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A business degree is a heavy investment, both in terms of time and cost. Business students often want to economize their money and efforts, and they sometimes wonder whether a business degree is worth it. In terms of a marketable skill set, business is one of the best degrees that you can receive. The benefits of attending a business school, rather than breaking into the business world on your own, are tremendous.
Skills Learned in Business School
While it is possible to become successful in business without a business degree, the study will help you to develop a complete skill set. You will sharpen your communication skills, as you learn to communicate your visions to others who will probably have their own ideas. You’ll learn to negotiate with others so that you get the best possible end of the deal. Part of your degree will focus on problem solving, and you’ll learn to think outside of the box to solve abstract problems. Once you graduate, you will feel comfortable developing a business concept from scratch. While some of the things you learn will be intuitive, you’ll have many opportunities to try out your skills in real world business scenarios. This experience alone will help you to solidify your business skill set.
The skills learned in your business school will vary somewhat based on the program and the level of study. Here is some more information about the types of skills you will learn in business school.
You may not go on to use every skill that you learned in business school, but you will be better off for knowing all that you learn there. An employer will certainly look favorably on a candidate with more skills and knowledge rather than less, even if the experience isn’t completely relevant.
Marketing Your Skills to Employers
In business, talk is cheap. The skills that you learned in your university degree will mean nothing if you cannot produce examples. Being able to demonstrate specific times when you used tools in your skill set, and specific outcomes that you produced with your skills, is important. Employers will want to know your accomplishments more than they will want to know what you learned in your degree program. When an employer knows he can count on you for results, you are more likely to be hired.
Before interviewing with an employer, spend some time thinking about what kinds of skills the job requires. Make a list of the skills that you have that are suitable for the job, but also be sure to have in mind some examples of things you did to prove your skills. If you can come up with these concrete displays of your skill set, then you are likely to be successful in marketing your skills to employers.
Overall, the amount of skills that you develop during your business school experience will depend on you. You will take more from the program if you work diligently and value every skill that you have the opportunity to learn. Business school is not the only method for learning business skills, but it certainly is the most complete and thorough. Marketing the skills you gain in school will simply require you to provide evidence of your skill, and your experiences in business school will provide you with sources of that evidence.