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What Business Major are You Interested In?
Business has traditionally been one of the most popular subjects in college. Every organization, whether they are a private company, a non-profit, or a government institution, requires employees to effectively allocate resources and time. Because of this, undertaking a business education can provide students with important leadership, teamwork, and management skills necessary for excelling in nearly any workplace post-graduation.
Business professionals are those who are hired into an organization to help run and manage its day-to-day responsibilities. These include anything from ensuring that the organization’s finances are intact, to making sure its compliance needs are met and that daily operations are running smoothly. Business professionals will not only work for private businesses but can also work for the government or non-profit organizations to help with administration and leadership tasks. To be successful, business professionals should master a mix of communication, analytical, leadership, and role-specific skills, like accounting, which means that taking foundation courses throughout college can be key to future success.
On a day-to-day basis, business professionals will often work in a team environment with job tasks focused on inputting and tracking information and data, writing reports, or data-based analytics. Many may start from an individual contributor role and eventually work their way up to a managerial role. Every organization will have its client base or constituents, so business professionals will need to effectively manage those relationships. For firms that sell physical goods, teams of business professionals must also work together to source goods and ensure they are delivered properly.
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Online Business Education in New Hampshire
Students studying business can choose to focus on many diverse areas including operations management, finance, supply chain management, human resources, and more. Depending on the industry and company a student chooses to work for post-graduation, certain business skill sets may be prioritized. For instance, given the prominence of technology firms in the Western United States, students who are interested in helping to operate a technology company would most likely consider searching for jobs in that vicinity upon graduation. In that vein, it’s therefore important for students to consider the area they wish to live in upon graduation and to gain a deeper understanding of the types of opportunities that are available there.
For students who are looking to become business professionals in New Hampshire, the following are some of the top industries of employment within the state. New Hampshire’s top industry by employment is real estate and rental and leasing, which brings in $12.2 billion in revenue annually. Business professionals who are interested in helping customers find the best location to live and build their businesses will find this industry particularly interesting. Furthermore, those who acquire sales and marketing training during college may find that they have a leg up over their competitors in this field.
New Hampshire’s second-largest industry is professional and business services, an industry that has an annual revenue of $11 billion. This bodes exceptionally well for business students who are seeking to make New Hampshire their home after graduation. Typically, professional and business services are focused on providing advice and operations support for individual customers or other businesses. This means that the bulk of their work requires business problem-solving, and working in a state with a large priority on hiring for business needs will provide graduates with the correct training and a leg up in the interviewing process.
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The third-largest industry in New Hampshire is education services, healthcare, and social assistance, which brings in $9.8 billion per year. This is also a sector that requires intense human capital daily, making students who have a business degree particularly attractive to employers. Specifically, the day-to-day work of these professionals involves helping to solve complex health and educational problems that others are experiencing, which means that having strong communication skills is a bonus. Students trained in business who also have analytical, leadership, and operational skills can be very competitive with employers in the field who are looking to hire.
Online Associate Degree in Business (AS)
The business field has a vast need for those with a variety of skill sets, training, and work experience. Those who are studying for their associate degree in business can rest assured knowing that they will be eligible for the majority of entry-level positions upon graduating, whether these are in accounting, human resources, or another business focus. During their associate degree training, students majoring in business will gain a comprehensive overview of critical business skills including accounting, business finance, business law, international business, business systems, design, marketing, human resources, and mathematics. These courses will ensure that students have gained a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to successfully run a business before graduation, which, combined with on-the-job experience later on, can help them effectively manage the challenges that come from working in this field.
Upon graduating with their associate degree, students become eligible for positions like retail sales associate, customer service representative, administrative assistant, sales support specialist, business content writer, and payroll specialist. Business is a field in which experience is highly valued, so working within one specialty, like finance, can lead to faster promotions over time, even if one has only completed their associate degree. According to Payscale, students who graduated from an associate program in business administration can expect to make an average of $58,000 per year. Given that most associate degrees are 60-credit programs that take around two years, the return on educational investment is quite positive.
Online Bachelor's Degree in Business (BS)
The majority of graduates who have majored in business will look to acquire their bachelor’s degree, which provides students with a deeper exposure to specialized coursework within the field. Compared to associate programs, which will often provide students with basic skills in large business areas, bachelor’s programs will generally have a more robust selection of electives. Students will often be required to complete a base of studies in major business areas like marketing, finance, and operations, but can choose to specialize in specific areas to gain a stronger footing upon graduation. Moreover, many bachelor’s programs offer specialties in areas like entrepreneurship as well.
Students looking for more flexibility can consider online classes while completing their bachelor’s degree in business. Employers will tend to prefer candidates with bachelor’s degrees when hiring for more lucrative or specialized entry-level business positions. This is because bachelor’s programs will provide students with a more rigorous analytical knowledge base than their associate degree counterparts, and students are likely to have taken more complex electives, which will allow them to come into the workforce with a wider knowledge base.
Upon graduating, students can expect to be hired into job titles like financial analyst, budget analyst, risk analyst, management analyst, market research analyst, compliance office, actuary, junior banker, consultant, or executive assistant. According to Payscale, students with a bachelor’s degree in accounting can expect to earn an annual salary of $75,000 per year in the United States, a strong step up from those who only earn their associate degrees.
Online Master's Degree in Business (MS)
Today, organizations are placing a stronger emphasis on managing their people, products, and relationships more effectively. As such, many students will choose to work for a few years and then return to school for an MBA degree, which can help accelerate their path to becoming managers in their workplace. An MBA is also a great option for students who may not have studied business during college to break into the field, or for business majors who wish to reskill and pivot within the field.
For instance, a marketing major who is looking to work in the finance industry may find it helpful to return to school for their MBA, taking more analytical and finance electives so that they can gain the skills necessary to succeed in the industry post-graduation. This is because an MBA degree will typically offer a wider selection of courses in management areas like talent acquisition, finance, operations management, and economics that can greatly benefit professionals with a few years of work experience under their belt and who are looking to take their businesses to the next level. An MBA degree will also focus more heavily on skills like team problem-solving, while also providing great networking opportunities.
Students with an MBA will typically find work as finance associates, finance managers, marketing managers, business operations managers, human resources managers, management consultants, banking associates, or venture capital associates. According to Payscale, the average MBA graduate can expect to earn $92,000 per year, with those working in areas like corporate finance earning around $110,000 per year. The strong financial returns of this degree speak for themselves, making this a popular degree for those who want to succeed in business.
Online PhD Degree in Business (PhD)
Most business professionals will find that they do not need a doctorate to work in the field. Since business is such a hands-on, experience-oriented field, business students will often find that the managers or C-Suite leaders of their organization have focused more on gaining work experience. However, some business students may be more interested in advancing scholarly research in the field and gaining answers to questions like “How to optimize marketing models” or understanding the future of work.
Those who wish to pursue business research as a career and hope to stay on to become business professors will find that most universities will require their academics to have a PhD in the field, especially if they want to gain tenure. Those who have finished their doctorate and do not wish to become professors can expect to obtain job titles like a lead consultant, and senior researcher, with some even landing senior-level management roles at different firms upon graduation. According to Payscale, the average person holding a PhD in business will earn around $104,000 per year in base salary.
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Become a Business Development Specialist in New Hampshire
To become a business professional in New Hampshire, students should first study a business-related subject during post-secondary schooling. Students will typically have the option to choose between many majors or concentration areas. These typically include but are not limited to marketing, human resources, operations management, accounting, finance, supply chain management, and entrepreneurship. More rarely, a student may choose to become an entrepreneur without finishing their business degree, though they may find that their lack of foundational knowledge makes it more difficult for them to effectively manage their businesses.
Students can choose to take business online courses to supplement their daily work. However, most business professionals will work for a business that is owned or managed by others. Some choose to become business consultants, whose day-to-day work is to help other organizations improve the way that they work. Individuals who enjoy analyzing numbers will more likely find themselves drawn to finance, supply chain, or logistics management, where dollar trends can make an outsized difference. Those who have strong communication skills may find operations management and human resources a better fit.
Given the highly applied nature of the business field, most students will find it easier to attain gainful employment upon graduation if they intern or work part-time while they are still in school. Not only will these types of experiences help students learn the process of working for a firm and build on-the-job skills, like project management, but these windows of opportunity can also help a student decide if they should pivot into another business sub-field. While it can be helpful to build relatively specialized skills in areas like marketing or finance, business careers do not need to be linear; employees will often find themselves with the opportunity to move to other departments within their firm throughout their career. It’s important to note, however, that most firms prefer their C-level leadership, like the Chief Financial Officer or Chief Information Officer, to have built a long and specialized career in the area they have been tasked to manage.
Potential Careers for Business Graduates
- Operations Manager:
Operations managers are tasked with overseeing the daily tasks of an organization. Their responsibilities can vary greatly depending on the firm, with tasks ranging from training employees to helping to identify areas for strategic improvement. - Business Administration Manager:
These individuals are tasked with identifying and building new business opportunities in a firm. This can include expanding relationships with suppliers and clients, identifying new potential product offerings, and building out new programs.Search Programs Offering Business Majors
- Human Resources Specialist:
Every organization must hire people before it can grow effectively. Human resources specialists are tasked with helping to build job descriptions, filter resumes, conduct interviews, and monitor company culture to help firms thrive. - Entrepreneur:
Many business students want to solve specific problems that they see in the world that others are not solving. Thus, entrepreneurs are those who set out to build their products and firms to tackle new issues.
Sources:
- https://stacker.com/stories/2571/top-industries-every-state
- https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/starting-new-job/associates-degree-business-jobs
- https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Associate_of_Business_Administration_(ABA)/Salary
- https://www.husson.edu/online/blog/2022/02/business-administration-careers