No Degree Required
10 Online Certificate
Programs that Lead to In-Demand Jobs
Online certificate programs are offering learners yet another
way of navigating toward rewarding careers - both personally
and financially. For established professionals, certificates
offer a practical means for strengthening the degrees they've
already earned without taking on the hefty commitment of an
additional full-blown degree program. However, certificate
education has also proven a means for the career changer to
establish a foundation to break into new, lucrative lines
of work without emptying their pockets to get there.
"One of the biggest trends I?ve seen is the demand for online
certificate courses, especially on a graduate level," says
Philip DiSalvio, director of SetonWorldWide, Seton Hall University's
online campus. "These programs allow learners to acquaint
themselves with a certain field or provide individuals the
ability to acquire a certain level of knowledge that would
not otherwise require a complete degree. This is especially
relevant to adult learners who may not have the time or resources
to invest in an entire program."
Here are 10 hot certificate programs that are not only on
the rise in popularity, but are scorching hot when it comes
to igniting salary potential.
1. Information Technology Security
- According
to MATRIX Resources, one of the nation's top IT staffing firms,
managers are putting security and data recovery at the top
of their priority lists for IT careers. Though most IT fields
saw a pay increase of 3.1 percent in 2006, those demanding
the hottest skill sets - with security at the top of the list
- saw increases of up to 4-5 percent.
2. Project Management
- The flexibility
and widespread applicability of a project management certificate
enables learners to apply their training to any industry including
financial services, real estate, pharmaceuticals ? and make
great money working in a field they love. Cheetah Learning,
a leader in project management exam prep, cites workers as
consistently earning a $10,000 increase in salaries once they
have acquired a project management certificate.
3. Paralegal
- Typically neither an associate
degree nor a bachelor?s degree is required to earn an online
certificate in the paralegal field. There are approximately
600 paralegal educational programs available, and about 250
are approved by the American Bar Association. The National
Association of Legal Assistants reports an above-average expected
growth rate for the profession through 2010 at 33 percent.
4. Digital and Graphic Design
- Beginning
designers and career-changers are finding that the focused
curriculum of certificate programs actually has incredibly
broad applications including entertainment, publishing, and
media fields. According to Mary Domowicz, an acting associate
director at New York University?s School of Continued Professional
Studies, enrollment in the school?s design certificate programs
has doubled in the past year.
5. Nursing Management
- Nurses who aspire
to supervisory roles don?t need management degree program
to boost their professional credentials. RNs can use certificate
courses to apply credits to their degree and develop skill
sets that include understanding the basics of health care
organizations and administration, analyzing and managing data
in health care systems, and applying the techniques of personnel
management. Hospitals need managerial nurses, as evidenced
by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization?s
?Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Addressing
the Evolving Nursing Crisis,? which reported 126,000 nursing
positions in U.S. hospitals are currently unfilled?a number
expected to grow to 400,000 by 2020.
6. Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
-
A launching pad of sorts, Cisco's CCNA certification is an
introductory-level certification that is a prerequisite for
higher-level certifications for working with this ubiquitous
networking and communications technology. Certification Magazine
recently quoted the average salary for a Cisco certified IT
professional is $59,550 a year. An average CCNA makes $9,967
more than before earning the certification.
7. Homeland Security
- Plainly stated, the
post 9/11 world demands more attention on security. Certificate
programs that originated from the military and National Guard
are now attracting learners in private business and municipal
government. The U.S. Department of Labor has been predicting
that the employment of security management personnel will
grow faster than all other occupations due to the threat of
terrorism. Trends clearly demonstrate increased demand for
employees with knowledge of investigative services, surveillance
systems, and risk management training.
8. Forensic Nursing
- With nursing careers
in demand, many RNs are boosting their credentials with specialization
certificates. Forensic nursing coursework educates students
on evidence collection, preservation, and documentation related
to crime, acts of violence, mass casualty incidents, sexual
assaults and human abuse. Beyond hospitals, local institutions
like rape crisis centers and prosecutors? offices are also
known to contribute funding to support this training.
9. Executive Coaching
- In 2002 the Harvard
Business School Journal indicated that employers are willing
to pay fees ranging from $1,500 to $15,000 a day for executive
coaching. Additionally, with leading schools like Penn State?s
Smeal College of Business, which added to two new certificates
to its executive education offerings this past year, it?s
impossible to ignore this growing field. With applicability
in any business setting ? corporations, nonprofit organizations,
government ? certificates in executive coaching are providing
established business professionals the chance to increase
effectiveness and earning power without the need for expensive
or overly time-consuming coursework. Many of these certificates
are available online for the busy professional.
10. Video Game Design
- There is nothing
simple about game design ? today's gamers want detailed characters
and storylines, lifelike action, competitive graphics, and
an endless palette of features and options. However, getting
started in the field of game design is significantly less
complicated. With the various certificate programs available
online, learners can begin scoring career points with little
more than familiarity with computers, comfort with math, and
passion for the field. Competition in the industry is stiff
? in the same way that the Internet has connected gamers around
the world, it has also demanded that the game design professional
bring world-class skill to the table. Fortunately, software
publishing, of which video game design is a part, is projected
to grow 69.9 percent from 2002-2012 according to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics ? beating the high score in this career
is very much within reach.
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