In our entire lives, many of us have never seen times with high unemployment like we are seeing today.  The number of people unemployed or under-employed is as high as 35% according to some estimates that I’ve read.  With that kind of competition, any advantage one can find to stand out from the rest of the applicants can be huge.

The Wall Street Journal had a piece a couple days ago that looked at stories of real people that have struggled to find work after being the definition of “successful” for many years.  Paul Hansen was laid off as vice president and director of accounting after 23 years with Hensley Beverage Company.  He was making $90,000/year and probably would make an excellent employee in a similar capacity elsewhere. The problem is that many jobs aren’t even a possibility for him because he lacks a credential, such as CPA, to even get his foot in the door.

Mr. Hansen suspects his lack of a Certified Public Accountant credential hurt him with prospective employers. Promotions within Hensley, the only place he had ever worked as an adult, gave him a false sense of security that he would never need the CPA, he says.

So if you are considering at all pursuing the CMA or CPA credential, I offer you this example of where it could have helped one person in his job search.  Is it a guarantee of lifetime employment?  Of course not.  But there are certain jobs that require one of these just as a minimum qualification.  If your ultimate career-goal isn’t an accounting role, check out credentials that may be available to you in other fields…the more you do to differentiate yourself (think of y yourself as a product) from the rest of the crowd the more opportunities you will have to choose from.

Read more about Paul Hansen and several other job seekers at:

The U.S. Job Market: Faces — and Fates — of the Jobless. Anonymous. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Aug 9, 2010. pg. A.6