Getting a job with an Online degree?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by nyvrem, Feb 24, 2014.

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  1. nyvrem

    nyvrem Active Member

    I'm just wondering if anyone has ever encountered discrimination when you tell the interviewer you earned your degree online? - Will it decrease the prospect of getting a job? Or is there anything that can be done to improve your image? Like the reputation of the school etc?

    I'm almost 30 soon and I consider myself mid career. I've been working with a local NGO for almost 5 years, and I'm hoping a degree would enable me to apply to other NGOs when I go back to the US in a few years time.
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I've never actually been asked that directly. But it's come up and I've spoken of my experience as a student. It's not the '90s anymore, it's pretty normal.
     
  3. DanielC

    DanielC New Member

    It's seen as a drawback for some, no difference for others, or as a positive for still others.
     
  4. rebel100

    rebel100 New Member

    I've had one instance when I was told the online nature of my degree took me out of the running for a position, the job was in support services for a major university. The PhD who oversaw the job wanted an applicant with a traditional pedigree.

    Other than that one rather narrow instance I don't think it much matters, especially when you consider how many of the big schools are adding more and more online degree options. AS Steve says "its not the 90's anymore" online degrees are mainstream and getting bigger.
     
  5. FJD

    FJD Member

    It sounds like you would have a great way to explain why you chose to do your degree online, something like, "I was working for an NGO outside of the U.S. and needed to find a program that I could complete at a distance." Sounds reasonable to me. Choose a reputable school and do well in your program and I can't see it being a problem. If a prospective empoyer still balks, it probably not anywhere you want to work anyway. Good luck.
     
  6. nyvrem

    nyvrem Active Member

    And I was getting worried abit because I thought I might have trouble finding a job with an Online degree.

    Now I just need to decide if I wanna use my credits to finish my degree at a better Uni (better rep) to better my chances of a job in the future. The cost right now I'm paying per credit is not cheap either :frown:

    And the reason why I had to do my degree online is because I work for an NGO and there's period of times I won't have access to basic needs. Hope employers in the US can look at that in a positive aspect. :banana:
     
  7. AV8R

    AV8R Active Member

    It happened to me once. We got to the education part of my interview and the guy asked me how I earned my accounting degree from a school in Nebraska when I lived in another state. I explained to him how it all worked and that PSC was Nebraska's oldest college. He then made the comment: "but you weren't there." I didn't get the job.

    This guy was a huge @&$hole in the interview and I'm not sure how big of a deal my DL degree was in not getting the job.
     
  8. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Try to explain that you live in one country but the degree was earned from a different country, it is not easy at all.

    Some people come to this forum and they get excited when they find a very cheap degree option in Indian, SA, Malaysia, etc. The problem comes when you are trying to explain that you live in the US but your degree comes from India but you are not an Indian citizen, this just raises unnecessary red flags.
     
  9. rook901

    rook901 New Member

    Actually, the opposite happened for me. I earned my ASN from Excelsior and BSN from WGU. I was working part-time as an EMT for an ambulance company while working full-time as an RN for a hospital in the ER. I had applied for a promotion to a part-time Critical Care RN position within the ambulance company, but the Critical Care director had a negative opinion of nurses with online degrees and wasn't open to my move within the company. After we spent about an hour shooting the bull and talking about our various healthcare experiences, he admitted that I had made him do a 180 on his opinion of online nursing education. It's always a great feeling to be able to broaden someone's mind on the topic of distance education.
     
  10. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Red flags that you would never have had the privilege to raise had you not gotten your degree.
     
  11. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    It happens to me twice, even though I have degrees from B&M schools with mix traditional and online. One time when I applied for the Marine Corps Officer candidate school, which I had to write 500 word essay explaining for my online degree. The second one I was criticized on current Ph.D program at Nova Southeastern University by an IT director who earned his Ph.D in Chemistry from Northwestern University in the 1980's. However, most of the time employers do not care as long as not diploma mill.

    The best way to reduce the criticism on your online degree would be B&M school degree. Try to attend the best school as you can.
     
  12. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    I have another piece of advice: try to attend the closest school you can. Even though I live hours away from Angelo State University, people assume I attended on campus. It's probably because it's in the same state where I lived almost my whole life. Currently, I attend a school on campus that is 45 min. away from me. If I would have gotten an MSW online with them, no would have ever been able to tell. I almost applied to an online masters program from a school that's about 20-25 min. away from me, but it was too expensive.
     
  13. nyvrem

    nyvrem Active Member

    That's abit hard for me since I'm living in South East Asia right now. And I'll be here at least for the foreseen future. I'll finish my online BA even before I go back to the US. Guess i'll just need to tell them if they ask - about the whole online studying issue.
    Hope by then, mindsets of employers would be more open.
     
  14. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    I've found in my experience that people who criticized me or had an unfavorable response about my degree(s) earned online, also happened to not be very bright and were usually older people who were out of touch.

    Just my experience.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 26, 2014
  15. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    You have mention about Southeast Asia. Which country? There are plenty of US schools have partnerships with Southeast Asian schools. For example, if you live in Vietnam; you have Troy University, Benedictine University, and etc...

    You can claim that you study aboard with regional college, but the degree is still from US schools.
     
  16. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    My two D/L degrees have been accepted. I was once asked whether my AAS was by correspondence but I got the job (in the field) so I don't think it hurt me any.

    For many employers the degree is a "check the box" requirement. If they like you, they will hire you and if they don't, they won't.
     
  17. mattbrent

    mattbrent Well-Known Member

    My 2 DL masters degrees were seen as a positive, and I was hired. Granted I teach at a college, though. They saw it as a benefit because we offer a ton of online classes, and they figured my experience as an online student would help with the course design process. Believe me, it has!

    -Matt
     
  18. nyvrem

    nyvrem Active Member

    Right now, i'm based in Singapore.
    So far, the only US school I've heard doing anything here are, Rutgers, and Chicago business school.
    Everything else are tie ups with the local universities.
    But I never really researched deep into this.
     
  19. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Several well-known US universities have tried to establish branch campuses or partnerships in Singapore. Some still exist, but there have been a number of failures, as per the following 2013 story:

     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 26, 2014
  20. Ed Edwards

    Ed Edwards Member

    Cool: credential modality discrimination. CMD.

    First.
     

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