Your Future Career
in Business

No business runs itself. And no one person, no matter how capable, is wholly responsible for a company’s growth. Successful businesses rely on dynamic teams of employees, each with an essential role to play. Here are just a few of the roles you’ll be ready for when you complete your degree.

• Marketing Manager
  
  Great marketing managers possess both analytical and creative skill sets. They not only help devise a company’s brand identity; they determine how brand messaging can best engage the public. They’ll work with executive teams to set marketing strategy, examine market trends, track competitors’ strategies, and oversee the creation of digital content.
• Human Resources Manager
  
  Human resource management is about understanding the people who make a business run. Human resource managers serve as an organization’s recruiters and hiring managers, but that’s only the beginning of their responsibilities. They’ll serve to make sure both employees and management are in compliance with both company policy and the law; mediate disputes between employees and management; and implement and coordinate employee benefits. It’s also important that HR managers understand a business’s overall objectives, so they can make sure each employee is using their talents in a way that best serves those goals. 
• Business Analyst
  
  Business analysts devise strategies to help businesses improve their overall performance. They often specialize in a particular industry. Business analysts perform detailed inquiries into how an organization functions; keep abreast of trends in markets and technologies that may help accelerate that organization’s growth; and understand how to effectively communicate their recommendations to management. 
• Financial Analyst
  
  Financial analysts help businesses operate in a way that optimizes their profitability. They’ll analyze an organization’s financial data to determine its overall market value, then develop strategies for how to best allocate and invest its capital. Financial analysts must have a deep understanding of both economic trends and ever-changing government regulations. 
• Office Administrator
  
  Analysts may focus on long-term business development strategies — but no strategy can work unless someone is focused on that business’s day-to-day operations. A great office administrator is essential to keeping an organization running. They’ll manage agendas and itineraries for upper management; coordinate meetings; handle correspondence and oversee deliveries; and make sure the office is fully stocked with all the supplies it may need. 
• Market Research Associate
  
  Businesses can’t just sit back and wait for customers to show up at their door. They have to raise awareness of their product or service, and effectively address how they satisfy the needs of consumers. That’s where market research associates come into the picture. To understand how to make the biggest impact with a new offering, they’ll gather and interpret data from multiple sources. They’ll study their client’s industry as a whole; conduct interviews with focus groups; study spending habits; and work with sales teams and analysts to devise a collaborative, effective approach. 
• Banker
  
  For people who don’t actively study it, banking — and finance in general — can be intimidating. Not so for a banker, whose job it is to help clients with all their banking needs. Bankers help clients manage transactions; guide them through loan applications; and advise them on how to best make use of a bank’s financial products and services. Interpersonal skills are especially important, as bankers are often the public face of a banking institution — and the people customers rely on to put them at ease. 
• Account Executive
  
  Account executives are important liaisons between a company and its clients. They’ll attend to the every need of existing clients, explaining how a product or service can fulfill their needs; how to best achieve the client’s goals within their existing budget; and coordinating teams within the company to make sure those goals are met. Account executives will also work hard to bring in new business, relying on well-honed interpersonal and communication skills to reach out to prospective clients. 
• Project Manager
  
  Once an account executive secures a client’s business, it’s up to a project manager to meet that client’s needs — on time and within budget. Project managers will lead cross-functional teams of employees from different departments, hiring freelancers when necessary. They’ll draft long-term objectives for a project, as well as short-term milestones to gauge progress. As they go about achieving these objectives, project managers make sure every team member is performing to the same high standard; and they’ll maintain constant communication with the client, delegating new tasks to team members as they arise. 
• Management Consultant
  
  Sometimes, even when they’re doing everything right, businesses need a little help getting to the next level. Maybe they’re not sure how to deal with new trends in their industry. Maybe they’re not operating as efficiently as they need to in order to hit their quarterly and annual goals. It can be tough to figure out, which is why sometimes, businesses need an outside perspective: and that’s when management consultants come to the rescue. Management consultants will learn everything about an organization’s objectives, finances, and processes. They’ll examine whether that organization is structured in a way that makes full use of employee talent. Then they’ll communicate their findings — and their proposed solutions — to their clients.

Monroe University was named for James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States. But it was Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president, who famously summed up what might as well be a guiding idea behind Monroe’s School of Business and Accounting. 

“The chief business of the American people,” he said, “is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of the opinion that the great majority of people will always find these the moving impulses of our life.”

Everyone has their own unique set of interests. Everyone is drawn to different fields. But success in any field requires a firm understanding of business concepts; and you’ll get it at the School of Business and Accounting. By the time you finish your degree, you’ll be ready to take on any number of jobs that are essential in every industry. 

Careers in business are as varied as business itself. Finance, tech, sports, entertainment — they’re all big business. There’s no one path into any of them. And sometimes, the path you think you’re on will take you to an entirely different destination than the one you had planned. 

At Monroe’s School of Business and Accounting, we know that. Our professors don’t just teach about the business world. They come to us directly from it, as experienced leaders in their respective fields. And once you choose your major, you’ll have a better understanding of where you want your career to take you — and choose a minor that will help you intensify your focus. 

At the School of Business and Accounting, you’ll be able to choose from the following undergraduate degree programs: 

• Accounting (Associate and Bachelor’s Degrees). In addition to the fundamentals of business and financial accounting, you’ll learn about business and tax law, management, and state-of-the-art information technology solutions.
• Business Administration (Associate Degree) and Business Management (Bachelor’s Degree). You’ll learn how to read and generate financial reports; evaluate and develop budgets; manage projects; and more. You’ll also develop the critical and analytical skills you’ll use to think outside the box. 
• Sports Management (Associate and Bachelor’s Degrees). Sports are a global industry with their own distinct set of business concerns. Learn about the legal and ethical issues that are unique to the sports world, while also gaining a solid grasp of the fundamentals that will carry you far in any business.
• General Business (Bachelor’s Degree). No one understands your career objectives better than you do. That’s especially true for students who already have professional work experience.  As a General Business major, you’ll work with an advisor to develop a personalized, interdisciplinary curriculum that matches your career goals.
• Professional Studies (Bachelor’s Degree). When we talk about real-world learning at Monroe, it’s not just about what we bring to you. It’s about what you bring to us. Your work experience counts for a lot — and when you pursue a bachelor’s degree in Professional Studies, it may also count toward potential credits for your degree. As an adult learner, you’ll have the flexibility you need to continue working as you study… and the tools you need to take your career to the next level. 

Within all of these majors, you’ll be trained in the hard skills you need to thrive in the business world. You’ll also develop the interpersonal skills and communication skills you need to get your ideas across with maximum impact. 

At Monroe, we also know that not everyone’s professional objectives fit neatly into one category or another. There are as many different types of businesses as there are possible career paths within them. That’s why, as a student at the School of Business and Accounting, you’ll also be able to sub-specialize with a choice of minors that include: 

• Marketing. From idea to execution, learn about what it takes to create a brand identity and increase consumer engagement.
• Finance. Raising capital for a business is an art in itself. Learn how it’s done — and how to invest that capital to yield optimal returns. 
• Human Resources. HR is about more than just hiring and firing. Learn about developing employee talent, organizational psychology, and incentivizing performance. 
• Accounting. No matter what your field of expertise may be, having a firm command of accounting principles will always serve you well. 
• Forensic Accounting. A solid grasp of forensic accounting — a mix of accounting, auditing, and investigative disciplines — will help you to keep a sharp eye on your business’s financial activity. 
• Sports Management. Just like sports themselves, the sports industry requires a specialized skill set. Learn how to up your game in a field where anything can happen.