Business-related fields might seem far more academic than creative, and for many business graduates, traditional career pathways are often still highly appealing. These include careers in banking, finance, consultancy, human resources, and marketing sectors- this is because many people who choose this career path thrive on the professionalism and power of big business.
However, there are plenty of other directions you can go in, and if you want to take your career in a more creative direction you can still do this as a business graduate.
All industries are in need of strong leaders, and so those with corporate business qualifications can still take a different route to the typical roles you might expect. Plus, having a degree in any subject (including business) can allow you to apply for entry-level roles when you graduate so you could choose to specialize from there.
Here’s how you can use your management skills and knowledge of finance, the market and other elements of the business to snag yourself a more creative career!
Creative Career #1: Work in Advertising
There are plenty of opportunities for business graduates to utilize their skills in a marketing or advertising role. Your knowledge of the market along with the ability to create marketing strategies that work, conduct market research, and manage relationships with clients will all come in useful here.
You will be able to liaise with other professionals from writers to designers to video creators to bring your vision to life and create adverts or marketing materials that really appeal to the customers of the brand you’re working with.
As a business graduate, you will have a good understanding of both technology and current market trends and will be well aware of how these can change.
This means you know the importance of change and adaptation to stay appealing and up to date, and prevent your material being rendered obsolete.
Advertising and marketing is a particularly good choice for those who have graduated with a business psychology degree, who have previous psychology qualifications or just a strong interest in the subject.
However even if you’ve specialized in something else, for example, you’ve done an MBA in strategy online there are still skills that will come in useful in an advertising role. This course, for example, tends to focus on fostering change in organizational or community behavior- something that’s transferable to your goal as an advertiser.
Creative Career #2: Work in the Media
As a business graduate, you have the opportunity to go into one of the most creative of industries and that’s in the media.
This includes working in TV, film, newspapers, magazines and online. Business degrees don’t tend to link up to direct content creation, however, you’re likely to be involved in things like marketing, branding, advertising, and PR, as well as things like management and strategy.
In PR, you’re likely to start off by researching material for things press conferences, liaising with journalists and content creators and monitoring the success of the campaigns that are run by keeping track of any coverage that appears the media.
Later on, you could end up in charge of several team members and have responsibility for managing budgets. You could also be responsible for acquiring new clients for your company’s services and maintain or enhance their reputation.
Business studies combined with media is becoming a popular degree and being offered at more and more universities as the two unlikely fields can sync up well.
Creative Career #3: Create Your Own Business
Finally, a great way to put your knowledge and experience of business to use is to start your own business venture.
Working for yourself can be incredibly rewarding, and as you were studying chances are you come up with a number of potential ideas to use once you graduated. Be sure to do your market research to ensure that your idea is something that people want and if your research doesn’t perform as well as you’d hope- use your knowledge to tweak your idea.
Of course, when you’re the one calling the shots you get to start a business in any field you want, allowing you to go down all kinds of creative paths.
While there are plenty of fantastic career opportunities that can be gained with a business degree, there’s nothing quite like setting up something of your own.
Pouring your creativity and passion into something you have created- and with a good understanding of the business, you’re in the best position to do so. You could even call on friends you made on your course and your tutors for any support and advice you might need when it comes to setting up.