Why You Should Consider Higher Education During Lockdown

If you have a keen mind and you hate wasting time, then this ongoing worldwide lockdown will prove to be particularly difficult for you to handle.

Not only is it mandatory to sit at home in order to flatten the COVID-19 curve, but chances are that your work from home sessions are starting to become slimmer with each passing day! After all, when the entire world is at a standstill, it’s difficult to continue business as usual, virtually or not.

Not every business can be run over the internet and those that can be are often connected to the former. For example, digital marketing agencies are likely to see a shortage of clientele in the tourism sector temporarily, on account of the worldwide quarantine measures in place.

Dire as the situation might be, business owners, high-level executives, and aspiring entrepreneurs are already looking for opportunities to leverage the situation in their favour as best as possible. Whether you are a student fresh out of high school, or an experienced employee, the quarantine period can be the perfect time for you to go back to school, virtually of course!

Getting Ahead of the Competition

Nearly everyone is in a state of panic right now. The reaction is quite understandable, given the massive loss of human life and the coming of a possible economic depression.

The depression itself almost seems unstoppable at this point in time. The Novel Coronavirus will lose its potency with time and hopefully soon, but the financial setback which the world will suffer on account of the mandatory quarantines will echo around for a long time to come.

So, how does all of that relate to pursuing higher education during these uncertain times? Well, the relationship is profound for those with foresight, because now is the ideal time to get ahead of the competition.

Students that start their courses online right now, or employees who begin to pursue higher education in their respective fields of expertise, will be strengthening their CVs at a time when most others will likely be taking a break.

 It is important to remember that there will be consequences such as pay cuts, layoffs and reduced recruitment rates across all industries, but they will be temporary at worst. A lot of parameters in business will change, but given that we have only suffered a halt, and not exactly a pushback like what happened during the First World War, demands will begin to normalize with time.

However, during this time, people who actually dedicate their time at home towards building a highly lucrative career path for themselves will have a higher chance to weather the initial storm than those around them. When you add to your professional skills with accredited degrees in a time when everyone else is taking it slow, it’s only fair to assume that your demand in the post-COVID-19 world will remain strong.

Not only will it give you a practical edge over the competition during recruitment and/or promotions, but the very fact that you held your own and used the time to enhance your professional skills will be looked upon with respect.

The Choice of Direction Must be Well Calculated

It is true that spending time in pursuit of anything productive during the quarantine is better than wasting the time away, but the choice of direction still needs to be well calculated if you want your steely efforts to matter. To explain how important this is, let’s talk about learning a new language and whether or not it will be a judicial use of your time right now.

Whether you learn German, Spanish, French, Italian, or Cantonese, the value of learning a language is always going to be insurmountable. It opens a virtual window that will allow you to glimpse into cultures, literature, films and even career opportunities that your mind simply did not have a concept of previously.

 However, if we were to speak from a typically professional point of view, things become a lot more complicated. Make no mistake about the fact that tourism will resume and both national and internal travelling will flourish one again in the post-COVID-19 world, but the problem is, we don’t know when that will happen.

There is no telling when the lockdowns will be lifted permanently in the UK alone, and there are nations with worse inflictions of the pandemic in Europe itself. Even when the lockdowns lift, chances are that international tourism may stay closed for much longer.

 Therefore, the professional efficacy of learning foreign languages in a world where foreign tourism is at a complete halt may not be the wisest decision for those that want to utilize the lockdown period to enhance their professional expertise.

Not that language experts will go out of work – interactions will continue via calls and video chats as usual – but it’s also true that in the foreseeable future, the demand for foreign language experts will come down significantly, especially for those working in the tourism sector.

This is just one example that shows how important it is to be careful in choosing your path for professional progress in the near future.

How Should One Choose Then?

Given that this is not a situation which any of us have faced previously, it is difficult to predict how things will go and which fields will prove to be among the most lucrative to pursue a career in.

The good news is that while it may be difficult to predict what will happen in the job market with any certainty, it is much easier to predict that a few professional degrees will remain as valid as ever, while a handful of the career paths will become even more lucrative. We all know about the demand for doctors and nurses right now and in the near future, because it’s likely the most obvious, but what about other fields such as analytics?

Aside from the first responders, researchers and other medical care professionals, the statisticians and the analysts are playing one of the most important roles in tracking, tracing, analyzing and predicting the impact of the pandemic, its tendencies, most dangerous zones, least dangerous zones, rate of occurrence and risk in respect to the environment, and various other details which will prove crucial in figuring out the best strategy to curb COVID-19.

It isn’t just about analyzing the epidemic either, because the job prospects and the importance of the analyst in the near future is tremendous. As Aston University explains, the right online analytics program can help students pursue career opportunities across various fields that range from business analytics and digital marketing to data engineering and demographic analysis.

If anything, the demand for analysts who can properly help in predicting the economic impacts of various post-COVID-19 scenarios will only increase. The analysis of data has always been important, but it’s going to be more important than before very soon. This makes a degree in analytics one of the most intelligent courses to pursue online during the quarantine and after.

Similarly, the principle idea behind choosing any course for higher education at this time should be based on a few key decisive questions such as:

• How feasible the course is for being completed online.

• How prospective would it still be in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic?

• How relevant is it in relation to your current field of work or education?

• Does the chosen course have the necessary accreditation?

You May Need to Consider a Career Change

This may seem like the worst-case scenario, but in truth, it isn’t.

A large number of young workers settle for too little and too soon, or minimum wage to be precise. Thousands of British workers in relation to fast food chains are worrying about losing their jobs at the moment and this is true in not just the UK, but pretty much everywhere right now.

Instead of waiting perpetually in panic mode, it just makes a lot more sense to prepare instead. Now that you finally have the time you need on your hands, use it to finish your education online and pursue a more stable, better paying and lucrative career path.

 You could even be joining the same food chain in a year but at a much higher rank this time around. Alternately, some may not even have to work under anyone anymore, because with the right education, opening up a small business of your own isn’t out of the question either.

It’s worth remembering that during any emergency, there have always been the people who adapt, and those who can’t. Concentrating on higher education and better career aspirations is certainly one of the best forms of adaptation right now since this is a time when the best thing most of us can do to help is to just sit at home!

The real challenge will make itself apparent when the lockdown lifts and companies begin to cut their losses. Being prepared for that in advance is more important for some than others, but it will affect everyone, directly or indirectly.