Four Ways to Maximize Your Degree

Congratulations! You're heading back to school. Unfortunately, earning the degree is only half the battle. While conventional wisdom says a new degree means a new job, experts warn that a degree alone may not cut it.

"Just having a degree isn't enough anymore," says Martin Yate, author of "Knock 'em Dead 2008: The Ultimate Job Search Guide." "It's how people prepare themselves for the world of work that matters. When you don't have a degree, the door is shut. When you do have a degree, it's 'OK, now what do you have to offer?'"

In a market where employers value experience and leadership skills as much as a degree, older students who don't plan their college curriculum in accordance with prospective jobs could find themselves losing offers to their 22-year-old competitors. Here are four ways to maximize those tuition dollars:

1. Choose the right school

For older students, there are two types of schools -- those that cater to adult learners and those that don't. When eyeing prospective schools, returning students should be on the lookout for institutions that provide working adults with opportunities to gain real-world work experience without sacrificing their full-time employment.

A few select schools across the country are dedicated to doing just that. In the adult degree program at Prescott College in Prescott, Ariz., students create their own curriculum by selecting mentors in their communities and writing class curricula based on their personal academic and professional goals.

While students are periodically evaluated by Prescott faculty, the flexibility of the program allows students to explore their field and network with future employers, all while studying and maintaining a job.

That's how Dave Richins, a Prescott student, skipped the post-grad job hunt entirely. Pursuing a degree in sustainable community development, Richins enlisted local developers as his mentors and tailored his thesis to solve a local development problem.

Richins credits both the networking and the project as helping him land a policy director position at the Sonoran Institute, a Phoenix-based conservation agency, prior to graduation.

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2. Make your own opportunities

Unfortunately, schools like Prescott are scant. A few select institutions such as Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., offer self-directed, mentor-based learning options for adults.

However, most older students have to build experiential components including internships, portfolios or thesis projects into their learning programs and around their full-time jobs.

Those that do will be rewarded with significantly better post-grad job prospects, says Katy Piotrowski, author of "The Career Coward's Guide to Job Searching."

"The biggest mistake students make, especially older students, is missing an internship," Piotrowski says. "For about 50 percent of people engaged in an internship, it turns into employment after. If you can't do an internship, do a project customized to a job you want or an employer you want to work with ... employers want evidence that you're capable of applying what you're learning."

Independent projects do more than just woo employers -- they can also provide an outlet to create your own dream job. That's how Vincent Wiggins, a recent graduate from DePaul University's master's program in adult education, created his own company and new job.

"I was working at a marketing research firm and had advanced into a career that wasn't totally fulfilling," Wiggins says. "I was just sitting in an office and working in a corporate environment. I felt I needed a career change and this final project was an opportunity."

Wiggins started Online Education Solutions, a Chicago-based nonprofit agency that provides computer training for people in interim housing. He got the organization off the ground enough to work there part time after graduation.

Though he currently maintains a second job at a local community college, he plans to eventually transition to the nonprofit full time as the agency becomes more established.

3. Document it

For a full-time employee with family responsibilities, a thesis project is ambitious. And a low- or non-paid internship may be impossible.

Piotrowski advises busy students to try for programs with virtual internships that allow for scheduling flexibility, and to ask their current boss if they can work class and career-relevant projects into their current job. No matter what you do, keeping careful records is crucial.

"Start a 'rah-rah' file when you do a cool project, then later ... you'll have concrete examples right in front of you," Piotrowski says.

Included in your "rah-rah" file should be outstanding papers and projects that chronicle how much time and research went into each one, as well as letters of recommendation that testify to your experience and competence.

Detailed results, such as financial savings, productivity increases and number of people affected, "make you look more motivated and can help if you're looking to prove your knowledge in a particular area," she adds.

4. Start searching now

No degree yet? No problem. Students are in a better position to job hunt than recent postgrads, Yate says, because they have the benefit of an on-campus career center jam-packed with job-search databases, alumni networks and contacts with local employers.

Students are also advised to beef up their network by joining professional associations before they turn the tassel.

"That way you can identify companies you want to work with [and] meet people likely to hire you, instead of putting your résumé on Careerbuilder with 30 million others," says Yate.

When presenting themselves to future professional contacts, Yate says the most important factors for adult students to highlight are the fact that they're older, wiser and bring a wealth of work experience to the table that simply can't be matched by a fresh-faced graduate.

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