When it comes to pursuing higher education, it’s only natural to seek out a field of study that leaves you feeling confident about your potential job prospects. You have goals for yourself and your family, and you don’t want to invest the time, effort and money into a degree with limited utility. Fortunately, for anyone interested, a business management degree can be useful in a wide variety of rock-solid roles.
While the name might make you think opportunities with this degree will focus solely on managing teams of people, the reality is that a business management degree program provides a versatile foundation of business-related skills for you to grow from in your career.
So what’s potentially out there for business management graduates? We’ve compiled a list of the some of the top occupations you can apply this degree to.
7 Roles commonly seeking business management degree holders
Read on to learn more about the projected job outlook, earning potential and typical responsibilities associated with each of these business management-related jobs.
1. Wholesale, technical and manufacturing sales representative
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projected employment growth (2019–2029): 2%1
Job overview: Sales representatives contact new and existing customers, explain product or service features, and answer any questions that prospective customers may have. Some sell directly to consumers, and some sell to businesses and other organizations. These professionals work to build relationships with customers and develop mutually beneficial sales agreements between groups—so excellent communication and problem-solving skills are a big plus.
While the projected employment growth for sales representatives is lower than the national average (4%) as a whole, it should be noted that certain industries are seeing a much higher growth rate projection.1 According to the Bureau of Labor Statics (BLS), sales jobs at independent agencies—rather than at single companies—are projected to grow 12% by 2029.1
2. Marketing manager
Projected employment growth (2019–2029): 6%1
Job overview: Marketing managers identify potential markets for an organization’s products. They estimate the demand for those products and oversee a team that develops strategies to generate interest and maximize profits.
While parts of this job can be creative—like brainstorming ideas for an advertising campaign—many of the responsibilities involve sharp business skills. Overseeing an advertising budget, managing client relationships, guiding the development of a new product and researching market trends are just a few of the things a marketing manager might do. This role requires the ability to empathize with consumers and understand what motivates them to make a purchase.
3. Sales manager
Projected employment growth (2019–2029): 4%1
Job overview: Like sales representatives,sales managers are responsible for connecting customers with products. But unlike representatives, they take a more bird’s-eye view of the entire sales process as they oversee the work of entire sales teams.
Sales managers set goals, analyze data to identify ways to improve efficiency, monitor customer satisfaction and develop training programs for the sales team they manage. Often, they are tasked with developing plans for meeting sales quotas or targets and may influence discount rates or other promotional tactics. As you might expect, this role typically requires extensive sales experience.
4. Management analyst
Projected employment growth (2019–2029): 11%1
Job overview: Management analysts propose ways to improve an organization’s efficiency. They advise managers on how to make organizations more profitable through reduced costs and increased revenues. They might work with a single department or an entire company to see how different roles work together. While the details of this line of work will change from business to business, think of these professionals as the people who can take a step back from daily operations and identify redundant processes, extra steps and bottlenecks for getting things done.
This is often a contract position since management analysts usually operate as consultants that focus on a specific area of expertise. The role requires a solid understanding of business practices—but that’s not all. Management analysts need excellent problem-solving skills, an eye for detail and the ability to effectively communicate with stakeholders to understand the impact of potential changes to processes.
5. General and operations manager
Projected employment growth (2019–2029): 5 to 7%2
Job overview: General and operations managers do many of the same things as other types of managers—oversee employees, set goals, address issues and so on. While other management roles in this article focus on specialized areas, like sales or marketing, these professionals tackle a broader range of responsibilities for keeping an organization running. Typically, this means they work in smaller organizations or oversee the overall operations of a branch or individual location of a larger organization—for example, a retail store manager.
While the duties will vary depending on the organization, general and operations managers are often responsible for things like reviewing financial statements, setting prices, hiring staff, making marketing decisions and more. This requires a good sense of adaptability and overall business savvy.
6. Financial analyst
Projected employment growth (2019–2029): 5%1
Job overview: Financial analysts help businesses and individuals make investment decisions. To make the right recommendations, they must evaluate historical financial data, study economic trends and assess the performance of current investments.
Typically, financial analysts are divided into two categories: buy-side and sell-side. Buy-side analysts work with those who are interested in investing their money. Sell-side analysts advise financial services agents on selling stocks, bonds and other investments.
7. Financial manager
Projected employment growth (2019–2029): 15%1
Job overview: Rather than focusing on investments like an analyst, financial managers deal with the overall financial health of an organization. They prepare financial reports, develop strategies for long-term financial goals and supervise employees who deal with budgeting and investing.
There are several different kinds of financial managers, including controllers, treasurers, credit managers and more. Depending on what kind of financial management you want to go into, you can focus on topics like tax law, budget processing, auditing or healthcare billing.
Make your move toward a business management career
The businesses you see every day need a large contingent of skilled professionals to keep their operations running smoothly and profitably—so why not answer the call? As you can see, there’s quite a range of jobs you can potentially land with a business management degree. This versatile business degree program is a smart option for anyone looking to develop a broad foundation of skills employers are seeking.
Are you ready to take the next step toward a career in business? Visit the Rasmussen University Business Management programs page today to learn more about what these programs have to offer.
1Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, [information accessed March 22, 2021] www.bls.gov/ooh/. Employment conditions in your area may vary.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was originally published in September 2014. It has since been updated to include information relevant to 2021.
