Back to School

September 8 is next week and I am very excited and worried. Is going back to school really the answer?

A lot of us rely on our steady stream of income to catch up with the bills to pay, the mortgage, maybe a little vacation to stretch out and relax a bit. But what happens when that steady income suddenly stops?

With the recent economic crisis, the large number of people laid off has made the job search a lot more competitive. In order to stay ahead of the others, one has to have more than a few skills.
Therefore for those who had been dreaming of the perfect job, this is a perfect timing to acquire the skills one needs.

Going back to school or retraining thus becomes a very important decission to make. For some it is just as simple as highschool arithmitic. You want more money, move up to a higher position. To do that acquire, more skills not only where you are already good at but make it a point to get the skills that will make you one notch above your nearest competitor. Skills that makes you stand out making you the one person that the company just cant have without.

Obviously, the fact that you were a casualty of this economic crisis, your standing with the company you were working for was not as high as you would have liked. But that does not mean you were not contributing enough to the growth of the company. It only means that you need to get those skills up to a level were there are few competitors therefore getting laid off is the one thing you need to get ahead. Why? Because if you had been retained, you would be in the same position you had been and when the economy gets better, those who were laid off will come back with new skills, a fresh drive and determination to be on top. Most likely a lot of them will overtake you.

Then again it could be the other way around. The ones who survived the culling will be in the position to be the supervisors of those who are coming back and the new hirees.

So what is exciting about going back to school?

For me it is the opportunity to actually drive myself nearer to the job that I had been aiming for.

Here I come BCIT!