If you are looking for your next challenge or you have been feeling left behind in your company’s promotion track, you may want to consider pursuing a master’s in business administration.
Business administrators develop a range of skills that are crucial for the success of businesses. These skills are easily transferable to other roles.
The global economy faltered during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, business started to boom midway through. Companies are adjusting to different labor practices and new markets are opening up. However, now the economy is beginning to dip and it looks like a global recession may be on the horizon.
There has arguably never been a better time to improve your resume and boost your skills. Especially, as the job market is becoming increasingly competitive. If you have professional experience but your CV just never seems to make it to the top of the pile. Or, perhaps you feel like you do not get recognition for your work like your colleagues? It may be time to consider upskilling through higher education.
Although higher education is not always the answer to success, it can certainly help your CV to stand out from the crowd. It also demonstrates your intellectual curiosity, interest in a challenge, and discipline. These traits are always valuable in the job market and they certainly cannot hurt your chances of getting a new role.
If you are looking to upskill through higher education, then a degree in business administration is an often overlooked but valuable specialization. A career in business administration opens you up to many different possible career paths and opportunities in ways that other specializations cannot.
In many ways, business administrators are the glue that holds companies big and small together. Administrators, of course, manage the organizational, and administrative aspects of a business. But, they also are commercial generalists who can fill in when and where they are need to.
This means that an administrator’s job is never going to be the same. Instead, they will continually be learning new things. A degree in business administration will typically focus on teaching students how to solve complex commercial problems inside a company. From how to manage finances and budget, strategy and planning to handling the people aspects of a company, such as management, hiring, and team development.
For some people, a general role such as business administration seems appealing. But, they may have a nagging concern that it is not specialized enough. Or, that the role would not give them enough hard skills. Those fears can be remedied, however, as business administration provides professionals with a range of important – and highly employable – hard and soft skills.
Regarding hard skills, administrators will typically gain experience with managing finances, budgeting, strategy planning, and researching competitors and industry trends. These are important skills that can be applied to a range of different segments in a business structure.
As for soft skills, one of the primary skills that administrators gain is administrative skills. This includes time management, organizational abilities, and delegation capabilities. Good administrators also have excellent communication skills. They are able to collect, process, and relay information in clear and informative ways. They are also excellent listeners. On top of that, administrators are also usually good at problem-solving, managing projects, and public speaking. Especially, as they will often need to present their findings or efforts to larger teams.
A mistake that is often made in modern workplaces is that hard skills are valued over soft skills. Individuals who would work better on their own are often pushed to leadership positions. Poor managers who have underperforming teams or teams with high rates of turnover are typically managers who lack good soft skills.
The importance of soft skills really cannot be overemphasized. Anyone who has worked under a manager who is unable to communicate metrics or resolve problems will understand this.
When deciding which business administration course to opt for, there are a number of factors that you may want to consider. You should check out the support that is available for current and graduated students. Also, consider any potential connections that the university or college has with corporations.
Students may also want to consider the type of learning they are comfortable with. Whether they prefer in-person, hybrid or fully online learning. For business courses in particular, it is also important to look at the courses offered as part of the degree. Consider how they factor into and support your long-term career goals.
For example, the online MBA degree from Aston University is fully online. It has a range of courses designed to help professionals scale up their skills and prepare for a business administration career. The Aston University MBA also includes a research project element. This is ideal for students looking to focus on a particular aspect of the commercial world. Research projects are also a great way to showcase your abilities and tenacity to employers.
If you are a working professional looking to return to education, it can be a daunting task. Continuing your education is often not very accessible because many of us already have demanding jobs and home lives. Often our lives involve raising a family or caring for others.
One option for professionals returning to education is to opt for evening classes or programs. Or, schedule their classes for weekends. Another option for professionals or working parents is online education and fully remote courses.
Many people consider online education to be a somewhat niche, lesser form of education. However, the pandemic forced all courses and degrees to transition to digital and, in doing so, proved that all courses could be taken remotely.
Online education is now just as valuable and important as in-person classes and, crucially, remote learning is much more accessible for individuals who cannot commit to being full-time students.
