Courses for Project Management

Have you thought about continuing your professional education? Employers today highly value those employees that take initiative to further their knowledge in their field and keep current with new standards and practices. 

The College Network® offers professional certificates from Purdue University, Boston University and Corporate Education Group.  We can help you obtain your Lean Six Sigma certification, a certificate of  project management or your paralegal certificate.

Lean Six Sigma certification can help to improve the efficiencies at your company. Working with a master black belt instructor from Purdue University will enable you to grasp the methodologies behind this business model. You will work with other professionals around the country who are also seeking their certification.  Start out with your Lean Six Sigma green belt certification and then move to a black belt--your employer will thank you for the significant contribution you are able to make towards increasing their productivity.

If you are an experienced project manager but don't have your certification, there isn't a better time than now to become certified.  Our PMP® preparation courses cover all aspects of project management and will help to prepare you for the Project Management Professional® exam.   It will also help add to your marketability if you are searching for a new opportunity.

And if you are a legal secretary who would like to advance your career, you can earn your paralegal certificate from Boston University.  This hands on, 14-week program will provide you with access to the Westlaw legal research database throughout your paralegal studies program. You will also learn from practicing attorneys, who bring their experience and in-depth knowledge to every course.

More and more professionals are seeking certifications in order to become an expert in their field. Call one of our Program Advisors today at 800-395-1014 to learn more our certificate programs. 

I would like to share the following list by Eric Bloom, President and Founder of Manager Mechanics, of his top 10 reasons to become a PMP. If you are on the fence about obtaining Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, read Eric's list and reconsider the opportunity that PMP certification affords.

The College Network offers a Project Management Certificate course through Corporate Education Group that gives fantastic preparation--and the Professional Development Units (PDUs) required--to take the PMP exam. Corporate Education Group is also on the Global Executive Council of Project Management Institute (PMI), which is the global governing body of project management and the administrator of the PMP exam.

Eric's list is as follows: 

If the PMP certificate is a goal for you, give me a call at 1-800-307-1006 ext 4767.

-Charles Fox, Program Advisor

• Business
• Business Leadership
• Information Systems
• Management of Human Resources
• Marketing Management
• Management
• Legal Studies
• Project Management
• Software Development
• Criminal Justice Administration
• Corrections Administration and Management
• Security Management
• Healthcare Management

“I decided that a certificate in project management would at least provide me with the foundation I needed in order to increase my chances of success.” With the goal of earning a certificate in mind, an online program was important for Rosalyn in order to balance her work schedule with her courses.

“I decided to advance my education through The College Network™ based on the flexibility, financing options and provider affiliations,” explains Rosalyn. “What I liked most about the program is that it gave me the opportunity to learn on my own time and at my convenience.”

Read more of Rosalyn Toliver's success story, or call 1-800-395-1014 to learn more about courses for project management.

Ken chose to pursue his certificate with help from BUCEC because of the prominent online presence of the company on technology jobs and professional networking web sites. He was especially pleased with the flexibility and outline of the courses. “I liked the bundled ten course curriculum I saw and flexibility of online classes. It was all one complete program. One complete curriculum, simplified,” Ken explained.

Read more of Ken's success story or call 1-800-395-1014 today.

Stop what you're doing!  Just like a game of red light, green light you may have played when you were a kid, lets take a moment to examine how putting off your College Network program of choice may be inhibiting you from achieving your goal(s).

Most people divide their goals into short- and long-term accomplishments.  While your big picture goal may be to get a promotion, a raise, or a job, the thing that will define your success is your work that you do right now.  Focus on the moment.  If the Lean Six Sigma Online program from Purdue is what will help you in your short-term and/or long-term success, why sacrifice pursuing it this moment and potentially damaging your ultimate goal?

Trust me, no one is perfect, and it is very easy to lose sight of focusing on the moment because you feel overwhelmed about the bigger picture.  But, The College Network offers you ample opportunities to pick up where you left off with our online education programs.  Some are truly self-paced, like our LPN to Associates RN Nursing program, and our courses for Project Management from Boston University Corporate Education Center.  Most others are asynchronous, where you do not have the pressure of having to be online at certain times.  Build upon your minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, and day-by-day achievements. Before you know it, you'll complete your program and be well on your way to reaching your goal(s).

Something I have noticed throughout my career is that in many organizations there is a disconnect between doing a job well and being prepared to succeed. This disconnect leads to frustration as employees, on every level including management, fail to meet the expectations passed down through the chain of command. 

Having worked in the education industry for many years, I have been exposed to others' frustrations many times. A lot of the professionals who experienced frustration in the workplace did so because they failed to make the connection between their job and their ability to do that job. I am not talking about the simple day-to-day tasks but more so about the ability to take an assignment and turn it into a game changing success story. 

The College Network partners with major universities that are recognized for having some of the best college programs to offer busy adults with a variety of professional certificate programs in areas such as; Project Management, Lean Six Sigma, Paralegal, Human Resources, Leadership, and Food Service Management that can all be completed 100% online. 

Most of the people we work with realize they have the ability to get the job done but fail to reach beyond the norm, because they don’t focus on professional development (i.e. themselves). 

I would like to share a brief story that might help shed some light on what I am saying… In my story there are two people responsible for cutting wood (person A & person B). Over the course of a week the two wood cutters are being evaluated against each to see why there is a big discrepancy in their production. Their manager sends someone out to evaluate each wood cutter. The outcome of the evaluations is noted below:

Evaluation Person A: Person A works tirelessly throughout each day barely ever stopping to take breaks. Their hard work and dedication is the best I have seen and there is no way anyone could keep up!

Evaluation Person B: Person B was diligent and hard working but often stopped to take breaks. Person B had it down to a science but I fear their productivity will not be as good because they seemed to work a lot less.

The manager brings both of these people into the office to go over their evaluations and match them with overall productivity. As it turns out, person A was 30% less productive then person B and both the manager and person A were shocked at the results. Person A yelled out, “How could you cut more wood when you sat around taking breaks all day...” With a confused yet confident look person B replies by saying, “I wasn’t taking breaks; I was sharpening my saw!"

The moral of the story is that you can get ahead in your career and achieve amazing things but it takes more than just plain hard work. 

If you are looking to move into a new industry or move up in your current industry then you should seriously consider seeking out professional development opportunities. Being committed to developing and/or diversifying your skill set (i.e. sharpening your saw) can help you achieve personal and professional satisfaction. 

At The College Network, we specialize in helping busy adults achieve personal and professional satisfaction through education. If you’re looking for Paralegal training courses, a lean six sigma certification course, a PMP preparation course or other courses in project management, we can help.  

The one thing I ask from the people we work with is that no matter what you do please don’t just do nothing. While there may never be a “good time” to take on more responsibility by getting started in a program, I can assure you that there will never be a “good time” to suffer the repercussions of not developing yourself when you had the chance.

Not being fulfilled in your career can lead to problems that show up in other areas of your life. We spend the majority of our lives at work, and a significant amount of that time spent being unhappy can lead to a short temper away from work. Or it can result  in a short wave of anxiety on Sunday night when you think of work on Monday morning. It manifests in a variety of ways, even if it’s just an overall feeling of exhaustion. 

Certifications and degrees from The College Network's partner universities can counter the emptiness of being unfulfilled. There are a variety of options from Project Management Professional® preparation courses, LPN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs, and online paralegal certificate programs. A certification or degree provides achievement, recognition, and community. In effect, an overall feeling of serenity.

The designation change provided from a certification/degree is a reward for success. One example of a designation change that can be obtained through online classes for nursing is an LVN to RN program. The designation is more than just letters. It signifies to others that you can demonstrate the skills needed in that particular field. It is an achievement that you can proudly display in your home or office and on your resume.

According to the TechRepublic 2010 IT skills and Salary Report , the PMP Project Management Professional certification can lead to salary increases of 26 percent in the U.S. when compared to those without the certification. And according to PayScale.com, an LVN’s salary can increase as much as 27 percent to 29 percent when certified as a Registered Nurse. Salary is one type of recognition that an individual earns when they obtain a certification or degree. 

One of the most valuable aspects is the community an individual belongs to once a certification and/or degree is obtained. The community can provide a wealth of resources: encouragement, career suggestions, access to jobs, and growth opportunities are just some of the things the community of an individual’s certification and degree can provide.  

A certification/degree may be the answer to a feeling of lack of fulfillment. It provides achievement, recognition, and community. 

Shawn Camp knows a thing or two about becoming certified in his field. He already has his Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) and his Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) certificates. “I have a bachelor’s in computer information,” Shawn said. “I wanted to earn my Certificate in Project Management because that certification places you in the middle of everything that a corporation wants in an employee.”

Because he’s originally from Boston, Mass., Shawn found the opportunity to earn his Project Management Certificate from Boston University Corporate Education Center very enticing. The fact that he could earn the certificate completely online also caught his interest. “The nearest school to me that offers this program is four hours away. Online education was just a much better option for me in this case,” Shawn said.

With all the education that Shawn continues to accumulate, he hopes to one day be a network administrator or to be able to run his own computer firm. “I’m really excited to just get this experience and move on from there. I want to see where it takes me,” he said. “This certificate shows your willingness to learn, your ability to take on more responsibilities, adds more weight to your resume and, in some cases, even gets your foot in the door.”

Coming from a technology background, Shawn knows the importance of keeping up with trends in today’s highly technical world. “Technology changes every six months,” Shawn said. “If you can keep up with everything that’s changing in today’s world, you’ll be all the more valuable to employers.”

Have you been considering going back to school, whether it be for a certificate or a degree? Let The College Network help you meet your goals! The College Network works to offer online degrees from leading universities. Our distance nursing degrees include MS in Nursing Management, LVN to BSN programs, Associate Degree in Nursing online, Online Paramedic to RN program, Bachelor of Nursing programs, RN to MSN Bridge Programs and more. Our certificate programs include: project management and PMP preparation courses, paralegal, lean six sigma green belt, hospitality, human resources and more.