialed staff.
Higher education is also getting into the certification
game. For example, the University of Central Florida
offers programs such as Web Development Boot Camp, which
teaches students how to develop and maintain websites
using Javascript, HTML, CSS and other coding languages
in just 24 weeks.
This certification can have a tremendous boost for
students looking for that great job.
It used to be that just getting a degree was enough. But
today’s labor market demands that students commit to
being lifelong learners. That will mean that from time
to time employees will need to return to the classroom
to learn the skills needed to stay valuable to their
companies. Certifications can also lead to new
opportunities and expand horizons by allowing graduates
to juggle multiple offers as their skill portfolio
expands.
Michael Preston is executive director of the Florida Consortium of Metropolitan Research Universities based at UCF. He can be reached at michael.preston@ucf.edu.
Images added by the Observer: College Career Life
This piece was reprinted by the Columbia County Observer with permission or license.