Earning a degree in business management is something that can open a lot of doors in your professional life. While it's relatively well known that a business management degree can qualify you to work as a manager for a wide range of organizations, the range of careers made possible by a business management degree is much broader than many people realize. In this article, we'll address the question “What can you do with a degree in business management?” by looking at the ten most interesting and rewarding careers you can pursue with this degree.
1. Marketing Manager
Almost every sizable organization employs a marketing department, and every marketing department employs a marketing manager to lead the team. As a marketing manager, your responsibilities will include tasks such as managing budgets for marketing campaigns, developing marketing campaigns and strategies, facilitating contracts with advertising partners, and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the company's marketing team. Since a business management degree program includes several marketing courses, a degree in business administration can serve as an excellent springboard for a career as a marketing manager.
2. Sales Manager
Like marketing departments, every sizable company that sells products or services—either directly to consumers or to other businesses—also employs sales departments that are led by sales managers. As a sales manager, your responsibilities will include tasks such as planning and implementing training programs for the sales reps on your team, resolving customers complaints regarding sales and service, preparing sales strategies, analyzing sales statistics in order to gauge the performance of your sales teams, and setting goals for daily, monthly, and yearly quotas. Sales is another area that is heavily covered in a business management degree program, making a degree in business management a great entrance into a career as a sales manager.
3. Management Analyst
Management analysts work with companies to help them boost productivity and efficiency and to help them solve operational issues. Some companies employ management analysts as part of their in-house staff, though many management analysts work for third-party consulting firms that contract out their services to other organizations. As a management analyst, you will perform tasks such as meeting with a company's executives to address operational challenges, developing and implementing management training initiatives, guiding companies through transitional periods—such as the implementation of a new supply chain or the launch of a new product—and performing data analysis in order to identify potential areas of improvement within a company's operational structure. If you would like to pursue a career as a management analyst, no degree path will provide you with more applicable skills and knowledge than a degree in business management.
4. General Manager
General managers are essentially scaled-down CEOs, working to oversee the daily operations of businesses, departments within businesses, or retail locations. There is a wide breadth of possibilities within this career, ranging from the general manager of a small retail location to jobs as prestigious as serving as the general manager for a major sports team. Depending on the exact position that you secure, working as a general manager will see you managing employees, creating and overseeing budgets, creating strategic goals, and helping enforce operational policies.
5. Financial Analyst
A degree in finance is perhaps the most common path to becoming a financial analyst. However, a degree in business management can certainly prepare you for this rewarding career, as well. As a financial analyst, your job will be to help businesses and/or individuals invest their money in a way that is meant to maximize profit. For businesses, this often entails ensuring that the company's money is spent in a way that will boost revenue and growth. Financial analysts that work with individual clients, meanwhile, assess the performance of stocks, bonds, and other investment vehicles to help guide client investment decisions.
6. Financial Manager
The role of a financial manager is closely related to that of a financial analyst. Rather than assisting individual clients with investment opportunities, though, financial managers are solely focused on helping companies optimize their profits through sound financial planning. Financial managers perform tasks such as consulting senior managers on profit-maximizing ideas, creating financial reports, overseeing investment activities, and developing plans to help organizations reach both their short-term and long-term financial goals.
7. Project Manager
Project managers are responsible for the day-to-day management of business projects and project teams. The specific projects that project managers oversee can take a wide variety of forms, from product development to the creation and implementation of a new supply chain and anything in-between. Whatever the exact project you are managing happens to entail, your job as a project manager will be to oversee the scope, schedule, budget, quality, and resources of the project, in addition to guiding the daily operations of the employees that make up the project's team.
8. Human Resource Manager
Business management is a popular degree for those seeking a career in human resources and is an especially great choice for a career as a human resource manager. If you decide to pursue a career as a human resource manager, your responsibilities will include overseeing the recruiting, interviewing, and hiring of new employees; developing training and onboarding initiatives; consulting with senior management regarding the company's human resources; serving as a link between the company's management and its staff; and managing other employees within the company's human resources department. If you are interested in a career that allows you to explore the human side of business, working as a human resource manager is an excellent option to consider.
9. Business Manager
Business managers are similar to general managers in that both serve as somewhat scaled-down CEOs. A business manager tends to work at locations that employ multiple departments and serves as the link between business operations across departments. As a business manager, your responsibilities could include hiring new staff, conducting office meetings, and creating and implementing strategies that are designed to improve productivity and employee morale.
10. Account Executive
An account executive serves as the main point of contact between a client and vendors. For example, if a company partners with a large vendor to procure materials necessary for production, the company will typically assign an account executive to oversee the account with the vendor. Likewise, many vendors employ account executives to oversee their client accounts. As an account executive, your job will include responsibilities such as handling the day-to-day relationship between the company you work for and their clients and vendors, conducting sales activities and client outreach, arranging and facilitating meetings and communication between partners, and ensuring that both parties remain satisfied with the business relationship.
Earn Your Degree in Business Management from Wilmington College
Earning a degree in business management could qualify you for a wide range of interesting and well-paying careers—from a business manager at a local office to the general manager of an internationally recognized sports team and everything in-between. At Wilmington College, we are proud to prepare students to excel at any number of these broad-ranging careers by offering a world-class business management degree program.
Best of all, this program can be completed online, in-person, or in a hybrid environment to accommodate the unique needs of our diverse, hardworking students. If you would like to learn more about applying for the exceptional business management program that we offer at Wilmington College, be sure to contact us today!