Climbing the corporate ladder requires vision. You’ve got to know what you want in order to take it. A good way to instill vision and direction for your future is to know which career to pursue. It’s more than just the pay, you want a position that is going to be fulfilling as much as it is lucrative. Do you know which career that could be for you?
In this article, we’ll give you a run-down of the top careers in business right now so you can see which of these aspiring careers you should focus on. Let’s go!
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Many people seeking a career as a CEO have strong leadership skills and are incredibly driven and decisive, as this is what the role requires. CEOs are responsible for leading an executive team, setting a strategic vision, and making critical and purposeful decisions that positively impact an organization’s growth and profitability.
As a CEO, you’d also be responsible for representing the organization when meeting with stakeholders, investors, and the public. Essentially, as a CEO, you’d need to be the face as well as the brains behind the business you work for. Holding the title of CEO also comes with bonuses and stock options on top of impressive compensation.
Prerequisites and Skills Needed for CEOs:
- A bachelor’s or master’s degree, preferably in business, commerce or economics
- Extensive experience in a particular field to build expertise
- Impressive leadership and communications skills in order to inspire and build connections with clients and employees
Investment bankers
For those who have a money-oriented mind and know how to make money work for individuals and businesses, becoming an investment banker could be an ideal career option. Investment bankers are responsible for preparing financial documents, facilitating acquisitions and mergers, providing expert advice and raising capital. Their role requires them to be able to analyze financial data and assess the market conditions in order to provide organizations with strategic financial advice.
The one thing that makes being an investment banker so lucrative is that your compensation is often linked to the success of the deals you land – the business does well, then you’re doing well.
Prerequisites and Skills Needed for Investment Bankers:
- A bachelor’s or master’s degree in business, finance or statistics
- Attention to detail in order to analyze complex sets of data
- Confidence in high-stakes scenarios
- Decision-making skills for the fast-paced environment
- Knowledge of ethics and compliance to help form healthy relationships with clients
- Impressive mathematical skills and knowledge
Finance director
For those who are exceptional in handling finances and have the ability to make data-informed decisions to enhance an organization’s financial performance, then you should consider pursuing a career as a financial director. As a finance director, your responsibilities generally include overseeing budget planning, managing financial reporting, providing financial insight to help organizations make strategic decisions, and managing taxation and compliance.
For all the hard work and decision-making finance advisors need to do, the earning potential makes it all the more worth, as many finance directors earn salaries that easily exceed six figures – and have the potential to earn more through bonuses and profit-sharing.
Prerequisites and Skills Needed for Finance Directors:
- A bachelor’s or master’s degree in accounting, mathematics, finance, business administration or economics
- 10+ years of working experience to show their expertise
- Strong mathematical skills as they spend most of their time working with numbers
- Well-developed reasoning skills to successfully coordinate schedules and workloads of multiple employees
Management consultant
If you are a person with an innovative drive to see businesses grow and succeed, then your passion and skills could lead you to the lucrative position of a management consultant. Management consultants are the problem-solvers, the strategists and the decision-makers in a business with regard to innovation or cost reduction.
While being a management consultant does come with a certain pressure to perform, the high compensation and ability to transform businesses make it a very worthwhile position. The performance-based bonuses also don’t hurt.
The responsibilities of a management consultant include analyzing an organization’s operations in order to identify issues and challenges, improve efficiency, and ultimately drive its growth.
Prerequisites and Skills Needed for Management Consultants:
- A bachelor’s or master’s degree in a business-related field
- Professional experience in order to demonstrate expertise
- Pronounced leadership skills to be able to delegate responsibility effectively
- Great interpersonal skills in order to successfully motivate and lead employees
Business analyst
Anyone who has the skills and talent for spotting gaps in the market as well as between a business’s needs and where they want to go in the future would make a great business analyst. Business analysts have the responsibility of evaluating business processes and identifying opportunities for improvement in order to cut costs and boost revenue.
Business analysts find a lot of financial reward from their career as this position offers incredibly competitive salaries, which become more and more lucrative for those with more experience and expertise.
Prerequisites and Skills Needed for Business Analysts:
- A bachelor’s or master’s degree in business, economics, finance, information technology, or another related discipline
- Problem-solving skills as business analysts must be able to foresee certain outcomes
- Good communication skills as they will need to work with multiple teams and be able to relay information to and from clients
Final Thoughts
Earning the title of CEO or of one of these remarkable business careers doesn’t happen overnight. These careers are incredibly lucrative and rewarding but equally demanding, so individuals with their eyes set on such positions need to dedicate themselves to honing their expertise and gaining experience.
Doing your MBA is one of the best ways to help you reach your goals in the business sector, and in our modern world, you have the opportunity to study online. Finding an online business course is easy, and most universities will offer the courses needed to help you along the way.
