Getting a Second Degree

You graduated last year with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and was confident you would get a good job offer. However, finding a really great job has been very difficult for you. You're presently unemployed and thinking of getting a second degree.

Business administration doesn't interest you as it used to, so you're considering doing a degree in the field that interests you more - computing. But you're wondering: Will it pay off to get a second degree? What are its advantages?

You're not alone

Many people nowadays are returning to school because they feel and believe that the more educated you are, the more you are marketable and attractive for employment. In short, education improves your employability.

Many other returning students want another degrees in courses that will improve their growth potential in their present employment. These returning students often don't want to enrol in an entire degree program, such as the MBA. Instead, they seek specialized courses that are very relevant to their present career path.

Others want to create a new career path that's why they get a second a degree. Many others go back to school simply because they are not satisfied with how their previous course was structured or run.

Advanced study

One of the advantages of getting a second degree is that it may help you climb the corporate ladder. Usually, the skills and the thinking required for higher positions are most easily obtained through additional degree.

According to the president of the National Association of MD/MBA programs, Maria Chandler (also the, advisor to the MD/MBA degree program at University of California-Irvine), getting a second degree is very helpful: "You need a lot more experience to be successful as an executive if don't have the second degree."

Price of entry

Susan Cejka, managing partner of the executive search firm Grant Cooper & Associates in St. Louis, says that the second degree may be your price of entry into the corporate world: "Experience trumps the degree, but often it takes the added degree to get the experience."

In addition, although other factors - like fit with the culture of the organization, expertise, and chemistry are important, when two equal applicants are evaluated, the one with the second degree may be selected instead of the other candidate who doesn't have a second degree.

Better compensation

Furthermore, many employees go back to school to get a second degree for compensation purposes. Lois Dister, practice leader and vice president of St. Louis-based Cejka Search, says that the additional degree is often equated with higher and more competitive performance-based compensation. In general, executives holding a second degree are highly likely to earn more compared to their colleagues without an additional degree.

Getting a second degree will really boost your chances to land a very good job. But you have to remember that companies look for people that have enough experience in their field or industry. Thus, make your second degree more meaningful and significant by attending an industry specific training or getting work experience.