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Staying current on the skills required to advance in your career has taken on new meaning in today’s tumultuous job market. A failure to keep learning could mean stagnation in your career.

For decades, the way to experience career advancement was to find a job in a great company and work your way up. If you possessed a degree, diploma or certificate, you were almost guaranteed to enjoy upward mobility in management throughout your career. In these days of mergers, off-shoring and rapid technological changes, it takes more than longevity and a degree to find success in the job market. You must incorporate continuing education into your career plan to remain competitive.

Continuing education has many faces. It is everything from job-relevant training to topic-specific workshops to degree completion. At the heart of continuing education is the goal to keep you updated on the skills, trends, practices and principles governing a particular industry.

At CIGNA, a leading healthcare benefits provider, continuing education is a regular part of the job for brokers and consultants. “CIGNA has a strong commitment to our brokers and consultants, and Academy by CIGNA is part of our ongoing efforts to provide them the tools and resources they need to deliver the best solutions to their clients,” said Gary Kirkner, Senior Vice President of Sales and Distribution at CIGNA.

“Employers are using opportunities for education and training to attract and retain the best employees,” said Gina Mauller, author of Workforce Development Trends Reflecting the Importance of Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning. “Training of employees is an investment. A more educated employee tends to be more productive.”

Although continuing education is not a guarantee for career advancement, it certainly increases the marketability of someone seeking to move into a management position or simply remain competitive in the job market. By taking the time to invest in continuing education, employees are saying that they understand the industry they work in and are better prepared to continue to move forward in that industry.

Take inventory.
Are you going to college for the first time or re-entering after an absence? Determine how many prior college credits you have, including non-credit courses and any life or work experience skills. Even if the subjects don’t seem applicable to a major, they might count as elective credits toward a degree.

Define your educational goals.
Ask yourself why you want to go back to school.
Do I want to change my career?
Am I enhancing my current career?
Do I need to finish that college degree from years ago?

By focusing on your motivation, you can best define your educational goals. Personality and career counseling tests are available to help pinpoint interests and help you decide on a career path. This is a basic test, but there are many services available that can help you focus on your specific talents.

Hint: Community colleges often offer these tests free or at a low cost but may limit these services to current students.

Another good resource is the Occupational Outlook Handbook. An in-depth overview of a wide range of professions is available, as well as employment outlooks for specific industries, salary averages and even job search tips.

If you are still undecided, don’t worry. You don’t have to know exactly what you’re looking to study when you contact a school. Many schools employ special advisors who will help you select coursework that will fit into various degree programs and schedules.

Once you have defined your educational goals, you can determine your program needs:

Certificate.
A certificate signifies the completion of a specialized number of courses, generally required for vocational or technical training. Many times, certificate courses can be completed very quickly. These usually are designed to enhance your current job skills or prepare you for a licensing test.

Associate Degree.
An Associate degree is generally the completion of a total of 60 semester credit hours. Associate of Arts (A.A.) and Associate of Science (A.S.) degrees are often offered by technical schools and community and junior colleges.

Bachelor’s Degree.
A Bachelor’s degree generally comprises the completion of a total of 120 semester credit hours. A Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) is generally a degree in one of the arts or humanities, and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) is a degree in one of the sciences.

Master’s Degree.
A Master’s degree is the completion of one to two years of full-time academic study beyond the Bachelor’s degree. Some programs are shorter than two years, such as a Master of Business Administration (MBA), and can be used to enhance your professional skill set or qualify for promotions on the job.

For many recent college and university graduates, the real work is just beginning. After the tests, papers and projects are completed, graduates must find a job, preferably in their chosen career fields, and make the transition from students to working professionals. To add more pressure to the job search, many graduates are finding that relocation is necessary to find jobs.

For decades, graduates have known that to work in films or technology, they needed to live in California; to pursue theater or broadcast and print journalism, New York was the best bet. Now, more industries are following suit. A growing trend of industry-specific regional employment means that returning home or finding work where graduates went to school is unlikely.

Relocation is rarely an easy thing for even a seasoned veteran. Compound that with a lack of current income, fewer companies offering relocation costs, and more graduates competing for a handful of jobs, and you have a sticky relocation situation. There are some things you can do to improve your chances of finding the perfect job and successfully relocating to a new city.

Planning is key to a successful relocation job search. You must look at the job market to see where the jobs in your industry are concentrated, determine the cost of living in that area, explore the area to see what it has to offer someone in your age group with your likes and interests, and consider what would be involved in searching for a job and relocating to that area.

For graphic designer Angie Huse, relocation was the best option. “Being from a small city in Nebraska, I knew I had to look for jobs in another city,” said Huse. “Career opportunity was bigger in Kansas City.” Huse used the Internet and the career services office at her school to locate her job at an advertising firm.

“When quantifying the number of people who actually obtain their jobs through the Internet, one survey has placed the number as high as 20 percent, but most surveys say the number is between 4 and 6 percent,” said Katharine Hansen, Editor of the job seeker’s newsletter QuintZine.

As you consider relocation, the Internet is a great place to start your job search. While it is highly unlikely that you will get the jobs you locate through Internet job searches, it offers a great opportunity for conducting research about the job market.

Myjobsearch.com contributing writer Jeff Westover believes “job boards can be used to compare not only the number of jobs in an area, but also how much they pay and how desperate companies may be for new hires.”

Once you have found some companies for possible future employment, use their Web sites to conduct research. Contact someone in the human resources departments to gather more information about the companies. Find out what relocation resources they provide new hires. For Huse, the relocation resources were key to her accepting her job.

“They were very helpful,” she says of the HR staff. “I had never been to the city before, and they drove me around the area and gave me helpful hints for apartments that were good to look at.”

Relocation due to a job offer involves much more than simply starting the job. Living arrangements must be considered as you weigh the job options. Factor that in as you conduct your job search.

Many relocation packages include moving expenses for upper management, but new graduates and other entry-level employees are not so lucky. According to the Employee Relocation Council, companies reported a five percent decrease in overall relocations from 2001 to 2004. Costs totaling $14,000 for each renting new hire and nearly $50,000 for home-owning new hires contribute to the decline in relocation allowances.

Because the expense of relocation will most likely be passed on to you, it is wise to make sure relocation is worth the expense of moving all your belongings to another city, securing living arrangements and acclimating to the new city as well as your new job.

Relocation can be a successful tactic when you do your homework before you move. If you are willing to pack up your life and move, relocation could be the best way to find a job following graduation.

“You only live once,” said Huse. “If the job is right for you, go for it.” Huse has been on her job for two years. For her, relocation was the right choice. It might be the right choice for you as well.