Bachelor and postgrad in different subjects

I have a bachelor degree in health care (non-UK uni) and it is time to re-educate myself. I have been thinking of Human Resource Management, Business management, International Business etc. After some research it turns out that I could get a masters degree in these subjects in one year eventhough my educational and professional background is in unrelated field.

My motivation in getting an eduation is not only to get a degree fast, but also learn about the subject. I really can't wrap my head around the fact that in one year with out a background I could get a masters degree that would be useful in professional life. I would understand if I had several years of work experience in HR then I would get a formal education. Or if I had a business degree and would now deepen my knowledge on the subject. I do appreciate that people learn on the job but with masters in HRM I wouldn't be applying to an assistant or officer jobs, it would be specialist, partner or manager.

Am I overthinking this whole thing? Do you have any experience in this?

Original post by Rex-rex

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With a Masters, but no relevant professional experience, I doubt you would be getting specialist or manager roles, and certainly not partner roles. Are you sure you've understood the jobs market accurately?

You can get a masters degree in those subjects because you can pay for it. That's nothing like the same as making yourself competitive in the jobs market.

Reply 2

Rex-rex

OP

6

Thank you for your reply.

That is what I have been thinking. If I had masters degree in let's say HRM or business management then why would anyone hire me as an assistant or even as an officer if they could get someone with a professional qualification. I think that would be a better investment from the company. Also if I had a masters degree then it wouldn't really make sense to apply for lower grade positions. Also without work experience it wouldnt make sense to hire me to a higher grade. I hope my point comes across.

I guess the main question is that does it make any sense to do a postgraduate degree in a different subject than bachelor? Cause I don't want to be equally unemployable as I am now even with further education.

(edited 7 years ago)

Original post by Rex-rex

Thank you for your reply.

That is what I have been thinking. If I had masters degree in let's say HRM or business management then why would anyone hire me as an assistant or even as an officer if they could get someone with a professional qualification. I think that would be a better investment from the company. Also if I had a masters degree then it wouldn't really make sense to apply for lower grade positions. Also without work experience it wouldnt make sense to hire me to a higher grade. I hope my point comes across.

I guess the main question is that does it make any sense to do a postgraduate degree in a different subject than bachelor? Cause I don't want to be equally unemployable as I am now even with further education.

If you are unemployable now (which I doubt) then you will be just as employable with a Masters degree, you'll just be better educated. What you need to do is work out why you are 'unemployable' now, and there are 3 main reasons - poor written applications, poor interview technique, or poor levels of experience.

So you need to review your applications to date and try and see if a pattern emerges - are you getting to the interview stage in about 10-20%? if not, then your application probably isn't very effective. That's either because you aren't writing the application in an effective way, which makes your skills evident and makes you competitive, or it's because you are applying for jobs you don't have the skills to do. If you are applying for entry level, graduate roles, then it is likely to be the former of these reasons, not the latter.

If you are getting to interview, but not converting about one in six to offers, then it is your interview technique that is holding you back. I can't offer much advice about that online, but there are resources you can Google, if you see that pattern emerging.

Reply 4

Rex-rex

OP

6

Thank you for your response and you make very valid points. I didn’t want to get too into my own personal background. Just understand if getting masters would make any sense without a background in the subject. But maybe it would be easier to understand my point if I open up a bit.

I graduated as a physiotherapist but the job market for physios is terrible, especially without work experience in the subject. After graduation I got a job in private healthcare practice as a physio but the job itself was more office based. After this I got a job as a buyer in public healthcare. I realized that this is not my thing and I would like to move on to something different. So currently I do have a permanent contract.

I haven’t done clinical work ever and therefore I’m unemployable as a physiotherapist in hospital environment especially since it has been many years since I graduated. I don’t really want to work as a buyer and without a business degree it is unlikely to get other administrative work in private sector. The job market is very competitive and we have 50-500 applicants for all the jobs (the one I’m doing now had 197 applicants). So even to get someone to read my resume requires a lot of work.

I’m sure my CV and cover letter could be better, but I believe that main problem is that my work experience doesn't match with my education. Which leads me to apply for jobs that I don't have the skills for. I would be happy to do entry level work but applying to do HR with a physio degree is unlikely since the people with bachelor in business are applying to the sae jobs.

I do not live in the UK, but I would be interested in living in London for a few years and I think it would be a good opportunity to combine London with wanting to change career paths. I think re-education would make the most sense so I could apply for different type of jobs. Getting a professional qualification in something doesn’t translate too well internationally so I don’t think for me unless I settle down to uk, aus, nz etc. I can’t really afford to do a bachelor degree.

So this kind of left me with the idea of postgrad, but if it doesn’t provide me with any more opportunities then it doesn’t make sense to do that either. In my mind I would be overqualified in employers eyes if I was looking for a HR assistant job but that would be my level based on work experience. Also, without experience I couldn’t get any higher grade jobs that would then add up with the education…hope this makes sense.

(edited 7 years ago)

Original post by Rex-rex

...........

I don't think your proposal makes strong sense (without knowing every detail and your aptitudes etc).

Getting a postgrad degree makes your position of all academic study and no practical experience even worse.

Getting a vocational postgrad qualification is an option, but if you still have no practical experience, it puts you in the same position you are now in.

Also, vocational qualifications are more jurisdiction dependent, ie an HR qualification in the UK may not travel well to other countries.

Further, you may not be eligible to work in the UK and may struggle to get the experience over here, so will have to take the qualification overseas.

Your best option seems to be to get experience as a physiotherapist, which means either/both improving the quality of your applications and thinking more broadly about who employs physios - for example, it's not just hospitals, large sports clubs etc will have physio teams, charities working with the disabled might have opportunities etc

Reply 6

Rex-rex

OP

6

Thank you for the information and taking time to respond

I think this is the best answer i can get without posing my CV and discussing face to face.

I'm sure i can get a work permit in the UK unless brexit will mess that up 😊

I have looked into my physio options. without clinical experience the options are very limited. There is simply too many off us. I dont think improving my cv in this area would put me to the top of the 200 applicants. Also i dont think physiotherapy is something i want to do for thw next 40 years.

My purpose is not to get a fancy job, but a job i enjoy. I believe that without an education i cant get the job. And if without a job i cant get that eduaction then it ges quite tricky.

I guess i need to apply for a new bachelor+masters degree at home for free and go from there. Maybe after that i can get my year or two in london 😊

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

Ftmshk

12

[QUOTE=Rex-rex;68315024I

My motivation in getting an eduation is not only to get a degree fast, but also learn about the subject. I really can't wrap my head around the fact that in one year with out a background I could get a masters degree that would be useful in professional life. I would understand if I had several years of work experience in HR then I would get a formal education. Or if I had a business degree and would now deepen my knowledge on the subject. I do appreciate that people learn on the job but with masters in HRM I wouldn't be applying to an assistant or officer jobs, it would be specialist, partner or manager.

A masters degree is much more full on. There is a lot of independent study and lots of assignments. Although it won't be assumed that you have experience in the subject it definitely helps, so before starting you would benefit from looking at degree-level text books or getting some relevant work experience.
Just a note on applying for jobs - although qualifications are great, and a masters certainly looks good, you do need work experience to get senior posts. Don't expect to get a manager post without any experience at officer level, whatever qualifications you have!

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 8

Rex-rex

OP

6

Original post by Ftmshk

A masters degree is much more full on. There is a lot of independent study and lots of assignments. Although it won't be assumed that you have experience in the subject it definitely helps, so before starting you would benefit from looking at degree-level text books or getting some relevant work experience.
Just a note on applying for jobs - although qualifications are great, and a masters certainly looks good, you do need work experience to get senior posts. Don't expect to get a manager post without any experience at officer level, whatever qualifications you have!

Posted from TSR Mobile

Thank you for your response. I didn't express myself very well. I only meant that in my personal experience in a subject where there are professional diploma qualifications, bachelor degrees and masters degrees there are certain levels you are hired. This naturally excludes subjects like medicine where there are laws that require certain education.

Based on my personal experience people with higher education are not hired to do work that require less education. Therefore gaining work experience is difficult. But getting a higer position that would go with the educaiton is impossible since there is no work experience. Unless of course I've just had very weird happenings and this isn't a universal thing.

I don't expect to get higher positions or think I would deserve them just by getting a degree. I know I need to get a new field of work and I'm trying to explore my options how to get there. I'm just tying to ask if getting a masters degree in unrelated field make any sense? Would anyone hire me to do entry level jobs or any other level jobs? Without base knowledge provided by bachelor degree (that most have when applying for post grad have) make me undesirable employee? I know a lot of people go straight to post grad from graduations so they don't have too much work experience either but still get positions. Or would it be better to do bachelor (and then possibly masters) if wanting to change fields? Or profesional qulification and then get an entry level job and gain experience and then do a post grad so that it is transferable internationally?

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 9

ImASnek

10

Some of these replies are absolutely mad -

There are countless different management and business / marketing MScs out there at top UK unis that are specifically designed for people who have no previously studied business and do not have any prior knowledge or experience.

They are designed to fast track non business graduates into a career in business and often have very >90 employment rates after completion of the degree within 3-6 months.

I'd be careful about getting a few years worth of experience, because anything greater than 6 months could work unfavourably for you if you apply for these types of courses, and you'll end up pidgeonholing yourself into having to undertake a new undergraduate degree and starting from scratch because you'll be ineligible for the fasttrack conversion courses with too much experience, and similarly wont qualify for the main types of business and management MScs as you lack an economics / business and management related undergraduate. So you'll then have to really start from scratch or pray you can get iin on the 2 years of work you have.

Reply 10

Rex-rex

OP

6

Original post by ImASnek

Some of these replies are absolutely mad -

There are countless different management and business / marketing MScs out there at top UK unis that are specifically designed for people who have no previously studied business and do not have any prior knowledge or experience.

They are designed to fast track non business graduates into a career in business and often have very >90 employment rates after completion of the degree within 3-6 months.

I'd be careful about getting a few years worth of experience, because anything greater than 6 months could work unfavourably for you if you apply for these types of courses, and you'll end up pidgeonholing yourself into having to undertake a new undergraduate degree and starting from scratch because you'll be ineligible for the fasttrack conversion courses with too much experience, and similarly wont qualify for the main types of business and management MScs as you lack an economics / business and management related undergraduate. So you'll then have to really start from scratch or pray you can get iin on the 2 years of work you have.

Oh this is interesting. When doing a research I found a few courses where they had a mandatory "elective" course (mandatory for non business graduates, elective for others) in the degree programme. I need to look into it more in case I could apply. Thank you!

Bachelor and postgrad in different subjects

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