Career Guide | Business Management B.S.
Discover how a bachelor's degree in business management can help your career.
A bachelor's degree in business management can prepare you for a wide variety of careers. Business management gives you a great overview of different business practices so you're prepared for many job titles in many business settings. A business management bachelor's degree at WGU can help set you up for an exciting career by giving you knowledge and experience in finance, strategy, operations, economics, and more. Additionally this program also has an option to add an emphasis in marketing or healthcare management, giving you an opportunity to gain more experience in a particular area that can help you in your career.
Learn more about careers you can pursue with your bachelor's degree in business management from WGU.
Account Manager Career
Average Salary—$62,000 per year | Job Outlook—8% growth by 2028
An account manager manages relationships with particular clients for an organization. They may have multiple clients that they are specifically responsible for when it comes to setup, upgrades, answering questions, and overall performance.
Account managers typically work for firms that are selling products like a scheduling software or marketing packages. They work for the firm specifically for a client to help them get the most out of their purchase.
Account manager salaries will vary based on your location, type of clients, and educational experience. Account managers make an average annual salary of around $62,000 per year, with the top 10% earning over $96,000 per year.
Account management is expected to grow about 8% by 2028, a bit faster than the national average.
A business management degree is an ideal choice for those wanting to become account managers, as it gives you important insight into maintaining relationships, general business practices, and valuable industry knowledge.
Business Analyst Career
Average Salary—$84,000 per year | Job Outlook—14% growth by 2028
Business analysts often work for third-party organizations and are hired by clients to review the business policies of a company. They may also be hired long term to help with procedural changes for an organization. They gather information about business problems and research technologies and business systems to help solve them. They brainstorm solutions, analyze cost benefits, train employees on new practices, and more. Business analysts work to make sure a company runs smoothly, help evaluate any issues, and find solutions for problems.
The average business analyst salary is more than $84,000 per year, much higher than the national average salary. The level of education you have will directly impact how much you can earn, and your experience in business will play a huge role in your salary level.
Business analyst positions are expected to grow 14% by 2028, much faster than the national average. IT and healthcare are industries with extreme growth, and often business analysts are hired to help them prepare for the future.
A business management degree is an ideal start for this career. This degree program will help you understand many facets of business and learn about unique solutions to problems. Many business analysts can benefit from a master's degree or MBA as well, and a business management degree is an ideal place to start on this career path.
Project Manager Career
Average Salary—$75,000 per year | Job Outlook—12% growth by 2026
Project managers help everything run smoothly in an organization. They are tasked with helping teams work together on projects, and may specifically work on a certain set of projects or all the tasks for a team. They organize processes, interact between different departments, run meetings, and make sure that deadlines and goals are met. Project managers help everyone understand what their roles are and see that everything is done correctly in a company. They may use project management software to help them keep everything organized and are often responsible for understanding what everyone's role is so they can help departments interact easily.
Project managers make an average annual salary of about $75,000 per year, with the bottom 10% earning $57,000 and the top 10% earning about $99,000 per year. The size of the organization and your experience level will directly impact how much you can earn in this position.
Careers in project management are expected to grow 12% by 2026, twice as fast as the national average. This is largely due to more organizations seeing the benefit of project managers and new technology making their position necessary.
A business management degree can be a great way to begin a career in project management. A business management degree will help you learn how to work with teams, communicate well, organize effectively, and know about how business processes function in an office environment.
Sales Manager Career
Average Salary—$99,000 per year | Job Outlook—5% growth by 2028
Sales managers help a sales team navigate their responsibilities to reach their goals. They are in charge of helping find new customers, creating presentations to best appeal to customers, closing deals and working out contracts, keeping clients happy, creating incentives for the sales team, and more. Nearly every business has some kind of product or service to sell, and sales managers help meet goals and create opportunities for the organization to make money.
Sales managers make an average annual salary of around $99,000 per year. Entry-level sales managers make around $63,000 per year, with the top 10% earning more than $147,000 per year. Sales managers may work on commission, so their salary level may be lower and their commission opportunities high. Many sales managers lead teams but also still sell to clients themselves, giving them more commission opportunities.
Careers in sales management are expected to grow 5% by 2028, about as fast as the national average. Virtually every organization is selling something, and sales managers help keep teams on track to reach targets.
A business management degree is key to being a great sales manager. This degree teaches students about sales strategies and tactics, management styles, and business fundamentals that ensure you can be prepared for this career.
Operations Manager Career
Average Salary—$75,000 per year | Job Outlook—7% growth by 2028
Operations managers are key leaders in helping a business run smoothly. They are directly responsible for the plans of an organization and help maintain processes and procedures. They work on budgets for equipment and technology, analyze processes to make sure they are efficient, understand business trends to predict how the organization may need to adapt, increase productivity, work with vendors, and more. Businesses are able to operate and run smoothly with the right operations manager behind the scenes, helping everyone succeed.
The average salary for business operations managers is over $100,000 per year. The lowest 10% earn about $44,000 per year, and the top 10% can earn more than $200,000 per year. Your education level and years of experience are a great factor in your salary level.
Careers in business operations management are expected to grow 7% by 2028. As organizations continue to want to streamline their activities and work with new technologies to increase efficiency, operations management positions will continue to be in demand.
If you want to become a business operations manager, a business management degree is a great place to start. This degree program helps teach students about business operations, how they should function, important strategies, and trends to watch out for. It will also teach management techniques that can help students flourish in this kind of role.
Banking Career
Average Salary—$40,000–$100,000 per year | Job Outlook—4% growth by 2028
Investment banking, personal banking, wealth management, and even bank management are all great career options. Bankers can work for large investment firms or for personal banks that businesses and individuals use. Personal bankers focus on working with clients on their investments, financial needs, mortgage and auto loans, and more. Commercial bankers are in charge of helping businesses set up their accounts, get loans, manage their funds, and more. Investment bankers essentially help large companies raise capital and follow regulations with their money. They look at the best ways to invest and help organizations do so in a financially sound way. All of these kinds of banking career paths are available if you have a degree in business management.
The kind of banking you choose to do will greatly impact your salary level. Personal bankers make an average of $40,000 per year, commercial bankers earn an average salary of around $95,000 per year, and investment bankers earn more than $100,000 per year.
Careers in banking are expected to grow 7% by 2028. There is always a need for bankers to help manage money. Banking is always a solid and stable profession.
For any kind of banking, a business management degree can be a great place to start. This degree will give you important insight into how businesses work and the financial aspects you'll need to know in banking.
Financial Advisor Career
Average Salary—$59,000 per year | Job Outlook—7% growth by 2028
Financial advisors help individuals learn about their investment, insurance, and retirement options. They often work for independent organizations to help clients learn about their investing options, insurance policies, and more. They take money from clients and help them invest it into mutual funds, CDs, stock market purchases, and more. They give regular reports and updates to clients about how their money is performing. They are responsible for researching good investment opportunities, helping explain insurance and retirement options to clients, and more.
The average salary for financial advisors is around $59,000 per year, with the top 10% of the profession making more than $110,000 per year. Financial advisors often work on commission, so their salary level will depend on the number of clients they have.
Financial advising professions are expected to grow 7% by 2028. People are always looking for ways to increase their wealth, and financial advisors are key in helping to keep money safe and grow it as well.
A degree in business management is a great place to start on the path to becoming a financial advisor. Financial advisors need to understand economics, finances, and accounting, all of which they can learn in a business management degree program. They will also learn about working with people, key for getting and keeping clients.
C-level Executive Career
Average Salary—$278,000 per year | Job Outlook—6% growth by 2028
Chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief operations officer, and more. There are many c-level executive positions available. These professionals run entire teams and departments in an organization. They have control over how money is spent, what the organization is going to do, goals, deadlines, next steps, and more. They have many people reporting to them to help make the goals happen.
These positions are at the very top of a company, so their salary is extremely high. The average c-level executive earns an annual salary of over $278,000 per year. However, these positions take many years of experience and a high level of education to obtain. It often takes years to work your way up to a C-level position, which is why the salary is so extremely high.
C-level positions are expected to grow 6% by 2028. These positions have fairly low turnover, so it's valuable to work your way up in a company to help qualify yourself for this kind of position.
A degree in business management can be a valuable first step to a C-level position. A business management bachelor's degree will give you important knowledge and skills in the business world and give you the credentials you need to pursue a master's degree. An MBA or other master's degree will likely be required to qualify you for a C-level position, and that educational path starts with a bachelor's degree in business management.