Dr. Will Sassman Highlights How Advanced Degrees Can Boost Your Career
By: Dr. William Sassman Ii
Tags: Education, Self Worth, Future, Employment

Dr. Will Sassman Highlights How Advanced Degrees Can Boost Your Career

With over 33% of American adults having a four year college degree, having something that helps you stand out is one of the best ways to launch your career. Dr. Will Sassman, the VP of Finance for Overdraft Control, and Adjunct Professor at International Christian College, is very adamant about the importance of graduate studies. Having both a master’s and a Ph.D himself, Dr. Sassman now helps students work towards their own degrees. Below, Dr. Sassman highlights ways that advanced degrees can boost your career prospects.

Advanced Degrees Improve Your Prospects of Being Hired

Having a master’s degree or a PhD from an accredited institution is one of the quickest ways to make your résumé stand out from the pack. With having an undergraduate degree now feeling like a rite of passage rather than a luxury, having an advanced degree appeals to employers. Having that accreditation on your résumé can open doors that you never previously even knew existed. Will Sassman explains that these degrees give you an advantage and the ability to negotiate better salaries and benefits during the hiring process. The experience that you gain during your time earning your degree helps you provide more value to the company that you are applying to and the degree is evidence of it.

Depending on the industry that you choose to work in, sometimes you are required to earn an advanced degree to even be considered. Lawyers and doctors both require many additional years of education beyond an undergraduate education to be able to practice full time and they are both highly sought after and needed professions.

Advanced Degrees Improve Your Job Security

One advantage of having a post-bachelor’s degree is that you often are able to be more comfortable with your job security. Not only does an advanced degree show that you have more knowledge in a field than others; it also helps to highlight the value you can bring to a company. Additionally, Dr. Sassman notes that even if you were to be let go for financial reasons, you still have greater hiring prospects and a leg up on others in your field.

If you are already working and are interested in going back to school for an advanced degree, some large corporations even provide some funding for employees that qualify and then you can be certain that you will have a job when you have earned your degree from the same company you have worked with.

Advanced Degrees Accelerate Your Career

While a bachelor’s degree can help you to earn a starting position at a company, an advanced degree can help you skip right over those positions and start higher up in the company. Advanced degrees show your value and allow you to either apply for a higher up position or help you to make a case for receiving a raise in your current position. In 2017, an American with a master’s degree earned an average annual salary that was $17,000 higher than those with a bachelor’s degree. When you factor in that you are going to be working for 30 or more years, that difference in salary very quickly surpasses the costs of advanced degrees.

Additionally, master’s degrees and Ph.D’s both require a level of networking that is not often found in undergraduate programs. This networking allows for an individual to make connections within their field of study and they can lean on those connections when their job hunt begins.

Will Sassman concludes that advanced degrees are a major advantage within the professional world and taking the time to achieve one will be beneficial to your success in the long run.