Whether you’ve chosen to pursue a business administration degree or you’re still deciding if a business major is right for you, you’ve probably narrowed down a few things that are appealing to you about a business administration degree.
Throughout your college decision process, you might have taken a personality test, made pros and cons lists, or used another tactic to understand your strengths and interests as they relate to a degree. It can be helpful to ask yourself a variety of questions as you research career possibilities. Do you love to work with and serve others? Do analytics, strategic planning, and problem solving interest you? These questions can be good places to start as you think about pursuing a business administration degree.
What does it take to get a business degree?
Choosing to pursue a business degree means that you will be challenged to practically apply what you’re learning to prepare for the marketplace after you graduate. If you choose a private Christian university like North Central, you’ll be guided, mentored, and taught by professors who not only have extensive experience and knowledge in developing innovative business solutions, but who also care deeply about your success and growth as a student.
As a business graduate, you will need to be able to stand out in the marketplace. You’ll need skills and knowledge that set you apart and show that you are ready to take on your first job as a professional businessman or businesswoman. What are some of the best skills that you’ll develop while you pursue a business administration degree that will impress future employers?
Here we’ll outline five important skills that you will gain, with hopes that you can discover if a business administration degree is the right degree for you.
Relationship building
Relationship building is one of the most vital skills to have when you enter the business marketplace. You’ll develop relationships with a ton of different people throughout your career, including coworkers, clients or customers, other professionals in your industry and people you network with at events. Your relationship building skills will help jumpstart your career by growing your network of people that you know within the industry.
Networking is a major way that relationship building will take shape in your business career. Even when you are still in college, it is important to practice networking in order to gain conversation skills and learn how to market yourself to potential employers and other professionals. People that you’re able to network with can be assets throughout your career when you look for new jobs.
Through interacting with classmates in your business courses and completing internships, you will gain real experience building relationships in the marketplace. Group projects in your business courses will especially help you prepare for the teamwork aspect of a future job, and for communicating effectively with other team members or clients.
Strategic thinking
When you pursue your business administration degree, you’ll be able to take business courses with professors that are experts in business strategy, marketing, and more. Your professors will guide your studies and learning to help you think strategically as you come up with innovative business solutions. This real-world skill will be impressive to employers, and you’ll likely leave college having tangible experience and practice developing strategic plans for clients in a variety of industries.
Strategic thinking and problem solving go hand-in-hand. When you graduate with a business administration degree, you will have to be able to develop strategic plans that can offer solutions to businesses that you will work with. Your business courses will prepare you for success in this area and many others.
Practical marketplace knowledge and experience
As you look for the best school to attend for your business administration degree, you will want to explore the kinds of experience students at a given college or university get before they even graduate. You can ask a faculty member or admissions counselor, “What does it take to get a business degree here?” Asking questions about the program will give you insight as to whether or not you would get a lot of practical marketplace knowledge and experience during your pursuit of the degree.
The more practical, real-life experience you can graduate with, the better. You will most likely be required to complete a few internships while you’re in a business program, which is highly beneficial to your practical marketplace knowledge development.
Some colleges and universities even offer opportunities to work with and practice business tactics with actual companies during your business courses.
Watch our video about marketing students presenting their strategic plans to the Liberte team at General Mills. [link to new General Mills video or to old story about Chex team]
Ethical and moral decision making
Another crucial skill to gain during your time pursuing a business administration degree is ethical and moral decision making. Knowing ethical business practices and principles will help employers know that you will work with integrity and can be trusted with responsibilities given to you.
It’s important to be able to graduate with knowledge of sound business ethics because you will likely use that knowledge each day. Decision making is an important part of any business role, so diligently remember the ethics behind business principles you learn in your business courses. Your professors will be able to equip you with applicable knowledge for making business decisions in the marketplace.
Goal setting
Finally, goal setting is an excellent skill you will acquire when you attain a business administration degree. Whether your career ends up to be more marketing, finance, or otherwise oriented, setting goals is how you are able to understand if your efforts are producing any growth in your company. Your business courses will prepare you for success by helping you understand how to create practical, measurable goals and execute a plan to reach them.
Preparing to be a great businessman or businesswoman requires a lot of moving parts. However, a business administration degree will help you develop many skills and gain experience that will translate to a successful career.
Want to learn more about a business degree at North Central?
Download our free viewbook to see if a degree at North Central University, a private Christian university located in downtown Minneapolis (home to 19 Fortune 500 companies), is right for you.
