Advancing your skills can transform your career, but we know training comes with a cost. Here’s the good news: 92% of employers offer tuition reimbursement. Here are three tips on how to ask your employer to fund your expenses.
1. Does your employer offer tuition reimbursement?
More and more employers are adding tuition reimbursement to their employee benefit packages. Have you checked your employee manual? Or a quick note to HR might do the trick. A continuing education benefit is one way employers are working to retain employees and combat “the great resignation.“
Gallup’s research indicates that it costs one-half to two times an employee’s salary to replace them. (source) So, if your employer doesn’t offer tuition reimbursement, don’t give up. You can make a strong case for reimbursement; we’ll show you how.
2. Prepare your pitch.
Prepare a clearly outlined and professional presentation. Center your messaging around how tuition reimbursement will save or make the business money.
Here’s some employer-centered ideas for your presentation:
- Show how your new skills will benefit a specific major project or client.
- Show how this training will enable you to take on new, needed projects.
- Detail how this knowledge will improve your job performance and make you more productive.
- Calculate and present the return on investment for your training if real numbers are available.
Include in your presentation your willingness to commit to your proposed plan. Consider offering one or more of the following:
- A plan that addresses job productivity vs. the time required for this course.
- Periodic updates on your progress and grades.
- An agreement that you will remain with the company for X amount of time after course completion.
Don’t forget to detail your value to the company. Share specific examples of your contributions. If there’s hard data from past projects, use it. You should also have answers prepared for any possible objections and share all course details in writing.
3. Be confident.
A company that invests in your personal growth earns your return value and loyalty. It’s a win-win proposition. And remember, if you don’t ask, it’s not likely they’ll offer. The worst thing that can happen is they say no. Take the initiative—they’ll appreciate it in the long run!
You’ll find an email template here that you can adapt to approach your employer for reimbursement of our Digital Marketing Science course. Our practicing industry experts can prepare you in only 10 weeks to use the latest in Digital Marketing strategies and technologies. You’ll earn three certifications in Google Analytics, Google Ads Search, and HubSpot Email Marketing. Our hybrid course of self-paced content and live weekly mentorship will give you the skills needed to expand your marketing reach and generate revenue.
