Need Advice

[sanantone]

APUS' space studies program is useless; it's a bunch of fluff. The University of North Dakota program is better.

I agree that I/O psych is different while still being related and useful. It is similar to leadership in that many of the courses will rehash the same stuff, but depending on the program, you can also learn a lot of HR stuff. It can also lead to a career in consulting.

[dfrecore]

I can't see how an MS in I/O Psych adds value to an MBA.

How about something entirely different.  An MA in Military History or a graduate certificate in Terrorism Studies or Space Studiees or something like that would make you stand out in a crowd, and people would be interested in discussing it.  An MS in I/O - ho hum.

I don't see how an MA in Military History adds any value to an MBA. Plus it seems terribly boring. As a hiring manager, I personally would not see any business benefit to hiring someone with a secondary degree like that unless I was a military contractor maybe. On the other hand, a secondary MS in I/O Psych suggests someone who not only understands business but people as well. Perhaps not as much if it were a bachelor's degree but at the masters level, I'd assume they had developed some expertise.

If I were comparing two potential candidates for a senior business role, I'd pick the MBA+Psych candidate over the MBA+History candidate every time. Doubly so if they were expected to work with clients or had significant people management responsibilities.

As for interest, I think the history degree might be worthy of a conversation, but probably more about how they ended up with the history degree after the MBA. Seems an odd choice unless they were considering going into teaching or something. Then again, I'd be impressed if they indicated that they'd leverage the military history degree to give them an advantage in business strategy (by adapting military strategy to business) or something along those lines.

I didn't say a random cert/MA adds ANY value - I just said that it was more interesting.  I think a degree in military history would be anything BUT boring, but I guess that's how everyone is different.

I honestly never assume that someone actually has people skills just because they have any sort of psych degree.  None whatsoever.  I've just met too many people whose actual skills didn't line up with their theory-based knowledge they've learned in books.  The best managers I've ever had in my life did not have ANY sort of degree, but they knew how to lead, and people wanted to follow.

I'm going to guess that some people get an I/O and/or psych degree BECAUSE they are good with people and have an interest in the field, rather than the I/O degree actually making them better at dealing with people.

So as a hiring manager, I'd be interested to see if you've ever actually hired someone based on an I/O degree, and been impressed with them?  And thought, "wow, that degree really paid off for this guy!"??

[Merlin]

I can't see how an MS in I/O Psych adds value to an MBA.

How about something entirely different.  An MA in Military History or a graduate certificate in Terrorism Studies or Space Studiees or something like that would make you stand out in a crowd, and people would be interested in discussing it.  An MS in I/O - ho hum.

I don't see how an MA in Military History adds any value to an MBA. Plus it seems terribly boring. As a hiring manager, I personally would not see any business benefit to hiring someone with a secondary degree like that unless I was a military contractor maybe. On the other hand, a secondary MS in I/O Psych suggests someone who not only understands business but people as well. Perhaps not as much if it were a bachelor's degree but at the masters level, I'd assume they had developed some expertise.

If I were comparing two potential candidates for a senior business role, I'd pick the MBA+Psych candidate over the MBA+History candidate every time. Doubly so if they were expected to work with clients or had significant people management responsibilities.

As for interest, I think the history degree might be worthy of a conversation, but probably more about how they ended up with the history degree after the MBA. Seems an odd choice unless they were considering going into teaching or something. Then again, I'd be impressed if they indicated that they'd leverage the military history degree to give them an advantage in business strategy (by adapting military strategy to business) or something along those lines.

I didn't say a random cert/MA adds ANY value - I just said that it was more interesting.  I think a degree in military history would be anything BUT boring, but I guess that's how everyone is different.

I honestly never assume that someone actually has people skills just because they have any sort of psych degree.  None whatsoever.  I've just met too many people whose actual skills didn't line up with their theory-based knowledge they've learned in books.  The best managers I've ever had in my life did not have ANY sort of degree, but they knew how to lead, and people wanted to follow.

I'm going to guess that some people get an I/O and/or psych degree BECAUSE they are good with people and have an interest in the field, rather than the I/O degree actually making them better at dealing with people.

So as a hiring manager, I'd be interested to see if you've ever actually hired someone based on an I/O degree, and been impressed with them?  And thought, "wow, that degree really paid off for this guy!"??

I don't assume that because someone has a psychology degree that they have people skills, but I do assume that someone with a masters in psychology should have a good understanding of the theories behind how people work. Whether they can apply that in interpersonal engagement is another story. I do agree that no amount of book learning can teach someone how to be a good manager. IMO, the only way to become a good manager or leader is to learn from your mistakes on the job and strive for continual improvement over time; though being a good leader also has to do with natural charisma as well as actually caring about the people in your org.

I don't recall ever having hired anyone with an I/O Psych degree specifically, but one of the best marketing people I ever hired had a general psychology degree in addition to a masters in marketing. Based on our discussions, he contributed much of his success, to a comprehensive understanding of both marketing and psychology. He was great at his job, and the folks he worked with loved him too. Of course, he may have been great because he also had significant prior experience in marketing and just knew how to work with people, but the psychology attribution was his. So that stuck with me.

I know we've also hired HR folks with Psychology degrees, one was an HR generalist and the other was our first HR manager. In fact, I don't think we've ever hired any HR folks with actual HR degrees, interestingly enough, though I'm pretty sure they all had PHR or SPHR certification. I don't know off hand if either of them had any kind of psychology specialization like I/O psych, but I also don't recall that it mattered. One assumes anyone who goes into HR as a career already has an interest in getting to know people and learn how to work well with them. So I can't tell if they were effective because of the psychology degree or in spite of it.

[sanantone]

How about a master's degree in economics or applied mathematics?

[Muldoon]

APUS' space studies program is useless; it's a bunch of fluff. The University of North Dakota program is better.

That's interesting, I was actually looking at APU. I love the idea of getting a space studies degree/certificate. It has NOTHING to do with my career/industry but I think it's fascinating as a subject and I've love to learn more about it.

[rlw74]

Wouldn't something totally unrelated indicate the possibility that a person was looking to jump ship from their current career field, instead of adding value to the one they are in? I think if I saw an MBA and then something totally unrelated, I might think they went for the unrelated degree plan because they didn't want to stick to business. Whereas if they have something kind of similar - like psychology - I would assume they were investing more into the career they have.

Personally, I would consider a grad certificate from a well known school. I think that would go a long way.

[dfrecore]

Wouldn't something totally unrelated indicate the possibility that a person was looking to jump ship from their current career field, instead of adding value to the one they are in? I think if I saw an MBA and then something totally unrelated, I might think they went for the unrelated degree plan because they didn't want to stick to business. Whereas if they have something kind of similar - like psychology - I would assume they were investing more into the career they have.

Personally, I would consider a grad certificate from a well known school. I think that would go a long way.

Not really.  People get unrelated degrees all the time.

If you're applying for a job somewhere, they look at the relevant degrees.  They don't say "well, I wonder why this guy has a certificate in military history?  That must mean he doesn't want THIS job that he's applying for utilizing his BA and MBA degrees."

Plus, you don't have to put unrelated things on your resume if you don't want to.  I tailor my resume to the job I'm applying for, and leave irrelevant information off of it (esp because I have a lot of info, so paring it down is hard enough already).

[sanantone]

Yes, you can choose not to list unrelated degrees, but that will defeat the purpose of the OP getting a degree that benefits him.

[dfrecore]

Yes, you can choose not to list unrelated degrees, but that will defeat the purpose of the OP getting a degree that benefits him.

Just because a degree does not benefit you in a particular job doesn't mean it's of no benefit.

[sanantone]

Yes, you can choose not to list unrelated degrees, but that will defeat the purpose of the OP getting a degree that benefits him.

Just because a degree does not benefit you in a particular job doesn't mean it's of no benefit.

He's now looking for master's programs in I/O psych, so I think he was looking for a program that will benefit him professionally. Since he mentioned that he was working in the bank industry in the same sentence he mentioned that he wants something that will benefit him, I assumed that was the case.