Category Archives: Education
How to Choose the Best Post-Graduate Degree for You
Many students complete their undergraduate degree, and then head straight out into the workforce so they can start earning money and get a taste for work life. However, sometimes, depending on what kind of job you want and the career path you want to take, it can be better to stay at university for a few extra years to complete post-graduate qualifications first.
This is particularly the case if you’re interested in becoming a professor or other type of academic. Keep in mind, too, that it’s often much easier to do additional studies when you’re young, don’t have a lot of commitments to worry about, and are already used to studying and being at college.
If you’re thinking of enrolling in a Master’s degree or other post-grad course, it can be a bit tricky trying to decide which program will be the best fit for you, and whether or not to stick with the same university or head elsewhere. Plus, these days there are both online and on campus options to choose from, which gives you even more options to decide between. Read on for some tips you can follow to help you make the best choice for you.
Be Clear about Your Goals
When it comes to deciding on a post-graduate degree, the first thing to think about is what your personal goals are. What is the reason you want to get a higher degree, and how do you want to use this qualification? Once you get clear on what outcomes you wish to achieve, it will be easier to tell which degree will help you to get there.
Always make sure you’re considering your own goals, not other people’s, as it’s a waste of time, money and energy to complete a program that won’t lead you down the right path for your needs. Plus, be wary about enrolling in a course simply because you think it will look good on your CV. These higher degrees are intense, time-consuming, and often very costly, so you need to have solid reasons for completing them.
Don’t Rush Your Decision
To make sure you choose wisely, give yourself time to really weigh up all the pros and cons of each course on your shortlist. Don’t rush your decision, as this is how you can end up in the wrong program. Carefully research all the post-graduate options you’re considering to find out what each one would involve, what it will cost, how long it will take you to complete, and how it will help you to tick off your goals.
You should find out how flexible each program is, with regards to not just what you learn, but when and where and who you work with, and how long completion time can be. Make sure each course you’re interested in is accredited properly. If you need access to certain facilities to complete your studies properly, investigate this in your research, in addition to any other particular university features (such as disabled access, security, extracurricular groups, large libraries, etc.) you might require.
Choose an educational provider with a good reputation too, of course. Chat with past students as well as current ones to get their opinion on the school and the specific program you’re interested in. Find out what kind of career results graduates have been achieving, as this will give you a good indication of whether or not the course will suit your needs.
Check out the different professors you would have access to at the different universities too, as this can make a big impact on your decision. Also investigate what kind of career support is on offer at each institution.
Consider the Mode of Study that will Suit You Best
Lastly, consider the mode of study that will suit you best. These days, there are all sorts of post-graduate degrees offered off-campus, as well as on, from AACSB online MBAs through to Master’s in Engineering, Accounting, Marketing and so on.
As such, think about whether you would prefer to be on campus, or to have the flexibility in schedule that’s provided with online study. Online options are really helpful if you have children who you need to be at home for, and/or if you want to work and fit your studies around your job schedule. Online degrees also give you access to courses run around the world, rather than being limited to just local programs.
However, on the other hand, on-campus study may be your preference if you want to be able to interact with your professors face-to-face, access on-site facilities, and enjoy social, networking opportunities with other students on a regular basis. Evaluate the different modes based on your goals and you’ll make a wise decision.
5 Sports Management Career Paths to Consider
Have you been dreaming of a career in sports ever since you were little Now that you’re older, that dream might seem far-fetched – especially since there are only 11,800 professional athletes in the entire U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But you don’t have to be an athlete to enjoy a long and fulfilling career in sports. There are tens of thousands of behind-the-scenes (and in-the-scenes) sports jobs that you can do, even if you’re not an example of peak physical conditioning. A sports management degree can prepare you to follow one of these sports career paths, among many others.
1) Sports Agent
Every professional athlete needs a competent sports agent to guide and advise them when it’s time to negotiate deals and sign contracts with brands and companies. As a sports agent, you’ll need to have a good head for business and strong negotiation skills. You’ll be responsible for handling all of your clients’ corporate and legal obligations, as well as helping them manage their money.
As a sports agent, you’ll travel to meet clients, potential clients and league representatives. Contract negotiations will occur during the spring and summer, while much of the winter and fall will be spent meeting with clients. You’ll take care of your athletes’ taxes, negotiate their salaries and bonuses and set up their product endorsement deals. Some background in contract or tax law would be useful.
2) Public Relations Assistant
Professional athletes spend much of their career in the public eye, especially those at the top of the field. Sports public relations assistants and other PR specialists in the sports field work to build and maintain a positive public image for the athletes they represent. They do this by attempting to control the information that flows from the team or athlete to the press and by working to soften the blow of any negative attention an athlete may garner.
Daily tasks for PR professionals in sports include preparing media reports and press releases, drafting speeches, arranging media interviews for athletes, responding to communications from journalists and crafting promotional campaigns. You’ll have a role in any activity that increases or bolsters a team’s or athlete’s positive public image.
3) General Manager
As a sports general manager, you’ll be in charge of managing a sports team’s deals and business transactions. General managers may work for teams in the minor leagues, as well as in the major leagues, with minor league general managers earning a starting salary of about $112,000. You’ll hire head coaches, manage the team’s revenue and budget, draft new players and speak for the team at media conferences.
A successful general manager has strong people skills, business acumen and communication skills. He or she must be able to hire and manage staff, including coaches and other support staff, as well as come up with new marketing and business strategies to increase the team’s revenue. A strong background in sports management will help you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your team and then find and recruit the players who can best help your team improve.
4) Sports Event Coordinator
Do you want to help plan and coordinate major league sports competitions? Perhaps you’d like to work on coordinating sports events for amateur or minor league athletes. Maybe you’re even interested in planning community sporting events or helping young people answer the question, “What can sports teach you about life?” Sports event coordinators get involved with planning sports programs and events on every level, from local amateur athletics and community or youth sports to major league competitions.
As a sports event coordinator, you’ll need an eye for detail and skills in marketing, business and organizational logistics. You’ll also need to understand the sports environment and the specific physical activity involved in the event you’re coordinating. In addition to planning the event itself, you’ll be responsible for logistics surrounding the event, such as making sure teams find their way to and from their hotels and that they’re comfortable in their accommodations.
5) Fitness Director
As a fitness director, you’ll be responsible for organizing and implementing fitness and group activities, which may or may not be for the benefit of professional athletes or even sports fans. For example, a fitness director may work as the face of a university’s student wellness program and may also be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the university’s fitness or recreation center.
You’ll need strong budgeting skills and may need management or supervisory skills. You may also need to teach fitness classes or train fitness instructors, provide customer service for participants and conduct teaching observations.
If you love sports and want a career working in fitness or with athletes, a sports management degree may be right for you. A degree in sports management will open up a range of fulfilling career paths in the sports industry, so you can build the sports career of your dreams.
Business Energy News
Many factors currently affect energy prices across the UK. Since the UK exited from the European Union, many uncertainties have been expressed resulting from the policy. The impact on the economy of said policy change will determine how confident businesses are to take risks and move from one energy provider to another by comparing rates through UtilityBidder. However, this depends on whether consumer confidence is also high.
In addition, many considerations and factors further contribute to the rising gas prices affecting businesses in the UK. These include low generation of renewable energy sources such as wind power, the balance between supply and demand, and the overall performance of the economy.
What comprises energy consumption for businesses?
Businesses spend a small fortune each year on energy alone. The bulk of the cost goes on heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. On top of this comes the cost of lighting and powering appliances. Unfortunately, most UK businesses are missing out on the opportunity to save on energy costs.
According to government figures, 70% of the country’s total energy consumption goes to five business sectors – retail, offices, industrial, hospitality, and health. Also, among all these sectors, the industrial sector is the most inefficient, missing out on their chance to save 50% on overall energy consumption.
Reducing energy consumption
How can a company take better control over energy consumption? Experts have the following suggestions:
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Switch to energy-efficient lighting. Out of the possible £3.7bn savings, companies can make a year, £1.1bn is attributed to commercial lighting expenses. It is significant for the retail and hospitality sectors where lighting is a constant necessity 24/7. Improving lighting choices such as switching to LED lighting as well as adding sensors and timers is essential.
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Energy management systems. Installing a method for controlling and monitoring heat and ventilation is something to consider for companies with multiple sites such as hotels and shopping malls. A company can save over 10% in energy costs by installing a management system.
These suggestions are still subject to debate since comparing the energy consumption between different sectors suggests a customised energy savings approach is a better solution. For example, large buildings use up more energy and sectors involved with data processing consume more for cooling and processing data centres, compared with a company simply offering warehouse services and logistics.
As such, targeting specific areas of the business where energy management can reap high benefits is a must. Energy retailers work with companies to offer energy management solutions aimed at helping companies optimise their energy use. A specific example is the implementation of an on-site energy generator. This system allows the company to recover energy which would otherwise end in waste and use it for other processes.
Both the public and private business sectors need to raise their awareness and efforts to reduce energy consumption. With the continuing rise in energy prices, it can be a significant element for change.
Healthcare Career Paths You Can Consider as You Complete Your Studies
If you need to choose a major soon or are heading off to university in the coming months and are still trying to decide which program to enroll in, it’s important to learn about a wide variety of job types and career paths, so you have a better idea of what you might be most interested in and suited to.
If you’ve always been interested in the healthcare field, perhaps you’ve thought about becoming a doctor, dentist, PT, chiropractor and so on. However, you should note that demand in healthcare is growing at a rate that’s twice as high as the national economy, so you have a range of occupations to choose from apart from the well-known ones.
For those looking for a little inspiration or some clarity, it’s time to think outside the box. Read on for some interesting healthcare jobs you might not have considered yet but which could be just the right path for you.
Phlebotomist
Are you someone who doesn’t feel faint at the first sign of blood? If so, a job as a phlebotomist might be up your alley. The term phlebotomy originates from a combination of Greek words. There is “phlebo,” which relates to a blood vessel, and “tomy,” which refers to making an incision. If you become a phlebotomist, you’ll be a medical technician who extracts blood from people with a sterilized needle. This procedure is called venipuncture. The samples of blood taken during this process are used for blood transfusion or as a means of testing to evaluate patient health.
In their jobs, phlebotomists assist doctors and nurses by taking patients’ blood. They can work in a variety of facilities, such as medical centers, labs, hospitals, clinics and dedicated blood-collection facilities. On top of collecting and testing blood, these professionals may also work with urine and other samples. A key part of the position is also setting up tests accurately, so the correct details are written on sample tubes, and blood is tested for the correct things.
Healthcare Manager
An emerging area of healthcare is one in which workers combine management skills with proactive, hands-on, day-to-day work. This is the job of healthcare manager. People working in this field must be dedicated to improving the quality of healthcare and increasing patient safety levels. This is a leadership-based position that involves managers working across administrative and leadership functions, whether covering a single department or an entire venue.
Healthcare executives, or administrators as they’re also known, must work closely with a variety of medical personnel, plus suppliers, custodial staff, potentially government employees and other types of contacts involved in the delivery of healthcare. Positions can be based within health centers, hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers or even government organizations. As such, there is plenty of diversity in potential roles.
If you become a healthcare manager, you will likely have to take care of many different aspects of a facility. For example, you’ll need to oversee the staff working at the venue or within your department, plus you’ll be required to run the center’s operations, manage its budget, handle strategic planning and act as a spokesperson when media representatives require quotes or data.
Crisis Counselor
Another healthcare role that has been growing over recent years and which seems to be required more than ever, is that of a crisis counselor. This particular type of mental health counselor helps patients who have been through some kind of traumatic, emotionally intense, and/or exhausting experience.
If you complete your counseling master’s online, you can join this specialized field and help your clients in numerous ways. You can be there to offer emotional support to sufferers, and you can help them recover from and move past a crisis, through avenues such as the sharing of information and activities.
You will help patients to understand their own limiting beliefs or feelings and assist them to create new, healthy structures in their lives. You can be there to help people find ways of restoring their sense of control after a traumatic event. Counselors in this specialization typically only work with patients for a short period, such as one to three months.
How to Make the Most of Your College Degree
For many so-called traditional students, college is just a way to get away from home, earn some independence and have fun with friends. Friday nights come first, and education comes second. However, if you want to make the most out of your college experience and academic investment, there are a few things that should factor into your decision of where to attend school, what to study and how to approach your academic years.
Major Bummer
You have more choice than ever when it comes to your focus of study. With so many course options at today’s universities, you need to decide the best route. More than 20 million students now flood American campuses, and even with the amount of variety offered, the same majors top the list of most popular subjects to study. That means a couple of things: First, there are some credentials that will always be in-demand and provide lucrative post-educational compensation; secondly, there’s a whole lot of opportunity out there for those who are willing to step outside the box.
Business, psychology, nursing, biology and teaching degrees round out the top five most popular majors. These fields are crowded, and even with the amount of jobs available, there are still plenty of college grads with these degrees who can’t find employment. That’s why you need to think different. Kind of like this:
The Major of the Future
While your old classmates are spinning their wheels looking for any low-level opportunity out there, you can be making sizable early career leaps in a specialty field. And it doesn’t even take a niche college halfway across the globe to find a program that will get you there. Among others, there are autism certification programs online that will launch you into a successful and fulfilling career your friends only dream of.
Completing a program such as this one will allow you to help those in need while bringing home a healthy paycheck. A rewarding and financially beneficial field like this is something that most high-school graduates don’t even consider when selecting their colleges. If it’s something you can see yourself doing (and liking), the negatives are hard to find. Not only will you secure a financially sound future after you graduate, but you can save money while attending school simply by electing to complete your degree via online courses. Sounds like a win-win, doesn’t it?
Consider the Job Market
Though we shouldn’t celebrate any increase in difficulty, more problems in the world generally requires more people to create solutions.
Such is the case in a field like autism education. Now one in every 59 children is diagnosed with the disorder. On one hand, this means more students are struggling to learn and relate to peers; on the other hand, it means these students are achieving greater visibility, which results in increased need for qualified professionals, like you. Not only does that mean that there will be a need for your position, but it also means you’ll be genuinely helping a cause. Making money and feeling like you’ve done society a service all in one job is about as good as you can ask for. In an industry where so many people need help, you can be a beacon of light.
Easy Does It
While specialized fields like autism education may be challenging, it is not as difficult to break into as you might expect. You can complete your chosen degree in a relatively short time, especially if you choose an accelerated online program. It’s important to remember that not every major is created equally. While some programs will take time and dedication, most will leave you plenty of time to do what all college kids love to do.
There are hundreds of majors to choose from, and it’s almost impossible to know which one is right for you when you’re being forced to pick. But entering a field that most people don’t aim for provides a long list of pros and a short list of cons. If you’re undecided how to approach your college experience, this is a good place to get started.
