Tag Archives: college degree

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Professional value measured

Professional Value Measured, Yes, But How?

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You have the experience, are you right for the job? How is your professional value measured? Recognizing value is often a bit elusive.

People attend school, some go on to certificate programs, degree programs, and even complete advanced degrees. How do you know someone’s value?

Is it measured with a test?

Some people test very well. They study for the test, memorizing key phrases and the written solution. They have developed a keen eye for nonsense in multiple-choice and for spotting the correct answer. True or false is a breeze and short-answer aligns perfectly with their seemingly photographic memory.

They graduate with honors.

In most professional white-collar type employment there aren’t really tests for endurance, cooperation, or enthusiasm. It is similar for trade skill labor or trades professionals.

How do you test for sincerity, integrity, or generosity?

How do you measure professional value?

Professional Value Measured

Most hiring managers might suggest it is a combination of experience and education. Years of service, boxes checked, and cards punched.

The disconnect for the individual and for the hiring organization may be that it doesn’t matter how well you did on the tests in school, it matters how you’ll work with this team. Not any team, but this team.

The professional value you seek to get recognition for is often disconnected from the purpose and mission that the organization is pursuing. It’s measured in proof competence, not proof of execution.

As a result, how well you work with others, your ability to collaborate on assignments, and your leadership potential go unmeasured.

It seems that professional value needs to be demonstrated and discovered, not proven through a resume or transcript.

Tactfully illustrating what you should be measured against might be the best way to start.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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more education

More Education, Who Needs It?

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Do you need more education? Some people believe that they don’t need education beyond high school, and some even less than that.

Is education really a racket? Some people say it is.

Even Pink Floyd had something to say about education.

There are plenty of high salary people with what some would say is a limited education. Yet, it is probably safe to say that the more educated you become the higher your earning potential.

Is it about Learning?

When we swap out the word education and replace it with learning, things change a little.

One trouble spot is the concept of the quality of what is learned.

Learning how to dodge, weave, and play corporate politics may not be taught in a community college or ivy league business school. You tend to learn it from experience. For better or for worse, that experience often comes from role models.

Duck Dynasty is an American television series. Many view it as the name of a business. Although its true name is Duck Commander.

The Duck Dynasty brand, is an image, a role model, and although ZZ Top may disagree, it is quite possibly the spark that ignited the long-beard trend.

We also have images of what corporate life at Google looks like, what big government looks like in Washington, D.C., and some images of the chillaxed lifestyle of the rich and famous of Miami or Southern California.

There is also a reasonably good chance that you are none of those.

Yet, plenty of people will grow the beard, tote around technology like it is a picture of success, and politic on social media channels like a know-it-all from a prominent urban community.

It’s what they’ve learned or inspire to be.

More Education

You don’t need a formal education to learn how to run a Ponzi scheme. Although some college and university graduates decide to do it. The same may be said about the success of star athletes, business owners, and the Executive Chef.

Learning helps build your character. It shapes decisions that you’ll make.

If you decide to drop out of school and you achieve some success then school may appear to be a waste of time. You made a decision and got results.

If you decide to pursue post-secondary education by earning a certificate, a degree, or multiples of either, and you achieve some success, you may decide that formal education had something to do with it.

All of the decisions you’ll make today and tomorrow will have something to do with what you’ve learned. There is a good chance that as you make your next big decision, you’ll look at the presumed success and failures of your life experiences and your role models.

More learning is never a waste of time.

It becomes part of your character. It isn’t forced, it’s welcomed and appreciated. The moment you decide you don’t need it is likely a moment that you made a decision that will limit everything that happens for you next.

Everyone needs to learn more.

Do they?

Do you?

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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educational illusion

Is an Educational Illusion Stopping You?

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It seems that there are always two sides. On one side people worry that they’re not enough and do nothing about it. And on the other, they never stop trying to prove their credibility. Are you suffering from an educational illusion?

It is quite simple really. People make decisions about the reasons why. They decide on the placement of blame.

Why you weren’t hired, promoted, or respected by peers. Many blame education, and throw their arms up in disgust, or are constantly enrolling in the next degree program.

Make no mistake that education matters. It matters a great deal and often, especially in an on-line World of “punched cards” coming up short can be problematic. If you can’t check the box, you’re not getting in.

A medical doctor isn’t going to be able to practice without the degree. A lawyer needs a degree and to pass the bar exam. Most university professors need a doctoral degree.

Educational Illusion

Outside of specific professions there is wiggle room. Some career opportunities, good paying ones, only require a high school diploma.

Which camp are you in?

Are you working hard, taking advantage of gaining experience while also exploring opportunities for additional education?

Or, perhaps you are working hard and have tried to explore advancement, yet have come up short? Are you convinced that the reason you didn’t advance was because of a lack of education?

In either case, additional credentials may not be the obstacle.

There are many cases where the advanced degree, the credential, the certificate, or the card punched is not the real obstacle.

Sometimes the real obstacle is a lack of persistence, determination, and courage.

Sometimes there is a difference between reality and where you place the blame.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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Who’s Buying It?

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They’re playing tennis and washing their cars.

Not that this is an extraordinary task for most people that are physically able, but the fact that they are doing it while obtaining their college degree certainly sparks interest or perhaps, debate.

NoOne-Tennis

In a recent on-line “accredited” university television commercial traditional and some non-traditional characters are cast in the role of simultaneously playing tennis and washing their car while also “studying” on-line with an electronic pad device.

It appears that the university is targeting people who have busy lives and who are interested in earning a college degree in the wildly popular on-line environment. Conceptually I have no issues or concerns about educational endeavors that include on-line learning. The debate for me comes from what the potential employers are thinking about a university that makes it so easy to obtain a college degree that you can do it while multi-tasking. A feat that popular wisdom among many “brain experts” suggests is technically impossible.

So once they’ve paid their money, paid their dues, and completed their course work who will hire these scholarly individuals? The employer who also watched the commercial? The employer that believes they will hire  and pay for employees who can multi-task? The employer that will allow employees do things like play tennis and wash their car while being compensated by the business or organization? To that I say, “buyer beware.”

My side of the debate is this, I don’t blame the students, I encourage them. My concern is that the university is marketing to the student to fill their seats (even if those seats are virtual) and they are not demonstrating interest or concern for what happens for the students in the future.

At least they aren’t discussing job placement rates.

Who’s buying it?

– DEG

Photo Credit:  To the best of my knowledge the photo credit belongs to Derek Harper.


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