Could an online course in business management give your career a boost?

Business management is a career path that many people seem to drift into by chance. Maybe you started out with a role in your family business or you put together a successful start-up, or perhaps you worked your way up from a junior position inside a particular company. All of these are perfectly valid career paths, but they have one thing in common: they can leave you stuck in a rut.

If your present job is no longer giving you what you need or you feel that you are ready for a fresh challenge, studying business management could formalize your skills and prepare you to take the next step. Here is a look at just some of the advantages it has to offer.

Sharpen your skills

If you’ve been working in the same role, with mostly the same people, for a long time, you may be getting by on habit as much as skill. Although there is nothing wrong with this, it is inadequate if you plan to change roles, and many managers only discover after switching that they are less capable than they thought. This is because other people may have been picking up the slack in key areas without them realizing it, and they may never have learned some of the skills that large companies routinely expect from business managers. These include skills such as budgeting, strategic planning and understanding the commercial environment. 

An MSC finance and management will fill in the gaps and ensure that you’re really firing on all cylinders. It will give you the chance to explore areas where you were always uncertain and find out how other people do things. It will also help you build upon what you already do well so that you can really bring yourself up to the top level.

Broaden your scope

Every business has its own way of doing things, and if all your knowledge comes from experience in just one or two companies, you may not yet be very well prepared to adapt to a new one. Business management courses are designed to give you widely applicable skills and cover all eventualities as thoroughly as possible, giving you the skills needed to work in businesses of many different types. You’ll learn about different management styles and the expectations that assorted employers might have of you so that you can hit the ground running when you find a new job. 

If you want to stay in the same position but improve on what you do, your enriched understanding of the role will help you when it comes to dealing with managers from other companies. It will also boost your ability to innovate. If you have been getting by successfully, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you couldn’t do better.

Learn new techniques

The great thing about studying as opposed to just relying on experience is that it will bring you up to date with the latest strategies and techniques developed for use in the workplace. You’ll learn new theories, get to grips with research, and come to understand not just what works, but why it works. You may already be a good manager, but this will make you a much more flexible one who is able to fit in with whatever colleagues are doing in a new job while being able to show them new ways of working that have been proven to get results. Essentially, this will put you in a position to provide free training on top of the job you are hired to do, which will make you highly appealing to potential employers.

Combine study and work

The great thing about online courses is that, as a rule, you can choose your own hours of study, making it much easier for you to fit them in around work. You’ll even have the option of interrupting your study if something urgent comes up at work and getting back to it afterward. Working unusual or variable hours will not compromise your ability to complete your course as long as you can put in enough hours overall. 

You’ll learn more effectively if you are in a position to try out new skills and techniques right away, and continuing to work will help you to identify the places where you’re unsure how to combine theory and practice at a time when you have tutors available to ask for advice. You’ll also have the option of keeping your study a secret if you don’t want your current employer to know that you are considering other options because the lack of fixed hours makes it easy to be discreet.

Build your contacts

The other great thing about undertaking formal study is that it gives you the chance to meet all sorts of interesting people. Most online courses have their own social media networks where you can talk to other people taking your course, many of whom will have experience in different industries, including ones you’re considering moving into. 

This is a fantastic opportunity to expand your networks and make contacts who can help you find your next position or give you a foot in the door when it comes to making deals once you’ve found it. Sometimes discussions in these spaces can even lead to the formation of new companies. They’re a really useful place to exchange ideas, get different perspectives on topics you’re struggling with, and even make new friends locally and around the world.

If there is one constant in business, it’s change. If you’ve worked for any length of time as a business manager, you’ll know that companies can’t afford to stand still – and neither can you. Taking a business management course isn’t about doing more of the same; it’s about evolving and lifting your present skills to the next level while also acquiring new ones. 

When you qualify at the end of your course, you’ll be much more employable. You will also have a fresh perspective on your profession, and you’ll remember why it excited you in the first place.