5 Lessons on How To Score Big With an Advanced Degree

5 Lessons on How To Score Big With an Advanced Degree

Many students have found graduate school to be the antidote to a fickle job market, according to national enrollment data. Some career placement experts, however, believe that job applicants with more practical experience have an advantage over their counterparts whose educations extend beyond a bachelor’s degree.  Nevertheless, pursuing an advanced degree has become the growing trend, so it’s wise to learn how to tastefully flaunt it to increase your chances of success in today’s competitive job market.

Lesson one: How often do you place M.A., M.S. or MBA after your signature in correspondence, business cards, personal websites, etc.?  Vivian David, director of career counseling and planning at Hampton University, suggests that job-seekers should consider every interaction — whether face-to-face or online — as a networking opportunity. Attaching such letters to a name has a way of validating a job-seeker’s credibility in their education field, experts say.


Lesson two:   When posting your résumé, be sure to highlight the graduate school projects you’ve done that showcase leadership, extensive training and opportunities in which you’ve gained hands-on experience that undergraduates don’t usually get.

“I was hired instead of other applicants because I stressed the projects, intensive research papers and required internships I did as part of my MBA program, which demonstrated that I had some practical knowledge, the ability to learn what I didn’t know,” shared a recent HBCU graduate, Tia Stone.


Lesson three: Use the profile sections of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media networks to promote your credentials. This advice is especially advantageous to job seekers in the medical and education fields, in which multiple degrees are valuable.

“For industries such as manufacturing, many positions do not require any level of degree with the exception of management or engineering,” said Atlanta Public Schools human resources staffer Nichole Phelps. “But, an MBA is deemed valuable in most industries because it improves upon the skills of all disciplines and concentrates on leadership and fiscal responsibility.”

Lesson four: Join professional or volunteer clubs and organizations.

“These groups not only offer you a chance to stay current on industry trends, they also give you a chance to share your career aspirations and accomplishments with influential people in your field,” explained David.  “But when selling yourself, do it in a tactful fashion, without sounding arrogant.”

Lesson five: Use your graduate school instructors as a resource — stay connected! Remember it’s all about who you know, and your professors usually have myriad relationships with industry types after working with them over the years.  So, ask them who’s hiring, if they can keep your résumé on file, and to keep you informed about resources that will help get you a lucrative return on your advanced degree.

adrienne leon

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