How Lifelong Learning is Essential to Career Advancement

When was the last time you sat at a school desk with markers and highlighters, studying? Many people shudder at the thought of going back to full-time school. In this busy-busy life, who really has the time and not to mention, the patience? But lifelong learning can help you advance your career. Here’s how.

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Think about it for a second. Does anyone want to go to school their whole life? When you put it like that, no, not really. You know what though. You are learning when you look up a DIY home improvement project and do it. You are learning when you mimic the video recipe and bake that layered cake for your child’s birthday party.

The concept of lifelong learning is not a phenomenon that happens only to nurses, doctors or engineers. Whether just by reading blogs, newspapers or working on projects or upgrading your existing skills, you are always learning regardless of where you stand in life. Do you know why that is? It is because we live in such a dynamic world. What was relevant and hip six months ago becomes obsolete in no time? You have to regularly keep yourself abreast of the new changes life throws at you and you adapt to changes and much more simply by being open to learning.

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Learning Keeps You Vibrant and Alive!

Top medical resources such as Mayo Clinic and Alzheimers’ Association propagate lifelong learning as an essential ingredient to healthy aging. You are never too young or too old to learn something new. For older adults though, brain fitness is important and so, lifelong learning is vital to keep your mind sharp, focused, improve confidence, meeting new people that share the same interests or nurturing a new interest you thought you would never have! Here are a few ways to do as an older adult to embrace learning even at later stages in life:

Volunteer
Travel
Learn a new language
Learn a musical instrument
Play challenging games
Embrace new technology

All this is fine, but how does learning a new language or any of these activities help advance your career, you ask? Did you know? 8 out 10 baby boomers will continue to work even past retirement. Losing a job is always terrible but for people, over the age of 50, it’s even worse. So if you or your loved one find yourself in a situation where you still need to work to earn a living, then learning helps advance your career. By being open to learning you are exposing yourself to meeting new opportunities and new people. Life is a continuous cycle.

A Continuous Cycle

The newborn needs you to nurture and take care of it, but infants still observe and learn every hour of every day. Toddlers, teenagers, young adults, everyone at every stage in life learns more, not less. From living alone to living with a family, raising children or managing your money, only with learning will you be perfect. Learning must never stop because life is a continuous cycle. The same way, in the corporate world, if you want to step up from your position, each rung you climb up poses new responsibilities, new skills you need to acquire to be good at what you do or well.

Invest your time and money to improve your learning process.

Because learning is a continuous cycle, it can never tire you. Nothing bad happens when you learn something new. In your professional, learning will have no boundary, whether learning about a new technology, a new app, a new co-worker, only lifelong learning is essential for career advancement. Or else you will always stay where you are, or perhaps become redundant and let go.

Don’t take feedback personally.
Recognize the need to learn
Make that decision to learn
Develop a plan
Follow through
Achieve goals

Benefits of Lifelong Learning

Staying Updated

Recent graduates are cheaper to hire and with the advance in education systems, may as well be more advanced than you currently may be. Unless you take charge of your career and update your current skills or acquire new skills. For example, marketers are learning to program to communicate better with developers.

Remain Motivated

Lifelong learning keeps you motivated, you jump out of bed, happier to go to work because you know with your updated skills, you will be more productive. If you feel you are burning out in your job, considering learning a new skill to stimulate your mind and staying motivated at work.

Lifelong learning helps you stay abreast of the competition. Try to learn at every step of the way because educating yourself throughout your career is a stepping stone to success.

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June 23, 2017November 19, 2020

Why You Should Consider Interning at a Small Startup

You Should Consider Interning at a Small Startup

While evaluating summer internship options, your preference will understandably lean toward large, well-established companies, especially multinationals. What you may fail to realize is that there is immense value in interning at a smaller company, especially when you’re just making an entry into the industry.

Working as an intern in a tech startup, for example, may not come with the top-brand recognition typically sought after by your friends in, say, finance. You will, however, gain valuable real-world experience from that internship that may otherwise be inaccessible as an intern in a big-name company.

Below are reasons that support the choice to work as an intern in an up-and-coming enterprise.

Real responsibilities

Time is a valuable resource in startups. All team members, including you, the intern, are critical to the company’s success. What this means is that your contribution to projects will have a palpable and likely immediate impact on customers.

Posting your first article to a website or pitching a product idea for the first time is certainly intimidating. All the same, you stand to learn a lot by pushing through your fears and grabbing hold of opportunities as an intern. Having critical projects under your belt is a huge plus when looking for a job after graduation.

Moreover, having real responsibilities cultivates within you a confidence that you can effectively handle new projects. Further down the line, when your friends are framing leadership in the context of group assignments in college in their cover letter, you can showcase real successful projects that you participated in.

Real-world lessons on how businesses operate

Getting internships in large multinationals often means your exposure covers only a very small portion of operations in which you’re directly involved. With numerous other interns and a multitude of employees, exposing yourself to every aspect of the business is next to impossible.

Conversely, it is almost impossible not to be involved in every part of the business in a startup, especially when it’s at its infancy stage. Whether it’s being within hearing shot of design debates and having a casual conversation with the head of marketing over lunch, being an intern at a startup means you’ll invariably participate or witness all business operations since everyone is kept in the loop at most startups.

Testing multiple paths

Still not sure what you want to do after you graduate? Well, exposure across various teams within a company helps you feel out various areas that interest you. For instance, if you’re an intern in a small digital marketing startup, you may find yourself researching keywords for the marketing department one day, and writing blog articles for the communications department the next day.

Furthermore, as an intern in a small startup, you can easily reach out to colleagues in other departments if you want to learn more about something you know little about. As an intern in the design department, for example, you can set up lunch with the head of engineering so you can learn more about that field.

Author Bio:

Toni M. Kersey is a Seattle-based blogger, author and editor. In recent years, his work has been featured in various career and human resources websites where he writes on career-related topics including finding internships, switching jobs, etc.

April 18, 2015November 30, 2020

How Part-Time MBA Program Can Increase Your Career Prospects?

Management education is now becoming widely popular in the growth of career prospects. MBA degree along with any qualification increases your job opportunities to a great extent.

In fact, having an MBA degree from a reputable institute will leave you in an advantageous position.

Young professionals mostly, therefore, opt for the degree to seek better job opportunities.

In the race, even mid-career professionals are seen to choose MBA degree to boost their career but not keeping their job at stake.

You can check on the MET’s guide on PGDM to gain more information about the part-time courses.

Career Opportunities after Doing Part-Time MBA

Boost to Existing Career

Yes, you are already designated on a very good post in a reputed company. However, you definitely would desire to see yourself in a higher-level 5 years down the line, isn’t it? For this reason mainly, many executives, managers and even other professionals in the industry enroll themselves into the course to improve their current skills and look forward to be promoted in higher designation. It further opens up the path for new job offers from different well-known companies.

Core Areas in a Part-Time MBA Program

Similar to full-time MBA program, part-time course gives you opportunity to pick up your area of interest in the field. The areas in which you can build up your career after completion of part-time course are stated below:

Operations

Being selected as operations manager, you will be handling every activity i.e. needed to create as well as deliver a service or product. From the selection of suppliers to management & distribution of supply chain, everything you will have to take care of.

Sales & Marketing

The job responsibilities that you will be in charge of as a sales and marketing manager are research and develop marketing plans as well as opportunities, executing sales plans and managing staff as well.

Finance

Have to manage the funds in a way that it maximizes ROI thereby reducing the risk factor and guaranteeing adequate control over the fund investment and transfer. You will also be focusing on key areas such as predicting, budgeting, analyzing on cost reduction and also assessing operational performance.

Human Resources

Human Resources (HR) has the primary function to be carried out in an organization. Right from conducting interviews of candidates to placing them in the right position and even deciding on their pay scale is what you ought to do as a HR manager.

Retail

As a retail manager, you will be looking into daily affairs of the departments or stores. Your aim would be to maximize profits thereby reducing costs.

Accounting

Here your primary task would be to prepare as well as examine the financial records accurately. Even you will have to be sure that taxes are being paid on time. Other services will be like auditing, improving profits and revenues, improving business efficiency and inspect on the accounting systems and books as well.

So, you see there are a number of career opportunities awaiting your path even if you consider doing part-time MBA course.

Career Prospects

Even seeking a part-time MBA degree will give your CV an added weightage. You not only will be eligible for promotions in your current company but also can register with the employment consultancies to get calls on promising and attractive job opportunities.

Author Bio

Jenny Richards is a regular blogger and also a career consultant. She wrote the latest blog on career prospects you can have enrolled into a part-time MBA course from a recognized institute.

January 28, 2015December 2, 2020

10 JOBS AFTER AN MBA DEGREE

The only reason why one studies is to be able to be financially stable in the future. This is the driving factor for most of our decisions. Getting a business degree is always a plus for a good start to a career.

MBA degrees have been attributed to be one of the most affluent of degrees. Even in the current job market, companies still revere a business degree.

Global companies are always looking for well-educated business graduates who can take their business forward. Each of these companies are further divided into departments and each of them is in turn headed by a B-School Graduate. The possibility to reach to that level is higher if you are passed out from a top business school.

Here are some of the high profile jobs that an MBA graduate can get:

Accountant: An accountant compile, prepare and analyze financial records. Every company and organization has an accountant. They are highly paid and revered. They are the ones that determine the finances of a company. The average salary for an Accountant would be £16,429 – £50,733 per year.

Advertising Executive: An advertising executive primarily work in the advertising field. They manage client accounts, coordinate with them, handle campaigns, understand the integrities of marketing and their various concepts. And advertising executive would get an average of £16,642 – £33,825 pay per year.

Business Manager: As a business manager, you are liable for your business and your company. You are overlooking the planning, direction, operations and efficiency of the employees. It is your job to delegate work and see that it is done. They get an average of £21,060 – £70,150 per year as their pay package.

Sales Associate: As a sales person your main work is to market your product and in turn sell it. While in MBA you are taught thoroughly the various concepts of marketing and how to deal and persuade clients etc. A Sales Associate is entitled to £12,404 – £37,386 per year depending on their educational qualification.

Financial Manager: They mostly work in banks, credit unions and various other finance companies. They could be a loan officer, investment officer etc. An average salary for a Finance Manager would be £25,000 – £65,000 per year.

Corporate Recruiter: These are people who are more widely known as Headhunters. They are those who hire CEO’s and CFO’s of a company for a company. Many top notch business let these people handle the recruiting and the salary negotiations. A corporate recruiter is entitled to an average of £17,187 – £35,869 per year.

Corporate Communications Officer: Every company has its own corporate communications department. They are the one that create implement and oversee communications programs. They are a common bridging gap between the company head and the employees and also a communication channel between the company and the outside world. They can ask upto £17,365 – £31,193 pay per annum

Human Resources Director or Manager: An HR personnel is the one whose main call of duty is to hire, retain and fire employees. They are the ones that determine the company codes and policies. They supervise every aspect of employee relation. £24,465 – £52,207 is the average salary of a Human Resource Manager.

Management or Business Analyst: They analyze and evaluate operating procedures and in turn make recommendations based on their findings. They are often hired as a consultant to solve a specific problem in the company. A Business analyst can take up to £25,046 – £61,171 salary per annum.

Product Manager: They plan, develop and execute a plan for a particular brand or product or services. They deal with various aspects of the business and manage production, sale, advertising, promotion, research, development, purchasing, and distribution etc. of a product or services. A senior product manager could take upto £38,912 – £80,876 per annum

As the current job market goes, companies are using quite strenuous hiring strategies. They just don’t want anyone. They are making sure that they hire the best possible candidate for the job. If you are one of those dreamers who aspire to have a great start to a booming career – an MBA degree definitely helps you. Plus if as a business grad you salary is also higher than your peers who are not and if you grow in your company the opportunity to becoming the CEO is also available to you.

Author Bio:

Trisha is a professional writer and has been writing on a variety of topics. She is an ardent reader, a traveler and a passionate photographer. She wants to explore the world and write about whatever comes across her way | LinkedIn

Source for salaries: http://www.payscale.com/

September 1, 2013December 11, 2020

Inspirational Mother Encourages Mums To Follow Their Dreams

Louise moved to Cornwall in 2004 with no job, no qualifications and no prospects. “sometimes you have to take the chance” Louise said after ditching her life in Manchester. Jobs in Cornwall are hard to come by even for qualified career professionals.

Louise always dreamed of a career working with children, but ended up working in shops and as a chambermaid, both of which were low paid seasonal work.

By 2007 Louise had met her husband and was expecting her first child. After he was born she choose to give up work and to have another baby to complete the family. All the time she thought about how she could pursue her dream job. Louise felt disheartened, believing she would have to go back to the unsatisfying job as a shop assistant or chambermaid.

By the time the children were getting older, Louise has had enough. “I had always wanted to work within a school setting but never imagined I could achieve this from not doing well at school and not going on to further education and now I was older with children I just didn’t think it would be possible”

She got her lucky break after researching different entry routes into careers with children. She heard about entry into university via the access course at college which is equivalent to A-Levels. “it was quite demanding, balancing being a mother, as well as studying” At times Louise felt like giving up, but her inspiration and dreams kept her going. Louise admits that the first 6 months of the Access Course was difficult “I hadn’t studied since leaving school” Louise admits.

Some people thought it was a pointless exercise, but throughout the long nights of studying and the early morning wake-up calls by her two young boys, Louise finally passed her course.

“I was really excited, I didn’t actually believe I was going to pass” Before she knew it, she had already signed up to Worcester University for the Teaching and Learning foundation degree. Louise is the first in her family to go to University and feels that she can be a better role model for her children.

Louise now has to attend University, undertake a volunteering placement in a school as well as being a mother for two demanding children but feels this extra work is worth it. Her plan is to get a job within a school while completing the 3-year university course.

Louise wants to share her story with other mothers who may not have had the time to attend college due to being a mum or other mothers like Louise who wrongly believe that because you left school with no qualifications that you cant follow your dreams. When asked what advice would you give to other young mums who are thinking about university and careers, Louise said “Just Go For It”

Find out more about Louise on her FaceBook page here: Louise Phillips

August 23, 2013December 12, 2020

University Course Choice: How to Calculate the Best Course for You

Students have some very tuff decisions in their lifetime, studying hard to achieve the high grades at A Levels and then choosing the best university to attend in the future, but without choosing the right course their educational path could go horribly wrong.

Finding the best course to study at university is an important decision to be made, as some courses can last more than 5 years and with the rising number of student’s debts and tuition fees increasing students are wondering what the best courses to invest their time in are. Choosing a course you are passionate about will at least be worth the investment into educational fees but being stuck in the wrong course and maybe having to move universities or then take a year out could end up with more financial problems and demotivation in education. So what should students do?

Every student needs to think and then act, first you should analyse what your passion of study is and check what potential career paths this could lead to. Once you have analysed the route to your dream job you should think about what kind of course is available, if there is a mix of subjects you can specialise in and branch out your skills or should you sensibly choose one major and dedicate your time to this.

With the vast number of courses available you would be surprised at what you could be studying. If you are studying in the UK, the Telegraph UCAS Calculator is a great tool in providing a list of courses that best suits you. Once you have your A or AS Level grades you can use their calculator to convert your grades into UCAS points which will then list a number of courses you could potentially be studying. You can select the sensible courses for you or you could be brave and go for a hit on random and see what quirky course would suit you; you could end up studying Tropical Disease Biology!

Students today like variety and many universities are catering to this, globally the number of courses based on celebrities has increased. In the USA for example, New Jersey’s Rutgers University enabled students to study a diploma on “Politicizing Beyonce”, Jay Z was even honoured by Georgetown University having had a sociology course named after him. In the UK, the one and only David Beckham had a 12 week module based on him by Staffordshire University, which was part of the BA in Sports, Media and Culture.

University or Campus life can be a success and a career path can be successful if you just choose the right course, so get analysing your course path today and let us know how you get on.

Author: Jenny B is a graduate of engineering who developed her career on an international level. Now working as a freelance writer Jen is here to offer her advice on university life.

August 3, 2013December 12, 2020

Grad Jobs Where Are They?

There is a misconception that there is a lack of grad jobs compared to 10-20 years ago. The truth is there are more graduate positions available, but there is also more competition, as more college students take the university path into the career market.

Due to the high number of graduates applying for each position (in some cases 2000 applications for the same graduate position) employers get the pick of the bunch.

Graduate job searching preparation needs to start early.

To increase your chances of a graduate job offer, you need to start preparing early – while you are at university. Two things employers class as essential criteria is first, your qualification why employee someone with 2.1 when the other candidate has a first?

The second key criteria is experience. Many students rather then volunteering will go out and party or gain a part time job.

Sector specific experience is key to gaining a graduate position. You do need to relax as a student, and many need that important additional income from a part time job.

But each year you need to volunteer or gain work experience in the sector you want a career in, as this experience is seen as invaluable by the employer.

May 10, 2013December 12, 2020

Why You Should Choose Volunteering Over A Summer Holiday: Tips For Graduates

Each year the number of university applicants and starts is increasing.

Even more important, students securing high level qualifications is also on the increase, what this means for any academic is that competition is for any high level academic position is strong.

When recruiting graduates, employers do consider job hunters qualifications and positions such as finance, law and medical sectors all have specific entry requirements, which means all applicants will have the same qualification.

To secure your first paid job, you need to stand out at the job interview and one way to do this is through your experience. and a lack of experience is the number one reason why new graduates don’t secure employment within the first 6 months of graduating. During the summer holidays it is very tempting to gain any paid job to give yourself that all important income.

Students study hard and party hard, all this partying cost money. Students these days also have a passion for fashion. the fashion and partying is all part of the student life style and this life style needs funding. You need to look long term, not short term. you cna get a paid job in a fast food chain or retail outlet giving you a disposable income, but what if you didn’t?

Instead you could spend your summer holidays volunteering in a range of sector specific placements. what you lack in funds, you will make up in experience.

And once graduated, this experience will come in to it’s own, because the employer can only be impressed by your commitment to your career. The employer will be blown away by the vast experiences you, as a graduate have already undertook and the skills you have learnt can add value to their team.

Who would you employ if you had the choice of two graduate, the one with the qualifications and a lack of experience, or the second applicant with both experience and qualifications?

April 12, 2013May 6, 2021

Can You Afford To Go To University?

Going to university is one of the biggest decisions you will make.

For me, as a careers advisor, I highly recommend being sure about your career choice, as there are over 2000 potential career choices, but most people pick the general job roles (or university course) for bizarre reasons such as “their parents told them to pick that career” or “because my friend has picked that course”

Remember you spend over a third of your life in employment and you need to be happy about your career choice.

Some courses cost up to £9000, you don’t want to be spending that type of money only to leave halfway through the course, or to graduate only to decide that you want to do something different.

Discussing and planning your career goals, can not only save you money in the long term but can also make you feel excited about your future.

Once you have decided on the university and course that you are interested in, you need to know some key facts about university finances, because many believe, due to the rise in tuition fees that they can’t afford to go to university.

No one has to pay fees upfront. You can apply for loans to pay for your university fees, and once you graduate you don’t have to pay the loan back until you earn over £27295 a year. If you never earn this amount, you won’t have to pay your loan back.
Some eligible students can also apply for maintenance loans to help pay for rent, food, bills, etc.
After 30 years whatever is left to pay off your student loan is wiped out – you won’t owe any more money.
If you have the money to pay for your course upfront, you can do it. This way once you leave university the money you earn is yours. Remember though depending on your salary depends on how much you pay back. For some people, they may have only paid 50% of their loan back before the 30 years is up and they automatically have their debt wiped out.
Also, look for extra funding. In some instances, students may be given a Bursary or Scholarship (from a business or charity)
You back around 9% of your loan. So if in your first job you earn £2310 per month you only pay back £3 per month.
The money automatically comes out of your pay packet, under the heading ‘payroll deductions’ the same way tax is deducted from your pay. Which, as the employee, means you don’t need to worry about paying anything back, it’s all automatic.
You will be charged interest on your loan (at the rate of inflation). Depending on what you earn depends on what you pay. If you earn £21,000 you will pay interest at the rate of inflation, when you earn over £41,000 you will pay interest at the rate of inflation plus 3%
The interest rate is only paid at the end of your loan, so if you don’t pay your whole loan (IE after the 30 years is up) you won’t pay any interest.
If you ever lose your job as an example due to redundancies, your repayments will stop

February 21, 2013December 18, 2020

Can I Go To College Even though I Dropped Out of School

Every UK school leaver (even if you dropped out of school) is entitled to a free college place, but entry to certain college depends on your GCSE results.

If you sat your GCSEs and gained 5 A-Cs in the core subjects (including Bs in the subjects you want to study at A-Level), generally you can access most college course (course such as Art may require you to have a portfolio of work)

If you left with no GCSE due to, as an example an illness you can access a college course to re-sit your GCSE exams – but only certain college offer GCSE re-sits.

In some colleges if you completed some but not all your GCSE examinations, you may be able to sit your A-Levels and complete a GCSE course alongside it. In most circumstances the college will ask you to complete an assessment to check your academic level.

I Dropped Out of School with NO GCSEs

If you didn’t sit any GCSE’s or if you didn’t gain 5 GCSEs A-C, you can still apply for and attend college. Depending on your GCSE results, depends on the course level you can attend.

Generally speaking, but this various on the college if you have 2 x C/D GCSE grades you can start a level 2 course, 4 x E/F’s GCSEs means you can start a level 1 course and if you have no GCSEs you can apply for the various “entry” course available at most colleges.

You are entitled to a FREE education

But all school leaver age students are entitled to a free education if you are 18 yrs old or under. For university courses a student loan is available.

This means everyone will have to be in some form of education until they are 18 yrs old, for many this may well be college but for others, this could be an apprenticeship.

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