Advance Your Career: Six Benefits of a Business Degree

What Is a Business Management Degree?

A business management degree is an academic program focused on giving young professionals a comprehensive understanding of business principles, management practices, and leadership skills.

It covers various aspects of business operations including:

• Finance
• Marketing
• Operations

Since a business management degree covers a wide variety of topics, it’s almost impossible to get the same level of education from supplementary certificates that may touch on one or more of these.

“There’s a compound effect with this kind of degree,” Koehler says. “When you’re engaging with different functional areas of business, you’re making connections that you can never make in a standalone certificate program.”

A business degree also aims to prepare students for leadership and managerial roles by developing their analytical, strategic thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.

“What people often miss is that the most important skills you pick up in a bachelor’s degree program are the two that employers most consistently outline as essential: communication and problem-solving skills,” says Koehler. “It’s a rigorous college education that’s going to teach you how to better think and learn.”

Six Benefits You Can Expect From a Business Degree

A business degree will undoubtedly help you excel in your professional journey. Here are six specific benefits of earning a bachelor’s degree in business management.

1. Identifies New Career Opportunities

A business degree provides a broad understanding of various aspects of the business world, including finance, marketing, management, and operations.

“In a bachelor’s degree program, you’ll be forced to engage with a lot of different topics and ideas at a much deeper and more nuanced level,” Koehler explains.

This versatility can open doors in multiple sectors and job roles, making it easier to transition into a new career path. According to Koehler, many students in a business management degree program use this education to transition into a new role.

“This bachelor’s degree might even help you realize that your future isn’t at your current firm,” Koehler says. “It may not even be in the industry you work in or the role you currently work in. So the bachelor’s degree gives you the ‘street cred,’ if you will, to make that jump into a new professional role in a completely different field.”

2. Develops Skill Set

Since a business degree allows you to acquire a comprehensive set of skills, it can significantly boost your employability and potential for career advancement. According to Koehler, the one skill that all students should take away from their business degree is strategic thinking.

“This isn’t just about how to look at a situation and understand how to get the job done,” Koehler says. “It’s also about looking at how that fits into getting it done next week, next year, etc. These degree programs can really teach you how to get outside of that little bubble of ‘today’ and think in terms of the long-term success of the organization.”

A business degree also teaches you the skills you need to manage interpersonal relationships and situations of conflict.

“You’re coming into contact with people in your classes you may not agree with,” Koehler says. “Learning to navigate both that intellectual and interpersonal conflict is really vital to becoming a more effective member of society, and a more effective business leader.”

Another core competency that business degrees focus on is ethics. While this isn’t a common topic in business skills development, it’s an essential component of Regis College’s bachelor’s degree program in business management. As a mission-driven institution, Regis prioritizes giving students the tools to be both successful and do good.

“Ethics is a thread that runs through every business course in the program,” Koehler adds. “We want our students to be able to deal with the grays of the world and grapple with how best to respond to those challenges.”

3. Improves Networking Opportunities

Business programs often offer extensive networking opportunities through alumni networks, internships, and connections with industry professionals. These connections can be invaluable as you navigate career advancement.

While networking exists in nearly all professional settings, a bachelor’s degree in business provides a unique opportunity to meet people who are more similar to you.

“In a professional environment networking is very diverse, with a set of people from different industries, levels of experience, and even geographies,” Koehler expands. “It’s not as concentrated as you would find in a typical undergraduate experience, where almost everybody’s the same age, from the same general geographic area, but, because of the nature of a bachelor’s program, it still draws people who are working in different roles and at various levels.”

In addition to your extended classmates, the alumni network is the most valuable asset of a degree, especially if you attend an institution like Regis where alumni take their role seriously.

“Your Regis degree makes you a part of the Regis alumni network, which is not only international, but also really loyal,” Koehler adds.

4. Increases Earning Potential

Generally, individuals with a bachelor’s degree in business tend to have a higher earning potential compared to those with degrees in other areas of study. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with a business degree earn a median annual wage of $69,000, while those with other degrees earn a median salary of $63,000 per year.

In addition, a business degree can open up opportunities for higher-paying roles across various industries. In many cases, people return to school to get a business degree to fulfill a requirement in moving to the next senior position in their company, which generally comes with a pay raise.

5. Aids in Entrepreneurship

If you're leaning toward starting your own business, a business degree can provide you with the necessary foundation and insights into entrepreneurship, business planning, and financial management. Since entrepreneurs need to know at least the basics of every business function, a business degree can give you the knowledge necessary to succeed.

“Ultimately the number one factor that’s going to determine the success of your business is how much knowledge you have going into it,” Koehler says. “Knowledge takes many forms and comes from many sources, but a bachelor’s in business is a good foundation for all of them because nothing else is going to give you that insight into each of the different functional areas like a degree.”

6. Establishes Industry Credibility

Earning a degree in business can enhance your industry credibility when you’re trying to advance your career.

For example, a bachelor’s degree often serves as a benchmark of your commitment and ability to complete challenging tasks.

“You’re showing your commitment to stick it through by completing a bachelor’s degree,” Koehler adds. “That’s akin to remaining with an employer for four or five years. It shows consistency that some of your peers might lack on their resumes.”

A bachelor’s degree can also demonstrate a level of expertise in your field, which can be crucial for roles requiring specific knowledge or competencies. This is largely because the skills and knowledge gained can lead to improved job performance, making you a prime candidate for promotion.

“There are plenty of specialized skills that come out of this type of program—whether it’s quantitative analysis, data analysis, or Microsoft Excel,” Koehler says. “But the advantage of where we focus is taking those disparate individual skills and putting them into a coherent picture of what it means to lead an organization, manage a department or division because it’s not just the nuts and bolts.”

Advance Your Career With a Bachelor’s Degree in Business

Whatever your career goals, a bachelor’s degree in business can help you get one step closer. The key is to find a degree program that understands your objectives and helps you get there.

Regis College’s BA in Business Management degree is renowned for its student-first, success-proven program. They differentiate themselves by remaining mission-driven in their teaching with passionate faculty.

“All of our faculty on the business side come from the real world,” Koehler says. “They all have the academic qualifications as well, but they’ve all spent considerable time in an executive or managerial role outside of academia. So they know how it really works.”

Interested in advancing your career with a bachelor’s degree in business? Learn more about Regis College’s BA in Business Management degree.