You lost your job. You’re tired of that field anyway, so now you’ve decided to go back to school for new skills and make a career change. It’s a wonderful idea to want to better oneself and a sound one that makes sense—in an ideal world. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to learn and advance in one’s education. But before you take out that hefty loan for a certificate program and have a debt hanging over your head with no job prospects, consider some valuable tips:

Make sure the school is accredited by your state education department and is on the Eligible Training Provider List of your state’s labor department website. This means that the school had to meet certain important criteria and be validated.

Don’t go by hearsay as to employment opportunities. National labor statistics tell you that certain fields are growing. It’s important to remember that these statements are overall projections for the entire country and often do not and cannot take into consideration wild fluctuations due to the economy at any given time. The local regional reality for your desired field may be much different from those reports. Talk to people employed in your desired field. They offer the best reality-check. While labor stats may say one thing about how the medical field is proliferating in opportunities, local hospitals are laying off all professional levels like crazy and closing their doors in some cases.

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While students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology pay thousands of dollars for courses, the university will announce a new program on Monday allowing anyone anywhere to take M.I.T. courses online free of charge — and for the first time earn official certificates for demonstrating mastery of the subjects taught. - By Tamar Lewin, NY Times

This is huge.  There’s no better time than that of unemployment to better yourself, your skills, your knowledge base, your value to your future employer; and now you can put MITx’s name (or whatever name they come up with when this officially launches in the spring), which will definitely hold some weight, on your resume once you master the course and get the receive the certification.  The catch here is that the certification may end up coming with some cost, but that fee structure is yet to be determined.  That being said, it will definitely be worth it, along with the knowledge gained.

For MITx’s FAQ click here.

-By Garrett Dale

Co-Founder of The 405 Club

There is a realistic yet disturbing trend for people who lost their jobs to need upgraded skills and/or certifications to recoup back where they were. The competition is severe, the bar is raised and people are feeling the heat to keep up. It is always a good idea to keep your skills strong and relevant. The philosophy of business today, whether it be in government, education, nonprofit or private industry, to continuously improve. In fact, companies and organizations and entities have made it a top priority and Big Business in and of itself.

But what bothers me is that companies are not willing to assist its incumbent workers to do this…

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