Further Study - is it all it's cracked up to be?

[YPMG]

I'm one semester off of finishing my Bachelor Degree in Human Resources and have been working as HR Professional since mid-way through my first year. I'm a big fan of study because I'm all about personal growth and feel that University/College is one achievement in life that you can only accomplish on your own - there is no one to push you forward, no one there to give you a free pass and if you fail... no one cares because you're still having to pay for the course.

Throughout my working life I've noticed that there are a few people in the corporate world who have studied their asses off with degrees, honours and even MBA (Masters) yet there are others, such as 2 GM's of my previous organisation, who have never studied a day in their lives. I don't discredit them at all because they are phenomenal at what they do but it leads me to ask, is study essential to achieve a senior management position within an organisation? Are the 3+ years spent pursuing framed documents actually more worthwhile than working your way up organically?

I'm all for further study but would love to hear the Berry's view.

 

[Michaelangelo]

Work experience exceeds academia. Most companies hire from within anyways.

 

[Charles Brown]

If you want to study to be more educated, go for it. Otherwise, get the degree that is required for your job. Then work very hard and do the right things. Only a BA/BS is required for my job. Many regular agents have advanced degrees. And yet, many of the people whom they work for only have the standard BA/BS degrees.

 

[Chuck Bass**]

I know people with Masters degrees who cant even find an internship in HR.

However, you do eventually need a graduate degree to become a higher professional, so it really depends on when you want to get it out of the way


Getting to a senior level position from a bachelors is not a problem IF you are promoted from within. If you want to move on from the company they will want to see a masters or MBA.
I work in staffing and we do want to see a graduate degree for most senior level positions, but those with SIGNIFICANT experience may be an exception

 

[PolishHeadlock]

HR is BS

 

[Dinkin_Flicka]

Where I work a vast majority of the senior management were bred from within and don't have a traditional college education. It's unique to my area since I work in a Naval Shipyard and a lot of the senior managers started out manual labor and went through an apprenticeship and climbed their way up from there. A few of them came into the shipyard as engineers and made lateral moves into production positions and moved into senior management.

It's not uncommon to have a GS-15 Shop/Project Superintendents pulling down $125,000-$150,000 a year with a high school education. Not to shabby if you ask me.

 

[Henry Huggins]

too expensive... I'm sure some majors are worth it but I feel Amazon will do just fine in my field

 

[Hitman81]

I would love to go back to school and get my master's but I'd also rather not be in debt the rest of my life. I also have a decent job with decent pay and I feel like I will benefit more from work experience than going back to school.

 

[LilMountain]

My degree has been worthless outside of when they make that piece of paper a requirement for moving up, which is dumb imo

 

[sub_thug]

If you want to be at the top of the food chain in a field, it requires formal education. Degrees make it happen, and virtually any study out there about how much people earn with a high school diploma vs a bachelors vs a masters degree will illuminate my point.

 

[makaio]

I'd suggest working for a few years and if you like it continue on to an advanced degree in a similar & relevant field. The groundwork you lay down as an actual employee will pave the way for the advanced degree. The Masters will come with ease and it will likely boost your employability capital to new levels, likely ending with you getting an even better job.

My path was: Military-->BA-->Masters-->Job but I believe it'd been more effective to have gone the BA-->Military-->Masters-->Job

In any case, the advanced degree got me the job I have now so it was a good investment imo.

 

[MSieur Le Bossu]

I'm one semester off of finishing my Bachelor Degree in Human Resources and have been working as HR Professional since mid-way through my first year. I'm a big fan of study because I'm all about personal growth and feel that University/College is one achievement in life that you can only accomplish on your own - there is no one to push you forward, no one there to give you a free pass and if you fail... no one cares because you're still having to pay for the course.

Throughout my working life I've noticed that there are a few people in the corporate world who have studied their asses off with degrees, honours and even MBA (Masters) yet there are others, such as 2 GM's of my previous organisation, who have never studied a day in their lives. I don't discredit them at all because they are phenomenal at what they do but it leads me to ask, is study essential to achieve a senior management position within an organisation? Are the 3+ years spent pursuing framed documents actually more worthwhile than working your way up organically?

I'm all for further study but would love to hear the Berry's view.

If both yourself and someone else with equal results/experience within your same position are seeking to move up, something extra like further education will make you more likely to move up than the other person.

There's also the factor of companies possibly downscaling their staff, which is somewhat of a similar situation. If both yourself and someone else with equal results/experience are working for the same company, you're less likely to be laid off if you have a more beefed up resume.

Of course, you'll be spending extra time & money going for further education, so it's a question of whether you think it's worth it or not.

If you decide to go for further education, you can always do it gradually by taking one or two courses per semester.

 

[YPMG]

If both yourself and someone else with equal results/experience within your same position are seeking to move up, something extra like further education will make you more likely to move up than the other person.

There's also the factor of companies possibly downscaling their staff, which is somewhat of a similar situation. If both yourself and someone else with equal results/experience are working for the same company, you're less likely to be laid off if you have a more beefed up resume.

Of course, you'll be spending extra time & money going for further education, so it's a question of whether you think it's worth it or not.

If you decide to go for further education, you can always do it gradually by taking one or two courses per semester.

I'm finishing off my final 3 subjects part-time externally as I'm working FT for a highly reputable company. I think my boss mentioned when I started that her and I would be the only 2 in the company with a degree.

When I first started study my program director made a point of saying 'In 5years time a degree just won't be enough - to get jobs you will need a Masters or an MBA'. I feel that this is true but the catch is, get a good organisation to pay for this for you as it benefits them. Screw dropping $40k+ on an MBA!

 

[AGGAMEMNON66]

HR is BS

lol


My thoughts as well

 

[YPMG]

lol


My thoughts as well

LIES! Lol, HR is pretty poor in some organisations but if they're doing their jobs right then they should be making your lives easier and work an enjoyable place to be.

 

[AGGAMEMNON66]

LIES! Lol, HR is pretty poor in some organisations but if they're doing their jobs right then they should be making your lives easier and work an enjoyable place to be.

Their best interests are almost always going to line up with the companies best interests rather than the employees. Which isn't, at least in principle, how it is supposed to be.

As far as I know, many companies are searching for ways to eliminate HR altogether

 

[groo]

HR is BS

I'm gonna have to go with this......every encounter I have had with various HR departments has led me to believe their entire degree consists of courses such as :

Beer Pong 101
How to Kiss ASS
How to pretend you contribute to the company and deserve your salary.

 

[therealdope]

Succeeding in HR (from my experience) involves a lot of lying to people straight to their face. I only say this as a former manager business unit lead at a large company where I had to work with HR to manage the employee salary plan, transfers, business unit integrations, etc ...


RE: getting a university degree.

Degrees and schools vary, there is a huge span of difficulty involved in successfully graduating depending on where and what you study.

It's one thing if you come from a family where you are the first to go to university, but if both of your parents are grads then you getting a university degree is a relatively minor achievement (IMHO).

 

[therealdope]

I'm gonna have to go with this......every encounter I have had with various HR departments has led me to believe their entire degree consists of courses such as :

Beer Pong 101
How to Kiss ASS
How to pretend you contribute to the company and deserve your salary.

Lying isn't the top attribute???

 

[feedmelies]

I don't think it's all that it's cracked up to be. In my experience, virtually anyone can get a college degree. It doesn't make anyone smarter or more responsible. People complain about all the crappy classes they have to take in order to get a degree then pretend that the degree is prestigious when they finish it. It's just silly.

College degrees are only worth it if they're specifically for your job.