You had no idea that finding a new career at this stage in your life would be this difficult. You realize after two months of searching, however, that you are going to need to do some something to supplement your education if you are going to be able to find the kind of job that you are looking for.
When you resigned from your part time preschool position last spring, your goal was to find a full time job at the end of the summer. After enjoying the summer weeks with your daughters who were home from school, however, you found that you were not having good luck finding as many openings as you had hoped. You applied for the paraprofesional openings that were listed with the school district, but only received one interview. Unfortunately, that spot was offered to someone else. Following a long conversation with a friend who has taught full time for a number of years, she suggested that it might make sense for you to take some additional courses.
Starting with special education and reading intervention, you began to look for ways to supplement your dated skills. It is disappointing to know that your private preschool experience was not carrying much weight with the public school system, but you have decided to see this setback as an opportunity to improve yourself. In the meantime, you have accepted a paraprofessional subbing position in the district, but you are hoping that between the new connections you will make and the new online classes that you are taking, you will be a more attractive candidate for a full time position sometime soon.
Consider some of these statistics about home study courses and the motivations that many people have for taking them:
- Brains thrive when they are active. Even though you might be happy with your current job, you may decide to become a personal learner just to improve the quality of your life.
- Approximately 74% of adults are what are called personal learners. These are learners who have participated in at least one of a number of possible activities in the past year to advance their knowledge about something that is or personally interest. Reading, taking courses, or attending meetings or events tied to learning more about a personal interest are some of these activities.
- Computer coding is a growing field, and in many areas of the country, companies struggle find enough people for these important jobs. Many workers are taking coding courses online as a way to reenter the work force or to pursue an entirely new career.
- Knowing that you are leading a fulfilling life is important. In fact, 80% of personal learners indicate that they pursued knowledge in an area of personal interest simply because they wanted to learn something to make their life more fulfilling and interesting.
- The latest educational research indicates that 65% of the population learns visually.
- One segment of personal leaners make the decision to pursue educational opportunities because they have the available time. In fact, 60% of personal learners indicate that they extra time when they could pursue their interests.
- Courses that are available online are an advantage because learners can work at their own pace.
- Learning a new skill can make you more marketable.
- As many as 46% of online students say their biggest motivation to enroll an effort to advance a current career.
- Statistics show that 63% of the people are pursuing what the education industry calls professional learning opportunities. This means that this 36% of all adults are taking a course or have gotten additional training in the past 12 months to improve their expertise or job skills connected to career advancement.
- Statistics also show that 43% of personal learners were prompted to get more involved in volunteer opportunities.
In today’s world where a growing number of people find themselves underemployed, it should come as no surprise that more and more Americans are making the decision to go BACK TO CLASS. Whether you are a displaced worker who is finding a way to reenter a field that has made technological advances that you have not been trained for, or you are someone who is looking for a way to increase your salary, making the decision to take online courses may be the perfect solution.
