Survey: HR More Open To Applicants With Online Degrees
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A new survey finds that human resource management increasingly finds applicants with online degrees to be acceptable. NY1's Employment reporter Asa Aarons filed the following report. The traditional college setting and its four-year degree is changing rapidly. The relative trickle of students taking an occasional online course in 1999 has increased nearly 1,000 percent, according to the education marketer EducationDynamics.
A new survey tackles the interesting question of whether online degrees can help applicants reach or reinvent their career goals. Nearly 500 members of the Society for Human Resource Management have been questioned, and both online courses and online degrees are receiving positive grades from those doing the hiring.
"We've found that in general there is a much greater acceptance of an accredited online degree by HR professionals," says Helen MacDermott of eLearners.com. "This is great news for people who want to go back to school, especially in tough times when you want to be as marketable as possible and have that college professionalism."
The survey finds one reason has to do with the educational institutions involved. In addition to some of the well-known completely online degree programs, major names in education have opened the door to teaching some subjects by e-courses.
The survey finds programs that combine both online and on-location courses receive praise from HR professionals.
"Seventy-nine percent of HR professionals said that within the last year they actually have hired a job applicant with an online degree," says MacDermott. "We asked them to compare traditional universities with online programs, compared to completely virtual, online institutions that have no campuses. They overwhelmingly preferred traditional universities that offered distance learning."
The survey also shows that HR managers find little, if any difference, between motivation, time management skills or self-discipline between those with online or traditional degrees.
To find out more about the survey and what employers say about online degrees, visit www.eLearners.com.