When Texas resident Billy Parsons went on job interviews, he emphasized his unique online education.
The 47-year-old earned his MBA from the for-profit Capella University last year through competency-based education, meaning the curriculum focused around developing clearly defined skill sets to master a given discipline.
In Capella’s FlexPath program, students like Parsons progress through a degree at their own pace. As in many competency-based programs, they move quickly through the lessons they already know from past experience, complete assessments and projects along the way to demonstrate their skills and spend more time on material they aren’t familiar with.
During interviews, “I said, ‘Hey, I’m working on an MBA in the same manner as if I were working for you. And it allows me to accomplish the assignments in a way that would mirror what I would do for you,'” says Parsons. “And I would kind of walk through whatever class I was working on at the time.”
But while employers are generally more accepting of online degrees, experts say, many are still unfamiliar with competency-based education , which can be either instructor-led or completely self-paced. That form of learning is more common in online than face-to-face programs , and often in fields such as information technology, business and health care administration — though this varies.
[Discover four considerations about online, competency-based education.]
“It’s definitely still new,” says Alana Dunagan, a higher education researcher at the Clayton Christensen Institute, a nonprofit focusing on disruptive innovation. “I think we’re still seeing programs proliferate; we’re still seeing really fast growth when people build new competency-based programs.”
In addition to Capella, Western Governors University and the College for America at Southern New Hampshire University offer competency-based degrees in different fields at various levels. The University of Wisconsin System has similar online degree options designated as “flexible.”
Stephanie Elliott, manager of recruiting programs at Aerotek, a worldwide staffing agency covering a range of industries, says she has seen these degrees on resumes, though not very frequently — mostly among adults returning to school.
Recruiters say in those cases, especially for upper-level positions, a degree ‘s format is usually less important than a candidate’s skills and experience.
Frank Green, managing principal at ExecuSource, an Atlanta-based staffing and recruiting firm focusing primarily on IT and finance, says many hiring managers that he works with hold a stigma against online degrees in general. There’s room to educate employers about what competency-based education really entails, he says, so they don’t view them simply as easier.
[Learn what employers really think about online bachelor’s degrees.]
“If the hiring managers I work with were to understand that the competency-based sort of model is just getting the person through some of the more rudimentary segments of their education or their degree,” they might comprehend why it works well for certain students, Green says.
A recent study conducted by Joy Henrich, regional dean at the for-profit Rasmussen College, found that while most employers aren’t very familiar with competency-based education, about 43 percent of respondents said employers need to learn more about it.
Many employers surveyed, Henrich says, compared this learning style to competency-based training within their workplaces. One hundred percent of respondents said they would consider hiring a candidate with a competency-based degree for positions requiring a college education.
A separate 2015 study by the American Enterprise Institute found similar results regarding employers’ lack of familiarity. But once they learn more about it, they are “highly enthusiastic,” the study says.
Marc Miranda, who graduated with an MBA from Western Governors University in 2015, says that during job interviews, he needed to explain how Western Governors’ curriculum works to many potential employers.
Eventually, a private medical practice where he was interning hired him for a new company position — one that officials created after learning more about his education and seeing Miranda put his competencies into action.
[Explore tips to finish an online, competency-based degree.]
“That, I think, was a major differentiator that separated me from traditional MBA-ers out there — because the competency-based model means I had to not only learn what these theories are but how to apply the skills into the real world,” says the 34-year-old Clifton Park, N.Y., resident.
How a job applicant presents an online, competency-based education on a resume varies depending on the individual’s goals, says Jessica Mitchell, manager of Western Governors University’s career and professional development center. But experts say most of the time, it’s not immediately clear how a degree was completed; that might come up during job interviews or follow-up conversations.
“I would specifically say, ‘Well, it’s a different kind of program,'” says Parsons, the Capella grad. “‘It’s not rote memorization, and spitting it back out on an essay or exam.'”
Sue Fransen Way, a career counselor at Capella, says that with online, competency-based education, students complete assignments that tell employers: “Here’s how I am showing that I have what you’re looking for. Here’s what I accomplished. Here are the results I can point to.”
Trying to fund your online education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for Online Education center.
More from U.S. News
Competency-Based Education: 4 Considerations for Online Students
5 Signs That a Competency-Based Program Could Help Your Career
The Approaching Revolution of Competency-Based Higher Education
What Employers Think of Online, Competency-Based Degrees originally appeared on usnews.com
