by Barry Marcus

Created on: January 17, 2008   Last Updated: July 09, 2009

Higher education is a key to success both within and outside of the corporate world. Some qualifications are highly sought after and rewarded. A professional degree is particularly valuable. An accounting degree leading to the professional chartered accountant qualification is particularly valuable. An MBA degree has been known to propel individuals from middle management to executive level in record time.

Work experience can and does move a career forward. There are times when that experience is highly recognised. At times an academic institution will award a degree for work experience.

We have all heard about the office-boy that makes it to CEO, but this is the exception that proves the rule. Career success without education is a diminishing phenomenon. Appropriate qualifications are gaining in importance as each year passes. There will always be the exception of the highly dynamic individual that succeeds without a higher education. There will always be the entrepreneurial types that do not rely on education and there is always a chance of succeeding in business through sheer ability.

For most people, education is a necessity to advance a career. A bachelor's degree, master's degree or MBA have become prerequisites for a range of jobs or occupations. A hundred years of working in the medical field is not enough to make you a doctor.

Stuart worked his way up the corporate ladder to a position of Assistant General Manager over the course of twenty years. Once the company showed signs of being in trouble he was one of the first to be retrenched. Armed with only a school leaving certificate he struggled to find alternative employment.

By contrast, an actuarial student entered the same business and even before completing the qualification began a rapid career rise. Within a year of qualifying, he was a general manager.

A qualification in itself is no guarantee of career success. The corporate world is a very political place and you need to be a political player to climb the ladder. Other factors are at play. Performance on the job is crucial. But as a rule, those that are able to use their education effectively in the work environment are more successful than those that simply rely on work experience.

The value of education as a key to success is sharply evident when we look at the various professions. Entrance to a whole range of professions including accountancy, law, medicine, engineering or actuarial science is limited to those with appropriate education. A newly qualified chartered accountant can earn double the national average salary within two years of qualifying. Actuaries are amongst the highest earners in the world.

Perhaps the most important consideration is in the transferability of the skills. Twenty years experience and climbing the corporate ladder in one company does not make it easy to obtain another job. A professional qualification, on the other hand is a far greater help.

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