What can you do with an MBA? You have probably heard that an MBA (Master of Business Administration) could open the door to opportunities. While it is a versatile and powerful degree, earning an MBA requires commitment and hard work. With this in mind, you should get a clear picture of what an MBA program could do for you and start to chart your MBA career path before committing to college enrollment.
Below, we explore 16 desirable MBA careers to consider:
1. Management Analyst
Paying close attention to the relative effectiveness and efficiency of operations, management analysts identify ways to make organizations more successful. Employed in large numbers in the business world, management analysts advise senior administrators with an eye toward decreasing costs and increasing revenues. They typically begin each analysis project by collecting and analyzing information to find productivity-sucking problems and opportunities for optimization. They then confer with executive management to recommend solutions to these problems by introducing new practices or procedures, later evaluating the results of those changes.
2. Operations Research Analyst
A close cousin to the management analyst, the operations research analyst is also tasked with identifying ways to make an organization’s operations more effective and efficient. They may make recommendations directly to top organization management as well. However, operations research analysts rely heavily on big data and complex mathematics, using quantitative models, computer software, and other analytical tools. These professionals tend to focus on specific market sectors (such as healthcare or finance) or business operations (such as resource allocation or supply chain logistics).
3. Marketing Manager
One of many management positions available to individuals with advanced business training and experience, marketing managers focus on advertising and promotions. Like all marketing professionals, the marketing manager must possess a unique combination of business and creative skills. Excellent marketing managers should ideally be exceptional leaders, too. Working with teams of professionals ranging from art directors and musicians to sales agents and financial staff members, they are responsible for overseeing marketing campaigns that generate interest in products and services, ultimately boosting company revenue.
4. Product Manager
Product managers are marketing professionals who concentrate specifically on one or more products in a company’s line. As they guide the development and promotion of products, they are interested in factors such as competitor research, quality assurance, and customer experience.
5. Medical and Health Services Manager
Also known as healthcare executives, medical and health services managers are responsible for the administrative oversight of healthcare facilities and the individual departments and clinical specializations within them. Their duties include preparing budgets, managing resources, billing patients, keeping records, and performing human resources functions—from recruiting and training new employees to scheduling shifts and providing daily staff supervision. Medical and health services managers must have a strong command of relevant government regulations and industry best practices to ensure that facility operations comply with all applicable laws and rules.
6. Financial Manager
Another common career path for an MBA graduate, financial management is also a growth occupation in the United States. Of course, you must possess excellent finance and math skills to become a financial manager. Tasked with keeping organizations in sound financial health, these managers review financial reports, prepare financial statements, analyze market trends, and supervise teams of financial employees. In addition, they advise chief financial officers, chief executive officers, and other top company administrators in strategic decision-making.
7. Personal Financial Advisor
While the financial manager works for organizations and guides their financial matters, the personal financial advisor acts in a similar capacity for individuals and families. People turn to personal financial advisors for advice on investing, taxation, insurance, retirement planning, and estate planning. To best meet the wants and needs of each client, a personal financial advisor works closely with clients to gain insights into their financial situation and set attainable financial goals. Then, the personal financial advisor can advise and educate them about the investment products and processes that could help them reach their goals. After selecting the right investments with the client, the financial advisor establishes and maintains those investments, continually monitoring them and making adjustments, as needed, with the permission and input of the client.
8. Human Resources Manager
Human resources (HR) managers focus on the network of people who drive an organization and make it work. From entry-level staff members to senior-level executives, all members of an organization benefit from the activities of HR managers who oversee benefits programs, resolve workplace disputes, and manage employee recruitment and hiring processes. It goes without saying that an organization is only as good as the people who make it a reality, so HR managers strive to attract and secure the best talent while retaining the talent they have through the effective administration of benefits and payroll processes.
9. Computer and Information Systems Manager
Computer and information systems managers plan, establish, coordinate, and manage organizational activities related to computers and computer networks. They collaborate with top administrators to develop organization-wide IT goals and create and implement strategies to attain those goals. From hardware and software installation and maintenance to dealing with cybersecurity breaches and launching new tech projects, computer and information systems managers all have different professional concentrations and daily duties.
10. Accountant
Beyond tabulating financial accounts and keeping financial records, accountants identify areas of financial risk and potential financial opportunities for organizations. After identifying these areas, accountants often aid in the development of strategies to effectively address them. Accountants also compute, prepare, and pay all relevant company taxes in a timely manner. In the modern setting, accounting also means using artificial intelligence and other tools of automation to boost productivity and ensure accuracy. Beyond accountants who serve businesses and other organizations, large numbers of accountants perform similar tasks for individuals and families.
11. Sales Manager
Sales managers are in charge of managing sales teams for organizations. Their responsibilities include setting sales quotas, preparing sales department budgets, analyzing sales statistics, and both monitoring and refining company-wide sales efforts. They also play an integral role in sourcing, onboarding, and training new sales team members.
12. Budget Analyst
Capable of assisting departmental managers with their budgetary efforts, budget analysts prepare regular budget reports and oversee organization-wide spending. They usually work closely with department, program, and project managers to develop budget proposals. Budget analysts then thoroughly review those proposals as well as any funding requests to ensure they are reasonable, accurate, and in full compliance with laws and regulations. Although the top administrators in any organization typically set an organization’s budget, they rely heavily on budget analysts to provide the information they use to make their budgetary decisions.
13. Purchasing Manager
Purchasing managers oversee teams of buyers and purchasing agents who secure products and services for organizations that, in turn, either use or resell them. The principal duties of the purchasing manager include sourcing, evaluating, and negotiating with suppliers who will sell quality products and services at reasonable prices. Although they often delegate many of these duties to team members under their supervision, purchasing managers usually handle the most important and complicated of procurement activities themselves.
14. Business Intelligence Analyst
Business intelligence analysts help companies make sound decisions that are firmly rooted in big data and other forms of company, industry, and market information. After organizing and examining sales, revenue, and other business metrics, they interpret these metrics and share their findings with relevant company administrators. Business intelligence analysts must have a solid command of data analysis as well as general business skills.
15. Chief Financial Officer
With extensive study and managerial experience, you could rise through the ranks of the business world to reach C-suite administrative positions like chief financial officer (CFO). Restricted to top executives who specialize in financial matters, this position involves managing an organization’s financial actions in their entirety. This means tracking the flow of assets, analyzing financial strengths and weaknesses, ensuring accurate bookkeeping, and planning for financial success.
16. Chief Executive Officer
Particularly diligent and talented business executives could ultimately become a chief executive officer (CEO). In most companies, this position sits at the very top of the administrative hierarchy, placing CEOs in charge of the entire organization. CEOs tend to collaborate closely with other top administrators and generally report to a company board of directors.
To Learn More
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a useful credential for any aspiring senior executive, but many of the positions listed above could be attainable with a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Business Administration or a related undergraduate degree. Post University could help you begin charting your path.
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Please note jobs, career outcomes, and/or salaries highlighted in this blog do not reflect jobs, career outcomes, and/or salaries expected from any Post program, which trains for entry-level positions. Median salary is defined as the midway point of all salaries in the career. To learn more about Post’s program and its outcomes, please fill out a form to speak with an admissions representative.