Fancy a career in business?

There are many opportunities within almost any industry sector that interests you – and you don’t always need a business degree. Here, Employability & Careers Adviser Beth Chafik writes about what ‘working in business’ could actually mean for you.

Opportunities in business are available within global, national and local organisations – in fact, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for more than 99% of all UK businesses. Although during these COVID times, some industries may be struggling, look for those that are holding fast and consider diversifying into a sector you may not have considered before, for example IT, engineering or healthcare.

Do you like numbers? How’s your logical thinking? Finance graduate jobs include not just accounting and taxation (where specific qualifications might be expected) but also investment, financial planning and insurance – all areas you could look at with any degree. Train as a mortgage adviser, apply for a graduate scheme, research your car insurance company – do they look for graduates each year? Companies often recruiting in these fields include, EY, BDO, Allianz and AXA.

Marketing is a popular career route for many ARU students, either within a marketing agency or in-house within the marketing department of an organisation. Some also work on a freelance basis. Many organisations look for digital marketers. Companies currently recruiting marketing graduates include Kerry, L'Oréal. Marketing agencies you might research include Genie Goals, Sookio, Mobas and We are Social. Many vacancies will ask for a marketing degree but some may just be interested in your work designing promotional branding or materials for a student society or club. If you’ve got good ideas on what customers want (or how to find out) then it might be worth ‘promoting yourself’ and applying for a trainee marketing position.

Most organisations have a human resources department (often called Talent Management) and of course, many HR professionals have specialised in areas including employment law and performance management, for example. However, many who work in HR are generalists and have entered the profession through an interest in people, recruitment or training and development. Companies currently recruiting students onto their HR graduate schemes include NHS, Balfour Beatty, Fujitsu and Bakkavor. The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) offers professional qualifications, often expected for even HR assistant jobs, but graduates may also train for CIPD awards while working for a company – so if you are a ‘people person’ and have great planning and organisation skills and quick to learn, this could be an area for you.

Are you an individual who enjoys variety and working towards targets? Are you good at your part-time job as a retail sales associate which is helping fund your studies but also giving you great skills? You might be interested to know that opportunities in sales can be found in all industries, so it really does depend on what interests you. All degree disciplines could work in sales! Biomedical science graduates can work in pharmaceutical sales, Historians in book sales and computer science graduates can be found working for Dell – in their sales and customer service departments. Companies currently recruiting for sales graduate schemes include BT, Aldi, Lidl and Mondelez International.

If you decide to continue your studies and specialise in a subject such as marketing, finance, human resource or international business management, talk to an Employability & Careers Adviser about postgraduate opportunities and how to research.

For support with considering options in business and applying, current students at ARU can talk to your Employability & Careers Adviser (email [email protected]) and see The Careers Centre for more information on Graduate Schemes and Jobs search.

By Beth Chafik
Employability & Careers Adviser

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Study business at ARU

Find out more about undergraduate and postgraduate business degrees at ARU, or come along to one of our Open Days.