Staying Recession Proof with Higher Education

In today's rocky financial times, most people's minds naturally turn towards retaining their jobs.  It's a terrible thing to wonder if a pink slip is coming packaged in with that next paycheck.  More and more large companies, some thought to be invincible, are laying off large numbers of employees.  Some retail outlets like Circuit City are closing outright, giants such as Google are laying off large numbers of employees, and others such as Kay-Bee Toys or Wilson's Leather are massively contracting their operations by closing all, or a large percentage of their retail stores.  Even the formerly impenetrable sector of government jobs is experiencing hardship, as local and federal governments contract to save money.  In such times of economic uncertainty, in addition to staying active with your job search and checking both local and nationwide job listings daily, there's one other big step you can take to make your employer see how valuable you really are.

One really good way to let your employer know how much you value your job is to educate yourself.  Hypothetically, if your employer has to choose between you and another equally-salaried, equally-benefited, equally-experienced co-worker, they are going to choose to retain the individual with the greater amount of education.  An employer wants a worker that is always going to strive to better themselves by upgrading their knowledge, to the extent that some of them even provide 100% reimbursement to employees for the cost of education!  Most employers see helping their employees attain an education as a win-win situation, as they want their workers to be as educated as is possible.

You may say to yourself that it's impossible to work a full time job, keep up with the demands of family and friends AND attend college all at the same time.  It's not impossible- look at the number of people that attend law school at night, for example- but it is extremely difficult.  Nowadays, there's an alternative to traditional classroom attendance- home schooling, distance learning for higher education.  Using technology to learn from a distance allows you to get a degree in a shorter time than you ever thought possible, and allows you to learn in the comfort of your home.  You get the same high quality learning that you would on a college campus while avoiding all the hassles of attending brick-and-mortar classes such as buying books, finding parking, dressing presentably, and adhering to a rigorous schedule- all at a comparable cost to that of a traditional classroom education.

Most distance learning requires you to read an electronic textbook (often included in the price of tuition), complete assignments, and participate in discussion groups via message board or email several times per week.  You'll want to get familiar with the tools that allow groups in disparate time zones and geographic locations to stay in contact, such as Internet Relay Chat and instant messenger- this is because there is group work involved in many of these types of classes.  The two biggest attractions of online learning are that you can go to class wherever you can find an internet connection, and on your own schedule.  Get the urge to have a discussion at 5 AM? Log in and post your comments, and the next time you visit, someone will have responded!  You can get a good online education for about the same price as a traditional classroom education as well, so cost shouldn't be prohibitively expensive.

If you have a strong sense of motivation and personal responsibility, as well as a healthy dose of self discipline, you will be a success in the world of online academics.  It's important to remember that with the freedom of no physical classes to attend comes the responsibility of remembering to finish assignments and participate in discussions- you won't have the professor or teaching assistant there to hold your hand.  If that sounds doable to you, you should strongly consider online education as a way to improve yourself- it's a no-lose proposition!