CAREERS NOW 05-07-08

Finding Free Online Courses At Top Universities

DEAR JOYCE: I am not sure I can afford to continue my college education this fall. Someone told me you once mentioned free online courses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Is this correct? And how is academic credit awarded? - J.W.

That's the catch - academic credit is not awarded for free university online study. But the MIT (mit.edu) education is top of the line in a wide variety of courses. More than 1800 free courses are offered through the school's OpenCourseWare project. The courses are delivered in text, audio and video formats. Check out this opportunity. Even if you can't scrape up college tuition at the moment, at least you'll stay in a learning mode until school money materializes.

Other U.S. universities also now provide free online learning opportunities. Among the best:

- Carnegie Mellon University (cmu.edu) courses can be yours in a program called the Open Learning Initiative.

- Stanford University (stanford.edu) works with iTunes U to deliver free courses that can be downloaded and played on iPods, PCs and Macs.

- Tufts University (tufts.edu) fields free learning through the OpenCourseWare program.

-University of California, Berkeley (berkeley.edu) and University of California, Irvine (uci.edu) make available hundreds of OpenCourseWare offerings.

If it's too late in this school year to collect free money - scholarships and grants that you do not have to repay - start scouting for next year. Get smart on these Web sites: scholarships.com, collegeboard.com/student/pay, and fastweb.com. You don't have to be the brightest crayon in the box to win a scholarship if you fit a specific requirement, such as ethnicity, talent or physical characteristic.

Don't overlook local free money -- you'll usually face less competition. Search on Google for your city's name and scholarships; example: St. Louis scholarships. Never pay an application or processing fee.

DEAR JOYCE: I've noticed that you often mention the necessity to research a position before going on a job interview. The jobs I seek usually don't pay enough to justify spending hours upon hours of preparation. Why? - F.T.

If you hope to move up in the world, spend a bit of time waking up your WOW, advise Robyn Freedman Spizman and Rick Frishman. They are the authors of "Where's Your Wow?: 16 Ways to Make Your Competitors Wish They Were You!" published by McGraw-Hill (www.wheresyourwow.com). In this bouncy little book written to show you how to be so fresh, innovative and impressive that you are memorable, super publicist Frishman explains one of his hiring rules:

"One way I test the passion and interest of my hires is to find out how much research they've done before the job interview. Have they been on the Web site? Have they read some of the things I've written? Have they taken time to find out what we do and how we do it? If they don't know that I have a cockapoo named Rusty, the chances are they're not going to get hired. I mention Rusty at the end of all the pieces on the site."

That's your answer: The hiring is in the details.

DEAR JOYCE: I read someplace that a failing economy is a good time to look for a new job. Yes? No? - P.P.M.

No. Down times are not really the best times to voluntarily change jobs unless you have little choice, or spy an opportunity with your name on it. What is true is that there are good jobs in all job markets, because of promotions, departures, retirements and deaths.

Posted resumes are up by more than 50 percent on Beyond.com, a major niche-specific career network, according to the company's First Quarter 2008 Career Trend Analysis and Industry Outlook Report. Although online job postings for information technology, sales and healthcare positions remain strong, the report leaves no doubt that both job seekers and employers are feeling an economic pinch.

In fact, as I mentioned in an earlier column, an aggravating problem for job seekers is too few people to read their resumes, hire them and train them. According to the Beyond.com report, rather than bringing aboard multiple candidates who require additional training, many companies are instead choosing to hire one standout candidate.

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