Four Careers for Business Management Degree Holders

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A business management degree teaches you all the ins and outs of running a successful business. It covers operations, finance, supply chain, marketing, sales, business law, and ethics. Together, these core subjects underpin the successful operation of any organization.

Every organization, whether for-profit, non-profit, governmental, or NGO, requires personnel with business expertise. A business management degree can prepare you for various industries and roles in healthcare operations, retail, manufacturing, supply chain management, and non-profit agencies. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the business undergraduate degree was the fifth most popular between 2018 and 2019, with 390,564 degrees granted in the US.

This indicates the high demand for business-related degrees that pave the path for lucrative career options. Let us see which career paths are possible with a business management degree.

1. Business Management Consultant

A business management consultant or a business analyst helps organizations become more productive by identifying problems and offering solutions, reducing costs while boosting revenues, identifying productive inefficiencies, and taking corrective measures. You can work as an independent management consultant or work in-house for a company.

To be efficient and effective at your job, you can enroll in an online business management degree that will provide you with a holistic business perspective required to solve complex business problems. You can acquire your Bachelor’s degree remotely while you work to expand your career. Moreover, an online degree will cost you less and allow you more flexibility to balance your work and studies.

Management consultants often rely on their business degrees to equip them with leadership skills, financial management, marketing, finance, and economics to improve their roles. You might be the perfect fit for the position if you enjoy solving complex business problems, are not afraid of taking risks, and are open to ideas.

Management consultants make an average yearly income of $93,000 with job growth of 1% until 2030 in the US. So, it could be a lucrative career path for you in the long term.

2. Marketing Manager

As the name suggests, marketing managers are responsible for marketing a company’s products or services. They combine marketing efforts with brand management, advertising, promotional campaigns, and public relations. Marketing managers link the company and its clients by studying consumer behavior and identifying their buying patterns to determine how to reach them while maximizing the company’s market share.

Marketing managers are responsible for crafting marketing messages across all channels, designing marketing campaigns and strategies, and working with the creative, digital, public relations, and sales teams to draft and implement marketing plans. They must ensure that the brand’s communications align with the company’s objectives.

It is a very creative, analytical, and research-oriented role requiring you to communicate with people and build strong business relationships. If creativity and networking interest you, this career option might be a good fit.

However, it would be best if you held a business-related degree to be effective as a marketing manager. You can expect a mean average annual salary of $133,380, with job growth of 10% until 2030 in the US.

3. Finance Manager

Finance managers are responsible for keeping the finances of a company afloat. Their goal is to manage company finances, make investment decisions and allocate resources. They achieve an organization’s financial goals, analyze financial performance, and make future projections.

They do this by producing financial reports, analyzing market trends, monitoring investments, and assisting the management in making financial decisions. To become a financial manager, you must hold a business degree in accounting and finance to understand how company financials work. However, a CFA or a CTP certification will take you far in this field, and you may become a company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and increase your earning potential.

The median average annual salary of a finance manager is $131,710, with $63.32 per hour. The job outlook for finance managers is 17% faster than the national average. Therefore, the wage rate combined with the demand poses serious opportunities within the field in the US. With a finance degree or certification, the sky is the limit.

4. Operations Research Analyst

Operations is a vital part of any business and a core function for manufacturing and services industries. With enhanced operational efficiencies, a company’s production process may catch up. The job of an operations research analyst is to help companies operate more efficiently and effectively.

As an operations research analyst, you will process data using techniques like data mining, mathematical modeling, and statistical analysis to get actionable insights. You will then use these insights to solve the problem of operational inefficiencies by combining them with industry best practices.

Some of your daily tasks may include:

Collecting raw information for processing and analyzing
Developing business models, testing them, and ensuring their accuracy
Presenting business solutions to the management

This role entails problem-solving skills using mathematics and statistics. Therefore, if you like business mathematics or analyzing numbers, you may be a good fit for this role. Furthermore, skills like machine learning or SQL may elevate your resume. You can expect an average yearly income of $82,360 as an operations research analyst.

Conclusion

A business management degree holds value because every organization requires business-savvy individuals to run it smoothly. You can advance your career in many business-related domains that offer handsome earning potential with career growth.

The first one of them could be a business management consultant. You will require a Bachelor’s in business management to become an independent consultant or work in-house with a company. It will equip you with the necessary business knowledge to be effective.

Secondly, a career as a marketing manager could be good for you if you are social and analytical with a flair for creativity. You will need a business-related degree in marketing that will teach you all the required skills.

You can also become a finance manager to manage a company’s finances, make investment decisions, and allocate resources.

Lastly, you can work as an operations research analyst if you are good at crunching numbers to solve business problems.