Break Through the Glass Ceiling with Continuing Education

In today’s corporate world, you either have the goods or you don’t. You have Bachelor’s degree (or two) from a fine 
institution and were always told that it was the key to your success. However, times are changing and the majority of your 
colleagues have a Bachelor’s degree. When it comes time for that promotion, how will you set yourself apart from the pack?

You can set yourself apart from your colleagues with continuing education. Continuing education is any sort of learning 
that helps you advance and learn more than you did previously. This could be something as simple as taking a few courses 
at your local college to advance your computer skills to going for a Master’s degree in your field.

You may be wondering if it will be worth the extra costs to pursue continuing education. In the end it will. Let’s say you 
spend upwards of $10,000 on an advanced degree or continuing education certificate program. That’s $10,000 that you couldn’t 
spend on something else. However, if your company has a tuition reimbursement program that money can be given back to you 
and you would have a leg up on a raise and promotion. Or, it they don’t have a program, you could still pay for it out of 
your own pocket and be more likely get that raise and promotion. That raise could be enough to cover the costs of your 
tuition in just a few months. Then you’d be more likely for future raises and promotions that you wouldn’t have been considered 
for earlier.

If you are a woman, it also helps you prove that you are better for a promotion than a male counterpart. Women still make 
less on average than men. If you are vying with a man for the same position, it is hard to make the case of why you are 
better for the job. But, if you have some continuing education under your belt, it makes it easier to prove. And you’d 
probably end up with the bigger salary too.

Continuing education also shows that you are committed to increasing your skill set. Your ambition will shine through along 
with the added knowledge you receive from the courses. That is very appealing to executives looking for people to fill the 
upper ranks at companies.

It is easy to see why you should take the plunge and go with continuing education. You advance your skill set, gain 
confidence and show how ambitious you really are. You also show your superiors how willing you are to take on new 
challenges without being told to do so.

So, take the plunge and break through that glass ceiling. Start your research today on continuing education opportunities 
and begin to advance your career in ways that you never thought possible. Who knows, by the end of your career, you could 
be the CEO! That would not have been possible without finding a way to have continuing education.