10 Careers You Can Pursue with a Business Degree

A businessman using a laptop standing in an office of a skyscraper with a view of the city

After all these years, business continues to be one of the most successful fields you can enter. You don’t even need to be an entrepreneur to thrive in this area. From analysis to investing to management, there’s an abundance of career opportunities out there just waiting to be nabbed by the best and brightest. And, of course, when we’re talking about the best and brightest in the vast talent pool, we mean you!

Like any number of STEM degrees, a business degree can open the door to many possibilities. Unlike liberal arts degrees that focus on studio arts or Medieval poetry, your piece of paper that shows you majored in business can actually help you climb the ladder when you’re employed as a Starbucks barista or a supermarket cashier.

While you may be saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in debt, your business career could eventually wipe that out faster than you can say ‘cat in a hat’. The first step in your career journey is to find a job you want to home in on.

Stumped by what to do with a business degree? Let’s open for business and examine a list of professions.

Here are 10 careers you can pursue with a business degree.

1. Management Consultant

Average salary: $82,450 / £90,000

There are many jokes made at the expense of consultants, but we won’t divulge those here.

A management consultant is a professional who provides a company – large and small – advice on how to run their daily operations more effectively. Private enterprises will typically hire a management consultancy firm when they have exhausted all possibilities to enjoy growth or if they wish to expand their footprint into foreign markets.

The primary tasks for management consultants include:

  • applying analytical and problem-solving skills to their projects
  • utilising presentation skills to communicate what needs to get done
  • initiating studies to generate data about how to improve the company
  • enlisting spreadsheets, databases and technologies to gather, assess and present information
  • composing reports with their findings.

In today’s world, consultancy is data-dependent, so expertise in this area is paramount.

2. Digital Marketing Manager

Average salary: $94,110 / £50,000

Digital marketing is constantly evolving. From the days of email marketing in the 1990s to keyword stuffing of the early 2000s to social media today, professionals in this industry need to keep track of the many changes that occur on a daily basis. Yes, it’s true: digital marketing is different every day, mainly because of search engine algorithm updates or new social media policies.

A digital marketing manager oversees the various campaigns, but this position isn’t something you earn overnight. It takes years of specialising in a diverse array of methods and succeeding with multiple campaigns.

In addition to having a degree in business management, you should also be adept at:

  • PPC
  • social media
  • email
  • search engine optimisation (SEO)
  • content marketing
  • mobile commerce
  • video advertising.

And this is just the beginning. Who knows what other new services will be born tomorrow or next year?

3. Financial Analyst

Average salary: $84,330 / £72,000

Financial analysis is one of those business major careers. At first, you might dismiss this employment opportunity, thinking that it requires a concentration in accounting or a strong acumen in economics. The primary role of a financial analyst is to assess and disseminate the strengths and weaknesses of businesses and consider the trends in a plethora of industries.

Your daily roles will involve:

  • interpreting financial statements
  • evaluating companies, industries and national economies
  • writing reports for investors, banks and media outlets
  • using corporate resources to locate, calculate and analyse data.

If you think this is overwhelming, just remember that you will complete courses in accounting, economics, finance and mathematics in your business major.

Indeed, the better you are at this, the more you will attract the attention of consultancy firms, investment houses, financial institutions and media entities.

4. Data Scientist

Average salary: $114,520 / £60,000

Business is not just about the money; it is also all about the data.

Data scientists are becoming more in demand than ever before. Large corporations, non-profit organisations and banks are turning to data scientists to analyse and interpret immense swathes of intricate data and statistics. This position is now integral in every major business decision. Of course, the pressure weighs on these technical professionals because the fate of the firm depends on these men and women.

That said, in order to excel in this field, you need to complement your business degree with these skills:

  • machine learning
  • programming skills
  • data communication
  • software engineering
  • statistics
  • data visualisation.

You might need to minor in one of these fields or enrol in continuing education courses after you graduate from a postsecondary institution.

5. Business Writer

Average salary: $70,930 / £53,000

It is said that those who can’t do teach. And those can’t teach write about business.

If you have a passion for business, a joy for data and a knack for the written word, then business writing or reporting is the field for you. You can report on a newsworthy event regarding Walmart, Amazon or McDonald’s. You can opine about a new acquisition by Facebook, a merger between two mining giants and a new automation investment by Uber. If you’re really good at your position, you can even appear on television to deliver your thoughts and analysis on business news of the day.

After years of experience, why not compose a book? Here is a suggested topic: The Rise and Fall – and Rise – of McDonald’s.

 

6. Investment Management

Average salary: $125,080 / £70,000

At this point, you are probably asking: ‘What can I do in finance? I can’t even put together $500 for an emergency!’.

Well, you don’t need to balance your books in order to find the next big money-maker.

As an investment manager, you are in charge of various securities, assets and other financial matters with the aim of meeting investment objectives. Moreover, when you’re employed at an investment firm or a bank, you will navigate the market to come across an up-and-coming firm, a profitable company or just a publicly-traded business that offers a steady dividend for shareholders.

Moreover, you will be required to understand the economic impact of current affairs, learn about current investment trends and interpret data to determine if this stock has the legs to provide value. This is an important job because millions of dollars are at stake.

7. Business Teacher

Average salary: $80,300 / £80,000

Ever since that famous scene from the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield picture Back to School, business teachers have gotten a bad reputation. In a way, the public’s reproach to business professors is sympathetic since most of them have not succeeded in entrepreneurship. That said, their acumen in accounting, mathematics, marketing, management and communication can help high school or postsecondary students to begin their business careers.

Teaching is certainly one of many business major careers, but you also need a degree in education, teacher training and a specific number of teaching hours.

8. Actuary

Average salary: $101,650 / £52,500

Actuaries can find jobs in various industries, from insurance to finance to business. Why? Actuaries deal with risk and uncertainty.

These business professionals measure risk and manage uncertainty relating to deaths, injuries, fires, illnesses and accidents. They use balance sheets, asset management, valuation skills, liability management and big data to reach conclusions. Again, data is an essential component for actuaries, who use databases, spreadsheets and statistics to complete their analyses.

Do you know what? This is where involvement in liberal arts matters because actuaries also need impressive writing, verbal communication, research, presentation and convincing skills.

9. Venture Capitalist

Average salary: $208,423 / £150,000

A venture capitalist, or an angel investor, is someone who decides to invest large sums of money into a startup in order to transform it into a major company and earn a handsome return.

This is how nearly all of today’s big brands got their starts, from Amazon to PayPal to Dropbox. Of course, it is difficult to be a successful venture capitalist when you’re living paycheque to paycheque or earning the national average. Instead, you need to have plenty of capital in the bank to partake in series fundraising.

That said, there is a growing number of peer-to-peer websites that allow you to extend someone a sum of money, whether it is $1,000 or $10,000 and earn 5% interest.

Simply put, if you want an example of a venture capitalist, then watch an episode of Shark Tank.

10. Internet Entrepreneur

Average salary: $86,000 / £59,866

When you don’t want to risk too much capital and you want to take advantage of the opportunities the internet affords us, then internet entrepreneurship is for you.

Being an Internet entrepreneur means owning multiple web properties that specialise in different areas.

What can you do?

  • manage blogs
  • sell products
  • run an affiliate marketing website
  • participate in P2P schemes
  • compose content marketing materials
  • endorse brands on social media.

This is where your expertise in business management, digital marketing, accounting, writing and data analysis comes in handy.

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What can you do with a business degree after university or college? That’s simple: many things. From a business management career to entrepreneurial endeavours, your business degree is the golden ticket to a successful, prosperous and exciting career. Business is always evolving; just take a look at the list of Fortune 500 companies in the 1950s compared to the Fortune 500 companies in this decade.

Which of these careers take your fancy? Join the conversation below and let us know.