A college degree could mean so much when going after a specific career. Your education will tell the interviewer or screener that you have spent considerable time and resources learning the craft in the industry. Although you do not have the experience, the industry has been constantly reaching out to colleges that you already know the industry inside and out.

But a college degree is not an assurance of a job offer. Even before the country is in recession, you have to deal with a lot of competition for only one job. Their experience is often valued by employees as they already have the hands-on experience in the industry. Your internship will never fare better compared to their actual experience.

Experience is not something that you can acquire instantly. For that reason, you do not need to push yourself to a company that requires experience. But if you really wanted to be hired, there is a way to go around the experience requirement – get certified.

Certification vs. Degree

A college degree is one of the basic requirements in landing a good job. It will take you at least four years before you can acquire your bachelor’s degree. You will also have to spend thousands of dollars and that entire funding came straight out from your college loan. In gist, a college degree is something very expensive that paying them back will take years.

Certifications on the other hand will not necessary require education but college credits on specific courses that should be acquired. That means you do not have to be a college graduate since as long as you have finished those courses, you can get certified. But the process of getting certified is not about getting the right credits alone. You need to take an exam before you can receive the certification you need.

Certification as a Networking Tool

One of the reasons you need to be certified in order to have an edge over those who have experience is the ability to network. When you are certified, you can easily connect to people that are certified as well and there is a big chance that some of the business leaders in the company would have the same certification that you have. Through certification, you can connect to the company as some of the leaders will recognize your capability.

Certification as an Assurance

Getting certified is not easy. It will require knowledge of the industry as well as education. For that reason, those that have opted to get certified are college graduates since they already have the knowledge they need to have a better score at the exam. But not everyone succeeds.

There are certifications that are very difficult to handle that only a small percentage of those who took the exam were able to score a passing grade. If you are able to pass the exam, you will be acknowledged as an expert in the industry. A nationally recognized certification is almost the same or even better than experience. Certification is probably your best ticket to start your career even without experience.