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Career beginnings for business majors.

Article Excerpt
When Jon Barron graduated with a bachelor's degree in business, he had many career options. He just didn't know which one to pursue first.

Barron was not alone. By the time most business majors earn their undergraduate degree, they understand business operations, have quantitative and reasoning skills, and are prepared for many entry-level business positions. The problem for these graduates, however, is that they're not always advised where to apply what they've learned in the classroom to the workplace.

It is often challenging to identify and evaluate career options because business is a broad field. Ultimately, Barron chose a job as a consultant because it offered him an opportunity to gain experience in a variety of business functions.

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Keep reading to learn more about consultancy work and two other common ways for recent undergraduates to gain experience in business: as a financial analyst and in a management-training program. This article describes some of the tasks that these workers perform, projects they complete, and skills they develop during their first years in a new career. It also provides data on the wages that a business major might earn when starting out. Another section lists additional business-related occupations. Resources for finding more information are at the end of the article.

Career options for business majors

Business is, by far, the most popular field of study among undergraduates. According to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, more than 318,000 of the nearly 1.5 million bachelor's degrees awarded in 2005-06 were in business. This was nearly double the number of degrees awarded in any other field of study. (See table 1 on page 26.)

Career preparation may be the primary reason that business is a popular major for undergraduates. Business majors' coursework in business strategy, statistics, accounting, finance, and operations management gives them skills in quantitative analysis. Research, writing, and presentation assignments enhance their ability to gather, analyze, and present information. Many projects are done in groups, so students learn to work cooperatively.

This training is important to employers, a fact reflected in the competitive salary offers that business majors receive when they enter the job market. National Center for Education Statistics data show that after a year in the workforce, business majors earned about 16 percent more than the average salary for all majors. Statistics from the National Association of Colleges and Employers provide a snapshot of how salary offers vary by specific business field of study. (See table 2.)

Earnings potential contributes to the decisionmaking process in choosing a career. But so can experience potential. Of three popular choices among entry-level business majors--business consultant, financial analyst, and management trainee--each provides an opportunity to gain relevant skills for a long-term career in business.

Business consultant

Business consultants, also called management analysts, help clients improve business performance, efficiency, structure, or profits. These workers identify the clients' business problems and analyze data and other information...

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