This article is aimed at recent graduates and all those who are looking to boost their employability post degree with further education. Things always come down to two main factors in this period, these things being: money and energy; the money required to further your education through standard post-graduate programmes, and the creative energy required to get into the area(s) you’ve studied prior. For many, pragmatism is not always obvious.

The options are legion. However, here we’re going to discuss the specific area of what to do in regards to boosting your C.V. with further study. Problem. Can you afford another year of full-time study? And or the flexible life-style required to do an MA/MSc part-time while working? If the answer is yes, then things are looking well. But, it you are one of the many thousands of graduates who want to do a masters but either simply can’t fund it, or cannot fit it into your life there is an unfortunate scenario.

This may not be so however. One further option – while slightly alternative – is to raise your abilities by creating your own schedule of study, a ‘DIY programme’ of study if you like, and take things into your own hands. We’re not talking about any masters programmes that can legitimately be put down on your resume, but we are talking about taking about apart what happens in post-graduate education, objectively, and systematically.

Perhaps you are lucky enough to know people who have enrolled on the next level of education after a BA/BSc yourself, or if not, the general lay out, content, and information that the programmes include is certainly available from some light research online.

The option here is to decide yourself if you have the drive to improve on the knowledge you already have. If you’re passionate about your academic area(s) this should be easy. Although taking this route means that you won’t have the official letters on your C.V., you still have the option of improving your skill-set to equal (if not surpass!) what others have spent another one or two years doing via standard routes, minus the fees.

If you have the dedication to continue learning in your subject area(s) this way, there is also another bonus. This is the benefit of autodidactic learning, of teaching yourself, your own way. This style of learning has a rich history in its progeny. Just take anyone from Leonardo Da Vinci, to Earnest Hemmingway, to Abraham Lincoln. These were all people who made self-education work for them.

The gap between graduating to finding employment can be a wilderness, but, there are fantastic possibilities when taking things into your own hands, and raising your academic and creative abilities for yourself.

Also, in going off the standard route, but most importantly: making sure that you know what the industry is after when levelling up in your skill-set, you may find that when you come to compete with others who were able to take a masters that you have something else… Your own: style.

Blog By Rene Mutume Adams

Image courtesy of Nottingham Trent University – Flickr License