Career Discovery
Acquiring Other Skills or Certifications
< Career Discovery
If you are thinking about pursuing a career track that requires specialized skills – which you were not able to acquire as an undergraduate or on the job – then you may want to acquire further training or certification. Below are some links and suggestions for advancement or training in a variety of fields. Most of the programs listed refer to local programs although some national level resources are mentioned.
For general information on graduate and professional schools, along with different courses of study, click here.
Navigate this page using the following menu:
GENERAL
If you are interested in attending a local community college to acquire a particular skill set, go to www.communitycollege.com to look up one near you.
Other useful websites:
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction
Community College of Philadelphia
Camden County Community College
Delco Community College
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BUSINESS
If you were a liberal arts major and you are presently working in business and need to develop further your skill set, or you intend to switch to a business job after working in another area, many business schools provide certificate programs in business geared specifically for liberal arts majors.
Dartmouth Bridge Program (4 weeks)
NYU's Stern School of Business
Berkeley' Haas School of Business
Wharton: Evening School Certificate Programs for Working Professionals
Temple, Drexel and other schools in the area also offer MBAs and Executive MBAs.
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ADMINISTRATIVE AND NON-PROFIT
LaSalle University has a Certificate program in Non-Profit Management Development
The College of General Studies (CGS) here at Penn provides several professional certificate programs in the following areas:
Communication for Professionals
Executive Administration
Program Management
Fundraising
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COUNSELING, CLINICAL OR EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Some folks discover, after college, that they have a vocational interest in counseling or advising. If you are one of those people and halittle exposure to psychology as an undergraduate but are now interested in obtaining the required training for a career in the field, you may want to take a few undergraduate level courses at your local university to prepare to apply to a graduate program. Or you may also enroll in a psychology post-baccalaureate program such as our program in CGS. In addition, you should also get exposure to clinical work with different populations (e.g. suicide hotline, alcohol abuse rehab counseling, etc.) and to psychology research.
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SOCIAL WORK
Another way to get trained in a helping profession is to get a degree in social work, either in its clinical or administrative track. For more information on the field go to:
National Association of Social Workers
Career Services webpage for the School of Social Policy and Practice
In the Career Services library there are some useful publications you may want to peruse:
Carol Nesslein Doelling’s Social Work Career Development, A Handbook for Job Hunting and Career Planning (Washington, D.C.: NASW Press, 2000)
Neale Baxter and Philip Perry, Opportunities in Counseling and Development Careers (Chicago: VGM Career Horizons, 1997)
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HEALTH CARE FIELDS
If you have an interest in pursuing a career in health care and have not prepared for that you may want to look into post-baccalaureate programs. See
The American Association of Medical Colleges
Career Services webpage on post-bac programs
(In addition you should speak to a pre health advisor in Career Services – call 215-898-1789 for an appointment.)
CGS also provides Post-Baccalaureate Undergraduate Programs in Health, Genetic Counseling, Nursing, and Science for individuals who want to get the necessary academic training to switch careers.
Other useful websites for information on careers in nursing:
Nursing Resources on the Internet
For public health go to:
Association of Schools of Public Health
American Public Health Association
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EDUCATION
If teaching at the elementary, middle or high school levels appeals to you, there is plentiful information on the web. Check out the following:
Certification for teaching in public schools:
Types of certification programs
Certification requirements by state
For Pennsylvania certification, specifically, click here.
For information on alternative certification, click here
Information on Teaching in Independent Schools:
National Association of Independent Schools
Independent School Placement Agencies
For information on Penn's Teaching English as a Second Language Programs
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COMPUTER SCIENCE/ GRAPHIC DESIGN/ GRAPHIC ARTS
If you think you would like to pursue an interest in one of the above areas you may want to attend a local community college to acquire the specific technical training that is necessary (Microsoft JAVA Developers and FLASH are commonly required for web design.) Go to communitycollege.com to locate a school near you.
Other useful websites:
SCAN – Small Computers in the Arts Network
International Webmasters Association
Graphic Arts Information Network
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ARCHITECTURE
If you are interested in exploring graduate education in architecture, check out the following:
American Institute of Architects
Architectural Foundation
John Edwards, ed., Guide to Architecture Schools (Washington, D.C.: ACSA Press, 1998) has a good review of architectural education and how to apply to architecture schools. It also lists all the accredited programs in the country and provides information about them.
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OTHER
Finally, Penn’s College of General Studies provides a master’s in Bioethics, Environmental Studies, and Liberal Arts.
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