Hi everyone.

23 Comments

1. TyraJuly 8,2022 at 1:03PM UTC

   You might start working directly with a recruiter and share your story along with your career aspirations. The recruiter can then help be an advocate for you in your career search. Best Wishes!

2. AnonymousJuly 8,2022 at 1:41PM UTC

   If you have a certification in PMP, can you lead with that under education?

3. AnonymousJuly 8,2022 at 1:52PM UTC

   Finish your degree. You've invested time and money into it and the companies you want to work for have so many applicants. Experience may be long, but it is also hard to quantify. Education is a way of raising the bar to a certain baseline to weed out hundreds (and thousands) of candidates. Do what you need to do to be considered.

4. Nancy MaceJuly 8,2022 at 2:55PM UTC

   I am in the SAME position. I wish that hiring managers would take life experience into account for lack of a formal education. I was unable to complete college for financial reasons and when I got into the work force I was learning so much more 'on the job'. I probably have a PHD in business by now but it seems as though most hiring managers can't get past the lack of a degree.

5. AnonymousJuly 9,2022 at 5:44PM UTC

   Yep!! They all want a piece of paper. I get some careers like real estate license or teachers, etc. I understand CPA.

   I've seen jobs that "anyone" can do and they want a Masters!!! (No one with a Masters in accounting will do bookkeeping unless they want $$ and then will quit shortly after)

6. Leslie MillsJuly 8,2022 at 3:00PM UTC

   Even if you did not complete all courses for

   your degree, your extensive and valuable experience resulted in impressive success. This is more than equivalent to those incomplete courses. Review your resume and reconcile your experience with your education. You can do it!

   Education takes many forms,

   You rock!

   Best of luck to you.

7. Barb HansenJuly 8,2022 at 3:41PM UTC

   I wrote a bad reply to the OP and I have rightly been corrected by other community members, and I'm editing my original comment to reflect a more thoughtful answer.

   Of course, it's never right to lie on your resume or to mislead your new employer (and I was wrong to suggest so).

   Here is my revised suggestion (which I hoped was what I wanted to say originally but failed to do so):

   1,Update the educational section of your resume to say "XXX Degree, ABC College, expected completion date: May 2024"

   2.Explain during your interview why you had to stop your higher education. Explain that you are planning on finishing your degree by X year.

   3.Then finish your degree, if required by your employer.

   There are great options available for inexpensive degrees. The University of the People is a great option for business, education and healthcare degrees. It's a fully licensed and recognized tuition-free distance university (recognized and supported by many Fortune 500 companies). They do charge for their exams and last I checked a bachelor degree cost about $2400.00 - which it the total costs of each exam required to get your degree and you only pay for each exam when you take the exam (~$60) so there isn't a large pay out at any one time.

8. AnonymousJuly 9,2022 at 2:41AM UTC

   "Pretend like you are still in the process of completing your degree" is just a fancy way of saying lie about it. Don't ever lie on your resume. What if a company asks for more details, such as where are you enrolled, what courses are you currently taking, etc? Or what if they make an offer but expect to see a degree in May 2024 - are you actually willing to follow through? Don't ever lie on your resume, it will get found out.

9. AnonymousJuly 9,2022 at 5:41PM UTC

   @ barb - you always give really good advice but I’m with someone else that mentioned “pretend like you’re still in the process of completing your degree” is a nice way of saying: LIE. I think you missed the mark on this advice. I would never put this on a resume unless I was truly in the process of taking classes.

   I personally added “in process” as I progressed through my MBA and was adding credits towards my degree and seeking tuition reimbursement. Suggesting that people add this to mislead prospective employers (when they have no intentions of completing the degree) cheapens the value of seeking higher education.

   Please reconsider this approach.

10. AnonymousJuly 8,2022 at 6:13PM UTC

    Still list the degree but indicate that it is still in progress.

    As far as finishing the degree at a low cost, see if you can transfer your credits to a low cost local community college and complete remaining courses online. Now-adays most companies do not care which school you graduated from unless your job specialty is known for recruiting graduates from specific schools.

11. AnonymousJuly 8,2022 at 8:45PM UTC

    Have you considered taking CLEP exams to exempt yourself out of the requirement?

12. Monique PietropaoliJuly 11,2022 at 5:05PM UTC

    Unfortunately I have not been able to utilize CLEP because the courses left are all non-business (open) electives.

13. Cyndi RosenblattJuly 11,2022 at 7:14PM UTC

    CLEP and Dantes have a ton of options. You can probably self-educate through YouTube for a lot of the topics. https://clep.collegeboard.org/clep-exams and https://www.getcollegecredit.com/

14. Cyndi RosenblattJuly 11,2022 at 7:22PM UTC

    I used CLEP for a couple of classes and "challenged" the public speaking course for my undergrad. The challenge was the same fee as the CLEP tests (not sure how other schools handle it), I had to take the final exam for the course, write a report on a recorded speech, and give a speech following a specific format in front of the 3 speech instructors.

15. Sabrina CortesJuly 9,2022 at 1:23AM UTC

    Is there an option for "other?" This way you can put some coursework for your Bachelor's Degree.

    I'm a professional Resume Writer and if your Education section is near the top of your resume, I'd suggest moving it near the end. This way, prospective employers see your skills and experience first, then your education.

16. AnonymousJuly 9,2022 at 4:01AM UTC

    You are asking your potential boss to get into a big argument with HR right off the bat, before they even know you. The effort involved in that is absurd. And even if they hire you, the argument has to be revisited every single time they want to promote you. Just finish the degree.

17. AnonymousJuly 11,2022 at 5:15PM UTC

    I don’t think the intent was asking anyone to argue on their behalf but I think that at some point (25 years?) relevant work experience should outweigh a degree obtained so long ago.

18. Cyndi RosenblattJuly 11,2022 at 7:31PM UTC

    Not sure about other companies, but most of our professional jobs are default minimum bachelor and we have to make a special request to HR to permit "or equivalent experience" to be added. If it's not in the job description, HR won't even forward the application unless they meet that minimum criteria. Knowing someone on the inside might help, but I know from experience that HR pushes back on those requests and doesn't always approve them.

19. Jocelyn LyonsJuly 9,2022 at 11:14AM UTC

    Agree with the comments below to list your degree as “in progress”. Maybe you can find a company willing to pay for the remainder of your classes.

20. Audrey KirschJuly 9,2022 at 4:50PM UTC

    Usually job descriptions will say College Degree or equivalent experience which you have. You need to adjust your resume to show your practical education. Phrase skills learned into 'educational enhancements.' Plus, you need to check off college rather than high school on applications. Don't discount the years you spent on your education just because you didn't get your bachelor's. Get a professional to review your resume to best show off your talents. Then add a killer cover letter specific to the job you are trying to get. Companies may be seeing that you can do the job, but they need to know that want it. After 25 years in a field, I doubt that it's just the lack of a degree that is keeping companies from considering you for a position.

21. Monique PietropaoliJuly 11,2022 at 5:08PM UTC

    Thank you for the input. The issue is the automated applications don’t give room for an ‘in progress’ response but I like your idea to focus on my skills more.

22. AnonymousJuly 9,2022 at 5:38PM UTC

    I had this VERY issue.

    Accounting. I have a bachelor's in Interior Design in late 90s but left due to the economy and finding suitable work.

    Started as a bookkeeper. Then office manager/accounting, then franchisee accounting (I did it ALL except sign as a CPA)

    Got laid off. Went back to school, CLEP exams and associates degree in honors as a FT working single mom (night school, accelerated program at the local CC). I worked a "mindless" data entry job 40h a week for the $$ but saved my real thinking for school.
    To recruiter --
    I explained real-world examples as well - 10+ years of bank recs, AP for 25 franchise locations, etc. I had progress from a to b to c. I didn't lie or even stretch the truth. I laid out my experience on a timeline of sorts.

    I'm a senior Accountant now managing a warehouse.

    I love where one poster said CLEP exams. During Covid in 20-21 I took SEVEN professional Microsoft exams for ADVANCED Excel and other programs. Partial because I was bored and laid off but I wanted to show an employer I was able to work independently and have goals

23. Cyndi RosenblattJuly 10,2022 at 9:02PM UTC

    Granted that I work in a government position, but very few of our roles permit "or equivalent experience" for a bachelor degree. We can sometimes push hard to justify the request, but most of us are unlikely to for someone we don't know. I know that recently they've been asking for (and getting) master degrees for business manager roles. I think your best bet would be to network and focus on smaller companies with less rigid structures in place until/unless you are able to finish your degree.

    Your original post made it seem like you disparage the utility of a degree a bit, but the work world is not what it was when you started with your company. It will be much more difficult to get a new company to hire you at a leadership level when literally every other person under you will have at least that minimal educational background, many of them with graduate degrees.