Hello!
I am a moderate to low-income Mustachian who is working on my undergraduate degree after taking time post-associates degree to catch up with life. My dilemma is that I'm not certain if I should cater my degree a bit more specialty to help with job prospects (not such a generic degree) or if I have enough in terms of certificates/experience/etc. to jazz up a resume with a basic old undergrad.... or... GASP, if I should just crank out the undergrad and go for a short program Masters....
Here are the details:
Currently: Working on a Bachelors Degree in Psychology. Considering turning this into an Operational and Industrial Psychology Bachelors degree, which would add about 10 months to my program and about 10k additional in cost or so. I am thinking that the OPI Psych degree is a bit more specialized toward business and may help my prospects... but I'll list my certificates, etc. below... maybe I don't need it and I can just *say* on my resume "concentration in business* or something?
I'm working on the Psychology degree simply because that's what I was closest to when I took my associates degree, which I took because I was simply out of money for school at that time.
Currently:
Duke University Certificate in Non-Profit Management (I looooooved this program and felt like I excelled in the social enterprise and strategic planning portions, which got me interested in the OPI Psych degree in the first place)
Kent State University Associates Degree (Science)
Virginia Commonwealth University ACE PARAPRO Certificate (this will allow me to use QMHP after my name if/when I finish the Psych degree if I choose to)
I have definitely moved around a lot, which I think looks a little weird on my resume, but it is what it is....
Other Randoms:
CPR/First Aid/AED (Adult, Child, Infant, Canine, Feline)
Basic Life Support Certified
NASM Certified Personal Trainer
Basic Reflexology Certificate
Six Sigma Yellow Belt (Working on Green belt now)
Certified Safety Care Behavioral Specialist (can only use in one specific school district here)
Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting for Educators Certified
Ordained Reverend (random, but I got this 11 years ago to baptize a friend and marry another friend)
Work:
-About 5-6 years of direct service experience with individuals with emotional, neurological, or social disabilities in an educational setting. I sometimes enjoyed this, but the burn out is so so so very real and I couldn't take it. I now do special education tutoring instead as a side job.
-About ten years of experience managing a social enterprise Non-Profit region *cough cough, Goodwill* - I did not enjoy this, but did well and never had a losing year. I'd have to look back, but I think I was near 100% sales growth every single year.
-Currently I manage contracts for the property of a large religious non-profit (historical art & text, physical land, 100+ fleet vehicles, 10+ buildings, etc). I do enjoy this and am good at it, but they hate the queers and I'm a queer, so I can't hang on for too too much longer and feel ok about myself... they work with my school schedule and pay well, so I'm there for now.
-I've been a board member and the VP of a very small athletic non-profit, but I generally leave it off of my resume (a 501c3 Roller Derby league and people's poor perception of Roller Derby (OMG, do you wear hot pants and slap fight each other?!?! :| :| :( ) is generally more trouble than it's worth when I mention it)
So.... What does everyone think? Do I need to specialize or can I just crank out the basic Psych degree and then spruce up my resume with pertinent other experience?
Thanks ahead of time for the help!!