Why not do a course with your $900 bonus? Josh Jennings looks at the long and short of it.
He could have succumbed to the sure-fire rush of a retail binge but given the current economic climate, barman and business-marketing graduate Damien Pagan decided his cash payment from the Federal Government would be best invested in the MYOB basic short course at Swinburne University ofTechnology.
"Now more than ever I think you need something behind you," he says. "Even though it's tough at the moment, I think if you can put that little bit extra on your resume it gives you a great advantage."
Since the Rudd Government started making bonus payments to low- and middle-income earners, enrolments in short courses at Swinburne have risen by 43 per cent. But is this money well spent?
National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) managing director Tom Karmel says deciding whether investment in a short course is worth it depends on the expectations of the individuals enrolling.
"If they just want to get a particular skill, then there's no particular problem," he says. "They just have to make sure that it's a pretty good-quality course and they'll get the skills that they pay for. If they want to use it for some other purpose, such as to get a docket to get a job, then I think they've got to be pretty aware of how much of a difference it's really going to make."
Karmel says a short course for a forklift certificate, for example, can only deliver so many outcomes. "These are helpful things to have but they're going to be pretty much on the margin of things to have in the competitive labour market."
Careers Industry Council of Australia (CICA) executive director Peter Tatham says those who have lost their jobs in the current economic downturn can benefit from short courses.
"It's important to keep mentally active," he says, "and people have to manage their employability. They need to manage where they want to work next and what they have to learn next to get there."
NCVER figures for 2009 show that 84 per cent of graduates surveyed in Victoria and NSW were employed in the first six months after finishing training at, or above, diploma levels. Karmel says those seeking to enrol in short courses for a competitive edge in the labour market should recognise that it's typically the longer and more substantial courses that make the difference in this regard.
But Anne Badenhorst, the director of Swinburne University's industry solutions department, says she would encourage students in some instances to opt for a short course over a longer one: if they're still apprehensive about the career path they wish to pursue, a short course means sacrificing less time and money.
"And you can do something short that recognises a current need and that could be recognised in a bigger program in a diploma at TAFE or a university program as well," she adds.
But with such a diverse array of short courses to choose from (options include anything from soap art and felt doll making to first aid training), how do you choose the one that will benefit you the most? Karmel says students and educational institutions both have responsibilities when it comes to the decision-making process.
"The responsibility of the educational institution is to make sure they understand what happens to people who have done their courses, so if they're advertising something as being a great help to get a job, then I think they have some sort of responsibility to havesome evidence for that," he says. "At the same time I think thatthe individual has to be very aware, too."
Pagan says he had no problem with the role Swinburne played in informing his decision to enrol in the MYOB basic short course.
"All the information was clearly stated and I felt confident with it all," he says.
It's important that people enrolling in short courses also have their finger on the pulse intheir chosen industry, Badenhorst explains.
"Thinking about the issues that will drive business should inform what you choose to do as well."
