Want your career express to rush ahead full steam? It may be time to revamp your resume by adding a few qualifications to it. By V N Saroja

HAVE you been passed up for promotion for want of an MBA degree? Did you miss being part of projects because your skill sets do not match those needed? Women today are realising the need to get more qualified to keep pace with colleagues and climb the corporate ladder. Here's our guide to how to add to your qualifications, how to choose the right course, and learning to balance work and education.

What Calls For A Course
Most HR managers would agree that a resume that reflects continuous upgradation of an employee's credentials implies that the person is a good worker. So every time you have the opportunity, time and inclination to do a course, take it. Not only will you learn new things, it also shows the world your commitment to work.

Four situations that demand you do a formal course while working are:
Your current profession or job requires you to get the said certification or degree: For example, if you work in a travel agency and handle international travel and ticketing, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) course is a must for you. An advantage here is that employers often sponsor these courses.

You want to change careers from one field to another: While the choice to change careers may be yours, the need to upgrade your skills with education becomes mandatory once that decision has been taken.

You need to do a course to get a better understanding of an area that interests you: These are modules formulated to tap the desire to learn. For example, a teacher could take classes in creative writing or a chartered accountant could enrol in a materials management module to understand the area better. Self-study is usually sufficient too.

You want to substantially improve your career prospects: Such programmes could help you cope with the rising expectations on the minimum qualifications required for a job or to be on the cutting edge of technology. For example, if when you joined, an MBA was not required but today, it has become mandatory, it may be a good idea to do one to keep pace with market requirements.

'Yehi Hai' Right Choice!
The greater the investment you make in your education, the higher the value the job market places on you. Usually, the rule of thumb is that full-time courses are better than part-time ones, which are better than the distance learning ones; degrees are better than diplomas and so on. The institution's standing is crucial too. The tougher it is to get into a course, the better it is considered.

While selecting a course, make sure that the curriculum interests you, meets your needs vis-à-vis course content, time required and cost, and finally that you will get the benefits you desire on completion. Talk to some professionals in the area, to the HR manager in your company, and other colleagues who have done similar courses. Then assess all available options against the time and effort you can invest and choose the best option. Don't always go for the easiest, cheapest or the most popular.

Course Conduct
Joining a course is usually easier than completing it, especially if you are also working at the same time. The course will test the limits of your discipline, commitment and time management skills. Keep these tips in mind when you juggle work and education:

Don't leave any work pending at work or school: Make sure you finish jobs before deadline dates.
Keep yourself motivated: As it gets harder to stay focused, remind yourself that this juggling is going to end soon.

Aim for the moon: Don't work just to clear the course and get a certificate. Aim for the top spot or at least a first division.

Don't let office dictate your time schedule: Accept work that can be completed within normal working hours and politely refuse jobs that impinge on your study time. Take your boss into confidence before joining the course so that she knows what to expect.

Complete a course before you start another: This is good for your learning curve. Also, if you keep making investments that do not pay off, nobody will respect your efforts.

Work At It!
Upgrading your skills always pays rich dividends. So if you want your career to fulfil you mentally and financially, now may be the time to wear a new grad hat.

Special Educator
Rajni Bhagat, a teacher at Amity International School, Noida, felt she was stagnating and needed to broad-en her horizons. Over time, she had become interested in children with learning disabilities and decided to take up a course dedicated to the same. In 2003, she opted for a B Ed which specialised in teaching the hearing impaired.

Since Rajni could not spare the time to do a full-time course, she has opted for a distance learning one from Bhuj Univer-sity. The 14-month course entails projects, practical work, over 400 hours of a contact programme, and of course, a final written exam. She is enjoying the course and feels more enthused about her teaching now.

MadeTo Manage
Sarika Goel completed her MBA in marketing in 1998. She had always wanted to specialise in human resources (HR), so after two years of working in a marketing consultancy, she enrolled herself for a post-graduate diploma in HR from IMT, Ghaziabad, in a distance-learning programme. In the meanwhile, she also switched jobs and joined a firm that offered her HR management.

Sarika chose IMT for its reputation and the constantly upgraded course material as well as the inclusion of technology and Internet-related modules in their curriculum. Her husband fully supported her decision and they even moved house to be near the most convenient contact centre for weekend classes.

She found most of the course material easy to cope with since she was actually doing it at work but enjoyed getting the theoretical foundations too. "Finding time to complete assignments was a little tough as was getting down to academics after a two-year break, but you do manage in the end," she says.