Going back to school is often quite a big step for many people to take. It can be quite daunting and definitely quite expensive. However, just because there are some perceived negatives surrounding the idea of going back to school, the positives outweigh these negatives by a significant margin. We’ve taken a close look into what the positives are when it comes to returning to school to learn a new skill set, and why you should look into taking this step.
It’s easier than ever
This is something that a lot of people don’t take into account. Of course, when we say easy, we don’t mean that the course content is easy and anyone can pass. What we mean is that there are fewer barriers to taking a course than ever. With the advent of online learning as a valid way to study, it has made it much easier for people who are limited in time to study the courses they want. You could even study a masters in engineering management online program with the modern courses that are on offer.
So, if you have a day job or childcare commitments, you will still have the opportunity to study from the comfort of your own home. This isn’t the only option that’s available, but for people who have certain constraints that have stopped them going back to school in the past, it removes those constraints and provides access.
With course materials available to download, students are able to get pretty much everything they need online now. There’s no need for a large data center or anything along those lines – almost any home laptop can deal with what’s required from an online course. You can even get in touch with professors and lecturers using video conferencing software. This ensures that every requirement can be catered for with an online course.
Networking opportunities
Although this is much more prevalent when taking a course that’s carried out in person, even an online course can offer networking opportunities. By taking a course related to your specific industry, you will be able to meet people who are relevant to your line of work. This provides the ability to create a link with other people who can help you in the future.
It means that once you have finished your studies, you may have created a link with someone else who provides a job opportunity. Or, approaching from the opposite point of view, you may be able to help someone else find a job. Without returning to school, it is difficult to create the links outside of your current working environment.
These networking opportunities will make you a more valid and important employee. This will allow you to access potential career improvements, either by attaining a salary increase from your current employer or by moving on to an improved position at another job.
Even looking at it from outside of a purely financial perspective, networking offers a lot of benefits. Being able to see things from other people’s point of view will give you an improved knowledge base. On top of this, you can also study with other people, which will help you to get a better handle on the course materials. By doing this, you will then be able to increase your own chances of getting a higher grade on the course.
Increase your effectiveness
This is perhaps the most obvious, but most overlooked, aspect of going back to school. By learning more skills and improving your existing skills, you will become a more effective employee. Many employers overlook this aspect of running a business once employees are already in place, and expect their level of performance to increase purely based on experience.
Returning to school will offer you the ability to learn skills that experience can’t always offer. Specific additions to your skillset will make you more valuable in a number of different ways. This will make it easier for you to carry out your job, which will ensure that you have a less stressful time when at work. This is vital if you want to maintain positive mental health when at work. There is nothing worse than being overwhelmed and in over your head in a working environment. An improved skill set helps you to avoid this problem.
By being a more effective employee, you will be able to complete your work to a much higher standard. This will help to decrease your workload. If your work is completed to a high level initially, then it means that you’re less likely to have to carry out revisions. This will make sure that your workload doesn’t pile up with extra tasks as you have to complete work over and over again.
Financial benefits
This is perhaps the largest area that’s available to people who go back to school. As already mentioned, there are some initial financial expectations when going back to school. The costs for the course itself will obviously be the first hurdle that students will have to get over. If you’ve decided to go back to school without a job, then this is something that you will have to cover yourself. However, if you’re in employment, then there’s a good chance that your employer will front the costs. This is especially the case if the skills you will be learning will improve your productivity. There may be certain conditions that are required in order for your employer to pay for the schooling though. For example, you may be required to stay at that employer for a certain amount of time or you will become liable for the cost of the course.
However, the financial benefits in the future will significantly outweigh the short-term costs. Your desirability to employers will be increased, which will give you access to a higher salary. On top of this, depending on the course you have taken, you may be eligible for a higher level of job. An example of this would be the ability to apply for management or leadership positions. While this would require a higher level of responsibility, it would also offer an improved financial reward. This is something that’s unlikely to be available for positions that have certain requirements in terms of qualifications.
Even if you can’t move towards leadership positions, it will provide the potential for salary increases. By making yourself a more valid member of the team, it will make you worth a higher level of remuneration. Of course, if your current employer doesn’t feel that this is the case, you will have the ability to apply for jobs elsewhere. If your skills are at a high enough level, new companies might even be willing to pay the cost of the course if there is still a time limit in place. It means that the opportunities that are available to you will be significantly increased by going back to school.
Improve your leadership skills
Leadership skills are a huge part of being an effective employee. In fact, even in jobs such as a surgeon, it’s important to have leadership skills. While there are specific courses that offer the ability to improve leadership skills, just going back to school in general will make you a better leader.
The first reason for this is that you will be able to see firsthand how other leaders behave. Whether it is your lecturer on your course or other students, you will be able to see and learn from how people behave around others. These are transferable skills that you can then apply to yourself when you return to work. While it might not make you a natural-born leader, it will help you to increase your leadership qualities. On top of this, there are likely to be group projects over the course of your schooling. This will make you have to step up and lead certain aspects of the project at some points. This direct experience is something that you might not have been trusted with in your working life, so by carrying this out at school, it will help you to become a better leader.
It’s not just the experience that can help you to become a better leader though. There are also management courses out there. These can help you to learn direct skills in a classroom environment to become a better manager and leader. From here, you will learn different techniques to make sure that you’re able to inspire other people to complete work to the best of their ability.
It might be a requirement for you to move up to a management position to carry out one of these courses. Some employers won’t allow people to move into a leadership position if they don’t have a management qualification. So, if you have the intention of moving further up the ladder, then you will have to carry out this course in order to do so. Another benefit of this means that not only will you be able to move up the ladder in your current workplace, but it will also make you more appealing to other employers if you decide to move on.
Make a move into another field
If you’re currently unhappy in the field you are working in, perhaps you need a change of career. Going back to school is one of the only ways that you can do this effectively. By going back to school, you can learn new skills that will make you employable in another area. For example, if you currently work in accounting and want to make a shift into video game development, you could return to school to retrain.
The one slight drawback to this approach is that it will require a certain level of discipline and sacrifice in order to do this. It’s not likely that a company would be willing to fund your schooling if it’s to enter into a different field. On top of this, they’re unlikely to give you the time off to study either. So, you will have to fund the schooling and find the time to carry it out yourself. This will obviously make it much more difficult to carry out. In order to do this, you will have to be extremely disciplined and be willing to front the expense required to start the course.
However, if the new field offers improved financial terms, this will be a short-term hit as in the long term, you will get that money back as your salary. On top of this, it will provide you with a happier working experience. By moving into a field that’s more likely to give you what you want from your working life, you will be happier at work. This will ensure that your mental health is much healthier over time.
By taking all of this into account, you can decide whether going back to school to retrain will give you what you want from your working life.
Is going back to school right for you?
This is the final thing you need to look into before you make your decision. While there are a lot of benefits associated with going back to school, it might not be right for everyone. You need to look at all of the other factors before making such a large decision. For example, it’s important to check on your finances before you make the move. While there are financial benefits further down the line, if you’re unable to afford them right now, it could cause significant issues for you. This is especially the case if you have a mortgage to pay and/or children to look after.
Once you have covered all of the different possibilities, you can make your decision. Just remember that while there are a lot of benefits associated with going back to school, they might not apply to you. So, ensure that you think about every aspect of the process before signing up. However, if you have covered all of the different options and feel as though it’s right for you, then it’s time to start looking at the different courses that are available and how you can move forward with the next stage of your life.
