3 answers
Eric
Student
Mokena, Illinois
1
Question
Updated
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What is the best piece of advice you can give to someone who just started their path down business administration? #Spring25
I am a junior college student who plans to attend Illinois State University next year.
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3 answers
Daniel Kivel-Goldstein, CHIA, MBA
Sommelier
7
Answers
Denver, Colorado
Updated
Daniel’s Answer
Major in finance, accounting or real estate. General business degrees are not worth the paper they're printed on anymore. Get a degree in finance and then pursue professional certifications. MBAs are useless(as someone with an MBA)
Leidy Jimenez
End User Sales & Print Warranty Services Support
2
Answers
Bogotá, Colombia
Updated
Leidy’s Answer
Hello Erick !! It is important to develop leadership and communication skills, that allow you to make decisions for the well-being of the company.
Mary Ann Faue
Communications, Training, and People Development
40
Answers
Hayward, California
Updated
Mary Ann’s Answer
Hello Eric,
The one piece of advice I would give you is "know how you learn". What I mean is, do you learn by doing, or by reading, or by observing someone else? It's probably a bit of all of these. But it's important to know how you learn because this will help you to continue to learn over time and enable you to more easily grow your career. Think about all the changes that have come with the introduction of technology into everything we do. Then, think about what's coming with AI. We're just getting an inkling of how AI will change our lives, both professional and personal. The world is constantly changing and if you want to stay relevant and marketable in your job, you need to change and adapt. To do that, you need to understand how you learn.
That being said, as you start down your career path, keep in mind that everything from the classroom to the job you're working (whatever that job is) to the stuff you do in your daily life is a learning opportunity. In the college classroom, you will learn a lot of stuff like theories, approaches, case studies, etc. It's important to understand this information as it gives you a base to operate from and provides a framework for the work you do. In your job, whatever it is, you'll be learning how to interact with people in a business setting (this is likely a bit different from hanging out with your friends), how to navigate a business structure, how things connect, how the work you do helps or hinders someone else's work. Even in your personal life, you learn things every day without even realizing it.
So, here's an example of what I'm talking about. While I was still in high school, I had my first job where they gave me an actual paycheck and took taxes out of it. I worked as a children's photographer at the mall. Today, I work for a tech company doing team development, leadership development, and leading organizational change (when the company is going to make a big change, I use communications and training to get the people ready for what's coming). How did I get from children's photographer at the mall to working in tech? Well, it was all learning along the way. Starting with that first job, I learned how to organize my time so that I could still be successful at school (remember, I was in high school). I learned customer service. I learned about the cycles of the business (when were the busy times, when were the lulls). I learned that advertising and specials were used to promote services during the slow times. All of things applied to every job I ever worked. Every company has a busy time and a slow time. Every company needs to provide good customer service. No matter what company I work for, I need to make sure I organize my work to get things done on time and I need to make sure I have time for life outside of work.
About the learning along the way and being able to adapt. Because I know how I learn and I truly believe I can learn anything I want to, these have been my job titles. Oh, and my degree is a B.A. in Social Work. No advanced degree for me.
Children's photographer (high school job), Cashier/Sales Clerk (jobs in college), Answering Service Operator (job in college that allowed me to do my homework at work), Office clerk in buying office for major national department store (1st job out of college), Administrative Assistant/Secretary >Payroll Specialist>Facilities Manager (non-profit organization), Field Rep for a Politician, Admin Asst (Manufacturing Company), Admin Asst> Events Coordinator>Recruiter>Org Development Supervisor>Change Manager (Global Consumer Products Company), Life Coach (ran my own business); Change Manager (Multiple Tech Companies).
As you can see, my career has taken me a lot of different places. This is because I was able to continually learn new things and because I had the curiosity to keep asking "what would be interesting to do next". I've been a Change Manager in the tech world for about 20 years now. But, because of the nature of the job, I get to work with people in all parts of a company (IT, Marketing, Finance, HR, etc.). So I'm always learning something new and I'm always needing to adapt. Oh, and you might be asking "what does social work have to do with working in tech?" Here's the simple answer. Social work boils down to 2 core skills: crisis management and community organization. For the work I do in tech, I am doing planned crisis management (change management) and community organization (team development/leadership development). Same skills, different application.
Hope this helps you to think about your own career and how job and each step of your career will teach you something new that carries you forward. You'll be surprised what weird stuff you learned in your first or second job comes in handy when you're a manager or leader in a company.
Good luck!
The one piece of advice I would give you is "know how you learn". What I mean is, do you learn by doing, or by reading, or by observing someone else? It's probably a bit of all of these. But it's important to know how you learn because this will help you to continue to learn over time and enable you to more easily grow your career. Think about all the changes that have come with the introduction of technology into everything we do. Then, think about what's coming with AI. We're just getting an inkling of how AI will change our lives, both professional and personal. The world is constantly changing and if you want to stay relevant and marketable in your job, you need to change and adapt. To do that, you need to understand how you learn.
That being said, as you start down your career path, keep in mind that everything from the classroom to the job you're working (whatever that job is) to the stuff you do in your daily life is a learning opportunity. In the college classroom, you will learn a lot of stuff like theories, approaches, case studies, etc. It's important to understand this information as it gives you a base to operate from and provides a framework for the work you do. In your job, whatever it is, you'll be learning how to interact with people in a business setting (this is likely a bit different from hanging out with your friends), how to navigate a business structure, how things connect, how the work you do helps or hinders someone else's work. Even in your personal life, you learn things every day without even realizing it.
So, here's an example of what I'm talking about. While I was still in high school, I had my first job where they gave me an actual paycheck and took taxes out of it. I worked as a children's photographer at the mall. Today, I work for a tech company doing team development, leadership development, and leading organizational change (when the company is going to make a big change, I use communications and training to get the people ready for what's coming). How did I get from children's photographer at the mall to working in tech? Well, it was all learning along the way. Starting with that first job, I learned how to organize my time so that I could still be successful at school (remember, I was in high school). I learned customer service. I learned about the cycles of the business (when were the busy times, when were the lulls). I learned that advertising and specials were used to promote services during the slow times. All of things applied to every job I ever worked. Every company has a busy time and a slow time. Every company needs to provide good customer service. No matter what company I work for, I need to make sure I organize my work to get things done on time and I need to make sure I have time for life outside of work.
About the learning along the way and being able to adapt. Because I know how I learn and I truly believe I can learn anything I want to, these have been my job titles. Oh, and my degree is a B.A. in Social Work. No advanced degree for me.
Children's photographer (high school job), Cashier/Sales Clerk (jobs in college), Answering Service Operator (job in college that allowed me to do my homework at work), Office clerk in buying office for major national department store (1st job out of college), Administrative Assistant/Secretary >Payroll Specialist>Facilities Manager (non-profit organization), Field Rep for a Politician, Admin Asst (Manufacturing Company), Admin Asst> Events Coordinator>Recruiter>Org Development Supervisor>Change Manager (Global Consumer Products Company), Life Coach (ran my own business); Change Manager (Multiple Tech Companies).
As you can see, my career has taken me a lot of different places. This is because I was able to continually learn new things and because I had the curiosity to keep asking "what would be interesting to do next". I've been a Change Manager in the tech world for about 20 years now. But, because of the nature of the job, I get to work with people in all parts of a company (IT, Marketing, Finance, HR, etc.). So I'm always learning something new and I'm always needing to adapt. Oh, and you might be asking "what does social work have to do with working in tech?" Here's the simple answer. Social work boils down to 2 core skills: crisis management and community organization. For the work I do in tech, I am doing planned crisis management (change management) and community organization (team development/leadership development). Same skills, different application.
Hope this helps you to think about your own career and how job and each step of your career will teach you something new that carries you forward. You'll be surprised what weird stuff you learned in your first or second job comes in handy when you're a manager or leader in a company.
Good luck!