Coursera prides itself as one of the best places to get university-grade education online. From Yale and Oxford to MIT and Harvard, Coursera partners with some of the best educational institutions in the world to deliver qualitative education to millions of people.
But popularity and hype aside, how valuable is a Coursera certificate in the job market? After spending so much time and money on courses, can a Coursera certificate get you through a recruiter's door? Let's find out.
How Does Coursera Work?
To ascertain the value of a Coursera certificate, a good place to start is how the platform works. So how does Coursera work?
Coursera is one of the most recognized names amidst the growing trend of online learning. The platform uses a university-led content development model. This means the courses on Coursera are created by universities and delivered by university lecturers and professors. This is achieved through an active partnership between Coursera and hundreds of universities around the world.
These are not just phantom online universities—Coursera partners with reputable real-world educational institutions. You'll find courses from some of the best universities you can think of. Harvard? Check. Stanford? Check. MIT? Check.
Coursera also offers content created and delivered by reputable organizations around the world. Companies like IBM, Meta, and Google publish professional courses designed to teach job-ready and in-demand professional skills.
To put it most simply, Coursera's model is based on partnership with reputable real-world schools and companies to deliver high-impact education. But exactly how good are the courses on offer?
How Good Are Coursera Courses?
Unlike most e-learning platforms, Coursera operates a partially closed content authoring ecosystem. This means a bulk of available courses are authored and vetted by entire universities or companies before being published. This eliminates the room for mediocre courses by random course creators.
In some programs, you get access to Ivy League grade courses from the comfort of your home. Coursera's courses are without a doubt among the best in the e-learning space.
Getting Hired with a Coursera Certificate
Now here's the tough part. You're probably contemplating that 6-month professional certification program on Coursera. After completing the course, can it get you hired?
There's no simple answer to this question. For the most part, Coursera certifications, which are proofs that you've acquired a skill, can greatly impact your chances of getting hired. However, Coursera certificates aren't meant to replace traditional university certifications, nor do they have the same pulling power. They have as much value as a recruiter chooses to attach to them. But that's not entirely a bad thing.
According to a survey of more than 1000 US, hiring managers by Futurelearn, about 44% of hiring managers rated online education as "very to extremely" important.
The study also shows two important metrics relevant to Coursera:
- The general perception of online education and certification has improved and continues to improve massively compared to the pre-pandemic era.
- The name of the university affiliated with your online education is very important to employers.
In Coursera's context, this means two things. Firstly, as the value attached to online education by recruiters continues to increase, your Coursera certificate is likely to carry more weight every passing day.
Also, being certified on e-learning platforms like Coursera—which are affiliated with reputable universities—gives you a semblance of a hiring advantage.
Recruiters typically try to know everything that a potential employee is doing to learn skills that are relevant to their industry. Even when a Coursera certificate might not present itself in the same light as a traditional university degree, it represents proof that an applicant has the drive for learning and self-improvement. This perception can give you an edge over equally qualified candidates.
Are Coursera Certificates Worth Paying For?
Considering the job-market value of a Coursera certificate, should you pay for it?
Yes, if you have the means. The certifications might not have the best recognition, but the skills you gain can be of enormous advantage to your career—even recruiters will agree with that much. If you're not sure how good Coursera courses are, here are some free Coursera courses you can try out.
A commonly asked question is; in the absence of a traditional university degree, can a corresponding e-learning degree fill the gap? Well, those are big shoes to fill. It's better to complement your traditional degree with an e-learning equivalent rather than relying on online certification alone.
However, the fact remains—an e-learning degree is as valuable as a recruiter sees it to be. There are still recruiters out there that attach great value to online certifications. If the next recruiter you face is one of such, then yes, a Coursera certification might get you hired!
Learn and Get Certified
When you complete a Coursera course and get certified, there's nothing to lose. Whether the hiring manager in front of you recognizes it or not, the skills you've gained will always be yours. It will probably make you more skilled than the applicant sitting next to you.