A little success story

[soltran]

G’day,

I have been fairly busy of late and haven’t been around the forum much, but I wanted to come back and post a little success story. I know that when I started my journey toward gaining a degree through an online college with a lot of CLEP and DANTES tests I was unsure of the legitimacy of this approach or whether the degree would be recognized by potential employers. Despite the many posts in this forum assuring me that it was all legitimate and that the degree would be recognized, there seemed to be almost as many posts questioning the value of an online degree. Now that I have completed the degree and put it to good use, I wanted to share my story in the hope that I may encourage those still on their journey as I was encouraged during mine.

When I started my online degree I was employed as a contractor for a global organization at $50k a year but without any benefits; no vacation, no sick leave, no insurance and no possibility of being hired as a permanent employee. I watched positions become vacant and found that without the degree I wasn’t even considered for them despite my 20+ year’s experience. That was until I finished my degree. I was fortunate enough that a position became vacant around the same time as I completed my studies. My application wasn’t automatically discarded; I made it through the interview and was offered the permanent position I was after.

A month after completing my degree I find myself in a new position with a base salary of $80k a year, all the benefits that come with being employed in a permanent position and with the opportunity of future advancement within the organization.

I won’t say that the degree got me the job because it didn’t. My work history, experience and industry certifications definitely played a big part in my being the successful candidate, but without the degree I would never have been able to showcase the rest.

I wanted to share this with you because I know that during my hours of study I had my doubts and suffered through times where my motivation was low, but thanks to the encouragement and the success stories of many of the forum members I stuck at it and now I am reaping the rewards. I hope my story helps you as the many success stories I have read here helped me.

Regards