Online Programs for Unemployed New Jersey Residents Offered Through Rutgers School of Business–Camden

For Immediate Release

CAMDEN  --  An online certification program at the Rutgers School of Business–Camden is providing an opportunity for New Jersey’s idled workers to sharpen their skills and return to earning a paycheck.

Long before the state’s unemployment rate rose sharply, the Rutgers–Camden business school recognized the potential for online learning to strengthen New Jersey’s workforce.  Through the Rutgers Institute for Management and Executive Development (IMED), the Rutgers business school has developed a program that allows participants to gain new skills and sharpen existing abilities on their own schedule, while working toward certificates in such in-demand fields as information technology, Web design and customer service.

While the program has been in place for several years, no one could have predicted the urgency of its services as a result of the national economic downturn and the loss of large chunks of the job market.

Funding available to unemployed state residents through the New Jersey Department of Labor’s  Workforce Development Program and One Stop Centers is allowing many workers to take advantage of the Rutgers–Camden program as they seek to reenter the workforce.  According to Ray Compari, associate dean at the Rutgers School of Business–Camden and director of the Rutgers IMED, the online certification program has experienced a huge uptick in the past 18 months.

“We are moving many, many people through our certification program, many of them professionals looking for credentials to validate their skill sets in such areas as construction, engineering, and management,” Compari says. “We give them the skill sets and the confidence and job-hunting skills, as well as the credentials to get back into the work world.”

Jonathan Lane, program manager for continuing education at the Rutgers IMED, says approximately 630 people have completed the Rutgers online certification classes, with approximately 80 percent of participants finding jobs within three months of completion.

Typically lasting three or fourth months, the program allows students to work at their own pace, at any time of the night or day, weekends included. Each course covers approximately 100 hours of learning, with roughly 70 hours of online content and another 30 hours of assignments.

Unlike many similar programs, the Rutgers–Camden initiative also involves a human component: Rutgers assigns each participant an online advisor who works one-on-one with students, bringing practical knowledge and experience to the table.

Students can attain certification in two dozen fields, including business ethics, call center management, marketing management, and family business management. Compari says the biggest draws currently are project management and human resources management.

The program serves two distinct populations, he explains: unemployed workers seeking to re-enter the workforce, and employees looking to widen their job skills and punch up their resumes.

Count Veena Nanavati among those whose jobs disappeared in the earliest months of the recession.

Laid off in May 2008 when her information technology position at Novartis Pharmaceuticals was outsourced to India, the South Brunswick resident credits her certification course in project management with helping her land another job.

Nanavati, who already held an undergraduate degree in computer science from Rutgers and a master’s from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, learned of the program from a counselor at her local One-Stop Center.

She enrolled in August 2008 and found the program to be “very flexible and very convenient,” – so convenient that she signed up for a tandem course in information technology management. The state’s Workforce Grant program covered the cost of both.

Short weeks later, on Sept. 2, 2008, Nanavati’s job search ended with an offer from NRG Energy Co. in Princeton. 

For additional information about the Rutgers–Camden online certificate programs for unemployed New Jersey citizens, visit imed.rutgers.edu or call (856) 225-6685.

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