For many people, a bachelor’s degree seems like the height of educational attainment and suffices to secure quality employment for a lifetime. However, there are reasons why you might want to pursue a master’s degree so that you can gain an advantage over many of your peers and qualify for careers in the medical, dental and business fields which are consistently in demand, even in tougher times like we’re currently experiencing.
Ken Ruggiero, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ascent Student Loans recently said, “in these unprecedented times, students seeking graduate, business, law, medicine, and other post-grad degrees are understandably concerned with their future.” Graduate degrees are a good way to ensure the security of your career and financial future. Here are a few ways a graduate degree puts your future at an advantage.
Table of Contents
Help You Land A Career
The good jobs that allow you to start without having any experience or education are few and far between. Increasingly, employers want people with specialized knowledge. They also want to hire people who show the ability to achieve a goal. A master’s or doctoral degree would show that you can set a goal and see it through to completion. Additionally, some career paths have a graduate degree as a minimum requirement for landing the job. If the pay is great, the return on investment could make taking out graduate student loans a good idea if you’re thinking about pursuing a graduate degree.
Increase Your Knowledge Base
Many people who have moved up in an organization over a period of decades had a great knowledge base. However, what they know is based upon the cutting edge research that was available in 1980 or 1990. The world has changed radically in the twenty-first century. The Internet has taken off, and AI technology allows businesses to target their marketing strategies more specifically to the audience they want to hit. Technical expertise is a key, and having a master’s degree in a hot field can give you the knowledge base that is highly sought out by prospective employers.
Increase Your Pay
Generally speaking, the more education you have under your belt, the more money you’ll be able to make over the course of your career. There are exceptions to this general rule, but hiring managers frequently see people with more education as providing a high level of value for their organization. As a result, if you have a graduate degree, you’re more likely to be able to negotiate from a position of strength when it comes time to discuss your starting salary. Raises that are tied to your performance are important, but getting a better starting salary is a key that can help you with your lifetime earnings and your ability to build wealth. Studies have also shown that those with a master’s degree make about $10,000 more per year than those with a bachelor’s degree.
Meet Job Requirements
Some jobs have a graduate degree written into the general job description as a minimum requirement for applying. Many college faculty positions require a master’s or doctorate. Some leadership positions in business require an MBA to get an interview. While there may be exceptions to this rule, they are few and far between. If you have a career goal that requires a graduate degree, it will pay off to begin the process of earning it as soon as possible.
The number of people with a graduate degree has risen greatly over the past few decades, and for good reason. In order to stand out in the workforce, having a master’s or a doctorate can benefit you when compared to those who do not have one and qualify you to pursue your passion in a given career field that requires this level of education.
About Carson Derrow
