Upon becoming a business professional you will have a wide variety of roles to choose from as virtually every industry has a designated business branch to facilitate its growth; be it a small business or a multi-billion enterprise.
This is why any aspiring business student has to develop a diverse skill set so they are equipped for any scenario. To achieve this, you need to go the extra mile and make the most of your studies.
So, how to succeed in business school? With this question in mind, we decided to help the online MBA General freshmen by providing the list of ten essential things you should know and stick to in order to maximize the value of their effort during studies and hit the ground running after graduation:
- Define your specific goals
- Be open to new ideas
- Work on your communication skills
- Your writing should be on point
- Planning and strategizing
- How to nail a presentation
- Learning to work with teams
- Commercial awareness
- Acknowledge the power of social media
- Make the most of your networking opportunities
Define Your Specific Goals
As the business profession is a broad spectrum, you should do some research in advance, so you gain more clarity about what it is that you want to do in the field. Filtering out diverse career choices and specialties will determine the electives and any minors you’ll want to pursue.
For example, if you decide to go for marketing, you have the option to go for sales, research, or in the current landscape, social media marketing. Choosing your electives wisely will enable you to benefit the most from your studies.
Be Open to New Ideas
An online degree in general business can be more than just the transfer of knowledge: It can be a crossroads for new ideas and exciting discussions with your peers and mentors.
Listening to and interpreting the thoughts of others can give you a good start in developing your own business ideas. Obtaining your general management degree online in a collaborative and explorative environment can help you bring your vision to fruition during your studies.
Still, it’s important to note that you should not apply additional pressure on yourself: Everyone advances at their own pace, not everyone is expected to launch a successful startup before graduation.
Work on Your Communication Skills
The ability to convince others is probably one of the sharpest tools in any successful business professional’s inventory. You should be able to handle all kinds of social interactions that may arise at work with ease, be it a casual meeting, a presentation, or acquisition.
Nurturing a welcoming, positive attitude can go a long way in helping you create a confident vibe, so make the most of every opportunity you get during general management degree studies. The best way to practice these skills is by putting effort in delivering captivating presentations.
Your Writing Should be on Point
The fact that we went digital and a lot of things became instant doesn’t mean you should whip it up when it comes to writing: If you’re going to be an academic you should develop your tone, so to say.
Whether you communicate with your colleagues or managers via email, text messages or direct instant messages, you need to be able to put your point across in a professional manner.
Also, as you progress through your online business studies, you’ll need those writing skills in order to perform well on your assignments.
Learn How to Plan And Strategize
Seeing the bigger picture is the integral part of every business position. Balancing the short-term consequences to ensure they align with your company’s long term goals can get challenging at times.
This is where your strategic management skills come into play: Ensuring the well-being of your organization includes encouraging new policies, innovation, and any other change necessary.
Stage Presence is Everything
If you want to succeed in the business world you need to possess excellent public speaking skills. From selling yourself in job interviews to giving presentations and delivering proposals, you need to maintain both your charisma and executive presence.
Again, class presentations are the best practice you’ll get before the real thing.
Level up Your Team Work
You may hate the idea, but group projects are one of the best ways to train yourself for a work environment. Throughout your professional career, you will collaborate with a lot of people to reach the success of your projects. During the whole process you will need to include everyone’s ideas, as well as get your opinion through.
There is no way around it: Handling your colleagues in a respective manner may be the difference between professional success and failure. Even if you’re aiming at being an entrepreneur, you will still need to closely collaborate with third-parties.
Develop Commercial Awareness
Commercial awareness is of the utmost importance for succeeding in today’s business world.
If you want to become a seasoned professional you need to demonstrate a good understanding of not only your business market but that of others as well. That way you can evaluate your competition more efficiently, launch better products, and plan for your organization’s future.
While searching for a job, you should research your target company’s goals, mission, the market landscape, to gain insight how the current political and economic issues might affect their standing.
Utilize Social Media
Social media has quickly transformed from a platform for non formal chit-chat to the most commonly used digital marketplace. You should start upgrading your profile early on, and even make some business connections during your studies.
Take the time to clean them up and remove anything that might not be business appropriate as 70% of employers use social media screening during the hiring process as part of a background check.
Make The Most of Your Networking Opportunities
While your business degree is undoubtedly an asset, having a strong network is invaluable for your career. The best time to start making connections would be during your studies: From student societies to alumni get-togethers, the opportunities are vast.
Take some time to get to know your peers as each of them can be able to help provide a key recommendation or referral in the future. The same goes for your professors, as they’re already experts in their field and likely well-connected.
Remember that the difference between jumpstarting your career and struggling post-graduation can lie in nurturing the right relationships in your field early on.
Wrapping up
We hope these pieces of advice will give you some food for thought and help you get the most out of your online general management degree program.
At Copperbelt University ECAMPUS you can learn the skills and expertise essential to get a rewarding career on a flexible schedule to suit your commitments of work, life and family.
Learn more about the program by downloading prospectus.
Get in touch here with our enrolment counsellors who will give you the advice and support you need to start your studies.