• Employers should not automatically discount applicants just because they received their degree online.
• Online education might yield greater diversity than a traditional classroom.
• Employers should always check that online institutions are accredited.

Years ago, the chance that employers would encounter a candidate with an online degree on their resume was slim. Today, students can earn a myriad of different types of degrees online following the same curriculum as on-campus students, sometimes from prestigious institutions. While there are some inferior or even illegitimate “diploma mills” out there, online education has the potential to supply a student with an education as valuable as one obtained in the traditional classroom.

The odds of seeing job applicants with online degrees has increased significantly in the past decade, especially in the fields of business/management and computer/information science, where the most online degrees are earned. Employers should consider giving applicants with online degrees the opportunity to prove the worth of their education by asking for examples of experiences and samples of their work.

Social skills and diversity

One argument against online learning is that individuals who get their education online aren’t forced to develop their social skills and interact with others in the same way they would in an actual classroom. While that may be true for some students, people may cultivate those skills in other ways, and the interview is a prime forum in which to find that out. For example, someone who pursued a degree online while working may possess even more compelling communication skills than someone who is fresh out of a four-year conventional brick-and-mortar institution.

Additionally, depending on the nature and caliber of the candidates’ online degrees, their virtual interactions with other students could include discussing business-related issues with people all over the world. In this way, online students may even have an advantage by having interacted with a more diverse group of individuals than they might have in a traditional classroom.

Consider the reasons behind the degree

When assessing the value of candidates’ online degrees, employers should consider why they chose to pursue a degree online. Many individuals do so not to avoid the traditional classroom, but to balance education with other responsibilities, such as a busy career or a family. By considering why the candidates sought a degree online, a company might become aware of characteristics they possesses that could make them a good fit for the organization.

For example, a mother with full-time childcare responsibilities or a working professional who pursued an online degree likely needed considerable skills that could be valuable characteristics in the workplace, such as:

• Organization
• Focus
• Self-motivation
• Time management
• Multi-tasking
• Confidence
• Determination

Evaluating online education

Employers shouldn’t dismiss the applications of potentially good employees solely because of the way they obtained their degrees. The goal should always be to hire the best and the brightest talent available, and this could mean an individual with a traditional education or an online one. If considering an applicant with an online degree, employers should keep in mind that not all online universities are created equally. It may take some legwork to determine which online degrees and universities are both legitimate and valuable to the organization.

Accreditation status

For traditional brick-and-mortar institutions, most employers are familiar enough with the individual schools that they don’t need to turn to official ratings. However, since some online schools may not be as recognizable, turning to a school’s accreditation status can help. Accreditation is a process that evaluates a school’s:

• Mission
• Goals
• Resources
• Admission requirements
• Quality of faculty and educational offerings

Unfortunately, just as there are a few less-than-reputable online colleges and universities, there are also phony accrediting agencies. Sometimes, these are even created by counterfeit institutions to sanction themselves. However, both the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation:

• Maintain lists of recognized accrediting agencies in the United States, and
• Allow employers to determine which institutions have been accredited by approved agencies.

Researching accreditation can help identify institutions that are little more than “diploma mills.” These are schools that:

• Grant degrees without requiring that students complete an adequate course of study.
• Won’t receive reputable accreditations.
  • When an institution meets accreditation standards, this will be expressly clearly—employers should beware of phrases such as “chartered,” “licensed,” or “authorized.”
• Might issue fake degrees from real institutions.
  • Employers should always double-check applicants’ credentials.

The number of students choosing online education is growing, so instead of missing out on talented employees who choose a virtual path to education, employers should take some time to evaluate online institutions. Checking schools’ accreditation and applicants’ credentials can help ensure that an individual’s degree comes with a reasonable expectation of quality.