Should you go back and finish up that degree?

By Brian Kreissl

I am a bit of an education geek. Over the past 20 years or so, I’ve spent countless hours poring over university and college websites and before that I used to go to the local library and check out course calendars from universities.

I have always thought of education as being a big part of my plans for climbing the corporate ladder and career reinvention. While I now understand there’s far more to career success than acquiring ever more educational qualifications, I also understand what a big problem credentialism can be and what a difficult time many people without a degree have securing jobs in many fields or making a career change.

I am not knocking people without university degrees. Some of the smartest, most successful and well-read people I’ve ever met had little to no postsecondary education — and I’ve also met people with advanced degrees who weren’t exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer.

I also believe there’s a lot of value in community college, which is generally faster, cheaper, more focused and practical than university. Like many people these days, I have both college and university credentials and I’m glad I completed both.

I think it’s quite unfair how many employers now require a degree, while jobs that only required a bachelor’s degree 20 years ago now routinely ask for a master’s. I have a lot of sympathy for people who aren’t able to climb the corporate ladder due to their lack of university degree or find they’re stuck in their current companies or roles because they can’t compete with other candidates who have such credentials.

After encountering frustration for many years, some of those people finally decide to go back to school to get the piece of paper employers are demanding. If you are in this situation, I would encourage you not to complete a full degree if you can help it — provided you have more than a minimal amount of postsecondary education you can leverage as transfer credit.

In many respects, I have a lot in common with many people who find themselves in this situation because my two degrees aren’t from Canada, and that caused some issues for me. Last year, I finally decided to go back to school for a full degree (as opposed to another certificate) from a Canadian university (in my case, a bachelor of education in adult education from Brock University).

While my decision was primarily about acquiring specific knowledge and skills, an important secondary factor was finally being able to add a Canadian degree to my profile. The fact that only five full courses (one full academic year’s worth) are required to complete it as a second degree was very attractive to me as well.

There are many degree completion programs out there that can be completed online on a part-time basis. Knowing about and understanding how these programs work can help some HR practitioners with their own careers and help them advise employees on their careers. Because of this, my list of programs below includes both HR and non-HR programs.

Selected degree completion and high flexibility degree programs

• Bachelor of arts (BA), Queen’s University. Queen’s is one of the most prestigious universities in Canada with five different majors available online. This program seems pretty flexible with transfer credit and the type of courses accepted towards the degree.
• Bachelor of commerce (BComm), Nipissing University. This program requires only 16 specific half courses for a three-year business degree. There doesn’t appear to be many restrictions on the remaining courses.
• Bachelor of commerce (BComm), Thompson Rivers University. This program appears to be very flexible with respect to specific courses that are required. Several majors are available (including HR).
• Bachelor of education (BEd), adult education, Brock University. Brock makes this degree available as a degree completion or second degree program, with fairly relaxed requirements relating to elective courses.
• Bachelor of human resources and labour relations (BHRLR), Athabasca University. Available as a post-diploma program for college graduates. Offers a great deal of flexibility and a wide variety of HR-related courses.
• Bachelor of professional arts (BPA), Athabasca University. Essentially a degree completion program, with majors in communication studies, criminal justice, governance, law and management, and human services.
• Bachelor of technology (BTech), Thompson Rivers University. A great option for tradespeople and technologists to complete a degree, with credit for apprenticeships.