Success in the business world is directly linked to education. In order to be competitive in the workforce, you’ll need some kind of degree. A great all-around option is a business degree because it teaches all the skills required to start and run a business. That knowledge represents real value to employers, so a business degree means that your skills will always be demand. Whether you are looking for a new job, hoping to advance in your current job, or want to start your own business, pursuing a business degree is a smart choice. The problem is that only recent high school grads are usually afforded to opportunity to pursue college full time. If you already have a job or family responsibilities, sometimes an on-campus program just isn’t within reach.
The answer is an online degree. Many highly reputable colleges and universities offer them, and as long as you choose one with solid name recognition, the degree you receive is considered just as valuable as one earned on campus. Online degrees also offer flexible hours and are often eligible for financial aid. Following are five more reasons to choose an online business degree.
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1. Opens Many Career Paths
No matter what industry you are interested in, “business” is a part of all of them. Having a business degree gives you incredible flexibility in determining your career path, even if that includes a mid-career change of industry. A business degree is also great for people who aren’t sure exactly what they want to do; it’s a great place to explore new options and build a strong professional network.
With a business degree, you will also have gained the basics that will support work in multiple departments, including marketing, sales, advisory, analysis, HR, accounting, business law, and even business reporting.
2. It’s Future Proof
As technology advances, a lot of jobs are changing. Fewer people are being hired for hands-on jobs in manufacturing, farming, and customer service. Brick-and-mortar stores are folding under the onslaught of online shopping, and plenty of products that were once popular are now totally obsolete. Remember when we used to drive to the video store to rent a movie?
But even as technology consumes many individual jobs, business continues to thrive. Companies will always need managers, analysts, financial experts, HR professionals, and strategic planners to help guide and adapt their business to external changes. A business degree lets your potential employer know that you understand how business works and are ready to hit the ground running.
While continuing education throughout your career can help to keep abreast of new developments, your degree means that you have a strong handle on the fundamentals.
3. Transferable Skills
People with a business degree can work in pretty much any industry, as the fundamental principles of business don’t change. A business major with a specialty in marketing, for example, should be able to market any product from shoes to sausages. The principles of effective leadership and management are also applicable to businesses across the spectrum.
These kinds of transferable skills are important because over the course of history, individual industries do rise and fall. If that happens in the industry that employs you, your business degree means that you can move to another one easily.
4. Get Right to the Good Stuff
If you dread spending time and money on prerequisite courses that have nothing to do with business, the good news is that business degrees usually don’t require things like chemistry or physics to complete. Instead, you get right into the fundamental principles that make a business successful. There is also a strong focus on relationship building and networking, because in the end, it is relationships that make a business thrive.
For many business majors, it is the valuable connections they make in business school that help them land their first job, receive valuable promotions, and even change jobs all together.
5. It’s Easy to Get Started
No longer are you limited to the educational opportunities in your own town. The internet has made it possible to receive a degree from colleges and universities worldwide, all from the comfort of your own home. Most online programs are also self-paced, making them ideal for working adults who would struggle to make consistent class times. Even enrollment may be done on a rolling basis, rather than once per year.
An online business degree also costs considerably less money than an on-campus degree, yet could still qualify for financial aid. And while there is less face-to-face contact in an online degree, there is still a lot of support to guide you through enrollment, classes, and finally, job seeking.
Whether you are fresh out of high school or are looking to make a mid-career change, a business degree could be a good option if you want valuable skills that still leave some flexibility in terms of your ultimate job. And in this age of untenable student loan debt, it is smart to look at all your options for education. An online degree could save you a lot of money, and it comes with perks you can’t get on campus, such as self-paced learning. In the end, an online business degree is just as legit as one earned on campus.
When you make the most strategically advantageous decision for your business degree, you are already showing how good a businessperson you are!