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Careers in Business Administration

Explore different careers in business administration, and learn which one is the best for your skills and goals

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Unlike many business fields that channel directly into a predetermined set of careers—accounting, for example—business administration provides the general skills that can transfer into a wide array of career choices.

Focused on the management and operational skills that are crucial to running a business, a business administration background can apply to almost any industry within the business world.

Business administration graduates go on to manage stores, offices and warehouses; to become CEOs of major corporations; to create advertising campaigns; to develop new products; and to start whole new businesses of their own.

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Paths to Follow

Most business administration degree programs offer the opportunity to specialize in a business field that falls under the large-scale umbrella of business administration. This provides students with both broad business administration skills as well as the specific knowledge that will guide them as they make career choices. Common business administration career specialties include accounting, finance, sales, marketing and information technology.

Many people with business administration backgrounds, therefore, are able to bring to the workplace a unique mixture of industry-specific abilities and the management, leadership and overall business knowledge that will allow them to grow above and beyond entry-level, field-specific positions. It is this combination of skills that has created the high correlation between those with a business administration background and high-status, high-earning positions such as CEO, CFO or Senior Manager in essentially every business field.

Career Growth

While the intense variety of business administration careers makes it somewhat difficult to predict specific growth, it is evident that the robust economy and increasing retirement of baby boomers has created rising job opportunities in almost every business administration-related field. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts a 14.4 percent growth rate in the management, business and financial occupational group, the third-largest increase among the BLS's 10 main career groups. Assuming the field of business administration will continue to adapt to new business trends as it has done so well in recent years, it is essentially guaranteed that business administration careers will continue to be relevant; as long as businesses continue to operate, people with business administration backgrounds will be needed to run those businesses.

Necessary Skills

Success in a business administration career depends mostly on one's ability to balance effective management skills with a focus on the bottom line. This translates to somewhat of a dual skill set. The first of the two skill types can be summarized as effective leadership tactics: good communication, ethical business practices, people and group management skills, ability to motivate a team, time management, problem solving, etc. The second aspect is often slightly more industry-specific (if you use your business administration degree to go into finance, for example, it is crucial that you understand financial technology), but broadly includes analytical and critical thinking, ability to process data, basic understanding of economics and sense of industry trends.

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