10 Steps to decide best Executive Education Course for better career !!

Which is the best Executive Course for my profile?  

Whether I should go for short term online education course or long term course?

Which one has more value one year online certification course or 2 year online MBA program?

If these online courses are really useful or having market value?

Working professionals have similar questions in mind while deciding next level education course for them. There is lot of time and money investment which they will be putting up in any course. So it becomes one of most important decision, which course should be taken. It requires decent research and must be decided with guidance of some special counselor or mentor.

Currently it's more than 70 courses from best business schools are offered in different specializations. The Top B Schools such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, XLRI Jamshedpur and many more are offering Executive courses in various specializations like Business Management, HR Management, IT Management, Project Management Operations Management, Supply Chain Management, Data sciences, Business Analytics, Sales and Marketing, Financial Management, Strategic Management and Senior/ Leadership Management. 

Executive courses has 4 months specialization programs and also proper 2 years MBA. Both kind of courses have their own value and benefits.These all courses are offered on Virtual LIVE platform. Most of the courses also include campus visits to respective institute also for better rigor and learning experience.

Now the bigger question is HOW TO DECIDE BEST FIT COURSE FOR ONESELF.

We are sharing a very simple logical pattern to follow while deciding executive education option. Hope this will help you for better decision making. Be sure that you ask yourself following questions before finalizing any program.

1. What is my current role and responsibilities?
2. If my current education is good enough to support my career path?
3. What would be the possible promotions or next level job positions/ business ventures can be expected and where I am aiming in next 2 years or 5 years in career?
4. Get the detailed Job Description and eligibility for that particular position/business ventures you are aiming at.
5. Plan your budget for the course. See if your current organization can support in further education options. They might ask you to sign a bond for supporting your education. Its entirely your call to take if to get the support or not.
6. Research about time demanded in a program is another basis of decision. The rigor of program must be taken into consideration. While being on job you need to be very much sure how much time you can devote and if you can cope us with the rigor of a particular course.
7. Now explore only programs or courses which are matching your already prepared Job description for next level, budget, time frame.
8. Compare thoroughly the content, fees, engagement and batch size of each program.
9. Choose Top 3 best suiting courses for you
10. Speak to your mentor or someone who has right knowledge to suggest you about courses.

We believe above steps are certainly going to help in deciding program on content, time devotion and rigor basis.

Next step is whether it should be short term or long term Online course?

Short Term Courses - These courses are having duration of 4 months to 8 months and delivered through LIVE online sessions. Most of them are delivered on Direct to desktop model where candidates can attend sessions LIVE and online on their own system. 

In case you have sufficient knowledge base in your core domain and you just want to brush up the knowledge, update knowledge base in the same domain and also add brand certification; you should choose this kind of course. For example you are into HR Management Profile and having more than 5 years of work experience. You can apply for short term courses such as People analytics, HR Development, Talent Acquisition etc.

But in case you are planning a course for the new domain which was not earlier part of your job. You should not opt short term courses. For example You are into recruitment role for last couple of years and now want to move to core HR profile then you should not opt for short term course as it has limited sessions and rigor to make you learn. In this case choose a one year specialized program or if proper MBA program.

Long Duration Courses - These courses are generally having duration of 9 Months to 24 months. There are MBA courses as well as one year specialization courses available in Long duration programs.

Candidates who look forward to acquire basic as well as advanced knowledge and also want to shift from one domain to another; they should opt for long duration courses. 

These are high rigor programs which can be managed while being on job but these courses ensure candidates are taxing their brains to get through the program. For example if you are working on middle level management with more than 10 years of experience and you are already an MBA. Now for next level you need some Leadership as well as Senior Management skill set, so in this case short term course might not be able to deliver the expectations. Long term courses in Senior Management and leadership should be chosen. 

Another example is you are working in an engineering profile and having technical expertise with more than 3 years of work experience. Now you want to enhance career into management roles then opt for MBA pogram or one year specialization programs

If these online courses value in market ??

Online education has earned a respectful position in the corporate world. Prominent corporate like Airtel, Nestle, Godrej, Accenture, Bajaj, Abott healthcare and many more opt online education courses from the top b schools for the training and development of their Manpower/Employees. Even now, students get sponsorship form their companies for these Hi-end virtual executive education programs. Market now understand the virtual program outcome and without doubt value these certifications and most importantly they value the LEARNING from these programs.

To sum up  

First of all one must have clarity on current profile and next level position. Where he is now and what's the next level position he is aiming for. Until unless you know where you want to go you will land up in the mid of nowhere. Clarity of skill set needed for next level position is major criteria to choose a course. Plan your budget and be sure about the course rigor so that you can plan your time well. 

Short Term courses are generally to brush up your existing knowledge base and update the same whereas Long term courses are essential to develop yourself for certain position with basic and advanced content.

We hope this article will help you in deciding a better course for your bright career. Don't forget to explore all courses offered online by Top B School.