Deciding to Pursue a Graduate Degree at Harvard Extension School
In 2023, I was at an inflection point in my career. I had just relocated to the U.S. with my former employer, a major pharmaceutical company, and I was looking to progress in my career. I work in talent acquisition, and while I understood the practical elements of my work, I knew I needed to upskill to understand the theory and background that grounds it.
But I wasn’t sure what form of upskilling I needed. There were so many options: a master’s degree, a certificate, noncredit and for-credit courses, or alternate credentials? At that moment, I was very glad I worked in talent acquisition. Every week, I look at hundreds of resumes and speak with external candidates. Once I started considering upskilling, I paid closer attention to which credentials in my field earn employers’ attention, deliver educational outcomes, and result in employment offers.
Organizational psychology is a vast subject, and I cast a wide net as I sought programs in human resources and talent acquisition. Harvard Extension School came up right away. I’m from a fairly working-class background in the United Kingdom, and I thought there was no way a guy like me could go to Harvard — especially while working full time. But Harvard Extension continued to pop up in my searches, so I decided to look into the program more deeply.
At the time, I was living in Cambridge, Mass., and Harvard was only three miles away. The Industrial-Organizational Psychology (IOP) Master’s Degree Program was flexible, and I could tailor the coursework to my specific needs. I realized that maybe a guy like me could go to Harvard.
Applying My Coursework to the Real World
About halfway through the program, I was made redundant at my job. Suddenly, I needed to find a new role. Since I work predominantly in strategic staffing, hiring, assessment, and selection, I thought, “Here’s an opportunity to see how Harvard Extension’s IOP program differentiates me as a candidate.” Essentially: will it work?
The short answer is yes, but it comes with a caveat: just having the name “Harvard” on your resume won’t get the job offers pouring in. What actually opened doors for me was the quality of the education.
Harvard Extension gave me real-world skills and strategies that I could immediately apply to human resources and talent acquisition challenges. These approaches were valuable in interviews because they demonstrated my ability to solve pressing business problems with talent strategy. And these new skills, combined with my experience, are what ultimately led to a new role for another major pharmaceutical company in Switzerland.
The IOP program gave me a new vocabulary for talking about talent acquisition and changed my own approach to hiring and predicting candidate success. Now, when I design interviews, I think in terms of a selection battery: identifying and implementing assessments that test the true indicators of success rather than relying only on traditional approaches.
I also took a course on negotiation that has shaped how I work with senior stakeholders. And I took a statistics course that taught me how to use programs like R and statistical analysis to analyze historical hiring data and outcomes.
Balancing Work, School, and Parenthood
As a busy working parent, Harvard Extension School’s flexibility made it possible for me to attend. But while HES is flexible, it is also demanding. In the spring semester of 2024, I was working full time, training for a marathon, and parenting a toddler. Looking back, I was a bit naive about how much I could reasonably do. Let’s just say I have a few more gray hairs than I did before. However, that experience taught me how to be incredibly disciplined with my time.
To anyone considering starting, I’d say that Harvard Extension School is absolutely doable — just make sure you understand the workload and communicate with your family about the time you’ll need to dedicate to your coursework.
Connecting with Classmates and Faculty at Harvard Extension School
One of the most wonderful things about Harvard Extension School is that you don’t do it alone. There’s a real sense of community here. The atmosphere is incredibly collaborative. You can ask a question and people will reply quickly, whether you’re looking for resources or need help navigating a portal. The sense of community is very unique, especially when the quality of instruction is so high.
Harvard is known for its prestige, history, and tradition. But what people might not know is that the culture is fantastic as well, and the faculty is of the highest caliber. Last semester, I had a professor who used to work on peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine, another who wrote speeches for heads of state, and a third who advised women leaders from around the globe. Having someone with that level of distinction in front of you and being able to benefit from their perspective and expertise is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
At Harvard Extension School, you get out what you put in — if you’re willing to do the work, the rewards are there for you to take. I was looking for career progression through targeted upskilling, and Harvard Extension School’s Industrial-Organizational Psychology master’s degree program gave me exactly that.
