If you’ve completed an online education program, you probably are well acquainted with negative reactions and connotations associated with this learning method. Your friends and family members may have questioned the validity of online degrees and potential employees may have turned their noses up when they saw an online school listed on your resume.
However, you know first hand that an online education can be just as good, if not better than attending a traditional brick-and-mortar school. You’ve received an excellent education and gained many skills that are highly desired by employers. Therefore, you need to make a concerted effort to promote rather than gloss over your method of education. It’s up to you to debunk the negative stereotypes and prove that your education is just as impressive and valid as any other.
Here are 5 simple and easy arguments you can make to defend your online education:
Your Education is On Trend
The fact of the matter is, more and more people are investing in an online education. It’s cost effective, convenient and often provides just as good an education as anywhere else. The New York Times even recently covered how more top ranking schools, including several Ivy’s, are now offering online courses and programs. As a result, you should be proud of your education. Emphasize to others criticizing your education choice that your education is actually on trend, and becoming more and more respected by authoritative educational institutions and by employers alike.
You Now Have Excellent Time Management Skills
As an online student, you will have had to develop excellent time management skills in order to complete your assignments and tasks on time. Unlike a traditional brick-and-mortar school, there wasn’t a professor constantly reminding his or her students face to face that an assignment was almost due or a big exam was coming up. Thus you can use this to your advantage, arguing that your online education has provided you with the ability to manage and complete tasks in a timely and organized manner. This will not only impress your friends and family, but will also likely greatly impress potential employers, who are typically always on the lookout for well organized and time efficient hires.
You Have Acquired Great Computer Skills
As online degrees are indeed completely online, you will have likely developed some nifty computer skills as you completed your qualification. You will probably have had to adapt and learn about plenty of new software and tools, and have even become an excellent online researcher to boot. These are skills which are highly desired by potential employers, who often don’t want to dedicate the time or resources to train their employees to be computer efficient. Therefore, during interviews be sure to emphasis the many computer skills you have developed through your online education, and how these can translate to making you the perfect candidate for the role you’re applying for.
You Have Developed Strong Interpersonal Skills
One of the negative connotations of online education that you’ve probably encountered is that online learners won’t develop strong communication skills because they’re course is entirely online. However, you can easily dispel this rumor by highlighting all of the various ways you interacted with your peers throughout your course. If you had to participate in class discussions, forums, work on group projects or team work assignments – definitely mention this. In addition, if you worked during your program or have any hobbies that involve lots of teamwork and strong interpersonal skills, mention this to others as well. The negative stereotypes surrounding online education can definitely change, and you as the online student have the power to make this happen.
You have become Self-Motivated & Self-Disciplined
Online students have to have strong work ethics in order to excel in their online courses. And you probably know this better than anybody else. You likely had to become very self-disciplined and self-motivated in order to stay on top of things and to get the overall educational outcome you desired. Highlight this during interviews, and explain that your online program has allowed you to become an excellent independent worker, able to take on new, challenging tasks with little help from others. This will impress potential employers and help debunk the negative stereotypes surrounding online education.
Now that you know how to promote your online education as an asset, what you are waiting for? Get out there and spread the word about how valuable and effective online education is, and how it has helped transform you into a highly marketable member of the workforce. Your online education is a tribute to your capabilities, so celebrate it.
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