College used to be the golden standard for many professional pursuits, but these days specialization is becoming the new normal, which leads to the question: Is College enough to obtain career success? After completing the second year of my finance degree I was unpleasantly surprised to find that, despite my academic accomplishments, I was unremarkable.
To me, my passion for finance and desire to learn seemed like precious gems that any employer would fawn over. What I found was that my passion, personality and even my desire to learn were traits shared by just about everyone in the job market. I quickly came to the realization that a college degree was not going to be enough to land me the job I wanted, so I began exploring other ways to gain skills that would showcase my passion and ability.
Concrete skills matter in today’s job market
While passion may propel you to excel once you have a job, job-market competition is becoming fiercer as more college graduates enter the work force. On top of more grads entering the workforce, corporations and businesses are becoming more specific when laying out job requirements. While this may seem disheartening, if you are truly passionate about entering into a profession or changing jobs you can use competition to your advantage.
As the workplace has become more competitive, entrepreneurs have begun to exploit a need to offer accessible skill related training. For me, this training came in the form of the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) program. For a small fraction of what it cost to get a college degree, I was able to study for and take three tests that would show prospective employers worldwide that I had advanced knowledge of investment analysis. By passing level one of the test after I graduated from college, I was able to give employers proof that I had many of the skills necessary to do the job and the passion to pursue those skills outside of school.
Learning outside of work gives you ideas and skills to bring back to your employer, increasing your value
Once I found a job I enjoyed, I discovered that I grew more quickly when I enhanced my work related skills outside of the office. I continued pursuing the CFA program and I also began taking free online courses in investment valuation and corporate finance offered by NYU Stern School of Business. Thus far in my career learning outside of the office has been a major contributing factor to how confident I feel at work.
If you are looking to jump start yourself in a new career or improve at your current job, getting skill related education after college may be just what you need. While college can teach you to think critically and give you a knowledge base to start from, developing unique skills will set you apart from the masses.
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