Business careers can involve everything from leading major organizations and their strategic visions to digging deep into a company’s financial data. But if you’ve never even stepped foot into an office, how can you answer, “What business career is right for me?”
We’ll break down the main types of business careers so you can get a better idea of what each career path focuses on and the types of skills, personality types, and work environments it may align with. Then, you can take a fun, free quiz to figure out which business career is right for you.
Main Types of Business Careers
Before you figure out which business careers are right for you, what are your options?
Business careers are roles that focus on the entire management, organization, and development of companies or organizations. There are opportunities to get into business no matter what your skills or interests are — for example, you might want to work on developing a business’ product, or you might want to be the one selling it.
Business careers can be a good fit for various skill sets, personality types, interests, and preferred work environments. Here are five main types of these careers.
Marketing and Sales
Marketing and sales are both business careers focused on promoting a company’s product or service. Professionals in marketing drive awareness of the product through various channels and strategies, whether that’s events, social media, email, or content. Sales professionals build relationships with potential customers and sell the product or service to them.
>>MORE: Sales and Marketing: What’s the Difference and Which One Is Right for Me?
Business careers in marketing and sales require excellent communication and persuasion skills to convince people to use or buy the company’s product. They’re also a good mix of creative and analytical career paths — while marketing and sales professionals develop creative outreach strategies, they also need to analyze their impact to see what’s working (and what’s not).
Sales
Learn how to create an effective selling pitch that will convince a store manager to set up your company's product in the store.
Avg. Time: 2-3 hours
Skills you’ll build: Gaining influence, building relationships, acting as an owner, managing team members
Finance
Finance careers in business focus on managing a company’s money, including budgeting, investments, and risk management. Professionals in finance careers may be accountants, preparing financial statements to understand the company’s financial health. They may be more future-thinking and be financial analysts or investment bankers, assessing whether a specific investment or strategic decision can help the company make more money.
Finance careers demand a strong foundation in mathematics and analytics. Professionals in this field must be adept at interpreting financial data, forecasting future trends, and constructing accurate financial models. Additionally, soft skills like problem-solving, attention to detail, and excellent organizational abilities are crucial for ensuring the reliability and accuracy of their analyses.
Investment Banking
Analyze a company's historical financial performance, then make a recommendation for a potential M&A target.
Avg. Time: 4-5 hours
Skills you’ll build: Financial analysis, SWOT Analysis, M&A screening, valuation, communication, presentation
Human Resources
Human resources careers focus on ensuring employee success from recruitment to their exit interview. These professionals may work on hiring the right candidates for open roles, managing benefits and compensation structures and logistics, and helping employees grow and learn throughout their time at the company.
Human resources professionals need exceptional people skills — specifically conflict resolution, communication, and active listening — to resolve interpersonal problems in the workplace. They also need organizational and analytical skills to assess the effects and efficiency of the company’s current policies, benefits, recruitment practices, and more.
Human Resources
Gain practical human resources skills like giving feedback, creating a process map, and assessing compensation frameworks.
Avg. Time: 3-4 hours
Skills you’ll build: Feedback giving, communication skills, empowering with insights
Management and Leadership
Management and leadership careers in business focus on creating a strategic vision for a company and ensuring teams can execute it. These professionals monitor overall company performance and decide what strategies their team should use to meet goals.
While some of these professionals are an organization’s top leaders — like a CEO, CFO, or COO — there are business careers in management and leadership down the ladder, too. For example, project managers lead project timelines, budgets, and execution, and consultants provide expert guidance to companies on strategy, operations, management practices, and more.
Project Management
Conduct initial project planning for a global manufacturer's showroom development.
Avg. Time: 1-2 hours
Skills you’ll build: Critical thinking, identification, risk analysis, project organization, time management, Excel
Management and leadership professionals need (not shockingly) leadership skills, including decision-making, communication, feedback, influence, and prioritization.
Operations and Supply Chain
Operations and supply chain careers in business focus on ensuring that goods and services are produced and delivered efficiently. These behind-the-scenes professionals may manage a company’s product inventory levels, oversee production processes, coordinate transportation and logistics, and ensure that the product meets quality standards.
These professionals need excellent organization skills to track and manage the many moving parts of a business and its product, as well as communication skills to collaborate with the teams that work on and deliver the product. They also need strong analytical skills to assess the efficiency of their processes and identify where and how the company can improve.
Explore Supply Chain
Develop the technical skills needed to succeed in supply chain management, including how to use engineering data to specify applicability and capacity requirements and determine the next steps.
Avg. Time: 3-4 hours
Skills you’ll build: Critical thinking, problem solving, interpreting engineering data, accountability
Quiz: What Business Career Is Right for Me?
Ready to figure out what types of careers in marketing are right for you? Take the quiz! You’ll need to sign up for your results, but it’s 100% free.
How to Land a Career in Business
You’ve figured out what business career is right for you — congratulations! So, how do you actually land a role in the field?
Become an Expert Problem-Solver
Every business’s goal is to solve some problem. Some businesses are mission-oriented, and their problems involve fighting for a social cause. Others may try to solve an everyday pain point in people’s lives. Some may be focused on helping other businesses solve their problems.
“My top piece of advice is to start with a problem you’re passionate about solving and then build a solution around it,” says Chris Sorensen, CEO of PhoneBurner. “For students, this means getting hands-on experience in sales or a related field to truly understand the challenges. Whether it’s through internships, side projects, or even starting a small venture, immerse yourself in the industry you’re interested in. This practical experience, combined with a commitment to solving real-world problems, will not only make you stand out in job interviews but will also set the foundation for a successful career in business and technology.”
>>MORE: Get hands-on experience with Forage job simulations. In these self-paced, online programs, you’ll experience a day-in-the-life working for a top employer, building in-demand job skills along the way.
This doesn’t mean you need to solve world hunger. Instead, it’s a push to be curious about the world around you and how you might approach solving everyday problems. Companies hire people who can help them solve their problems, which means that this mindset is valuable and essential to landing any business role.
Be Ready for Anything
Business careers can be fast-paced and ever-changing. Even if you work for a more traditional company, you may have to deal with changes in leadership, goals, vision, or even your responsibilities. That’s why it’s crucial to build adaptability skills.
“The business landscape is constantly changing, and being able to adapt to new challenges and trends is key to long-term success,” says Jonathan Goldberg, founder and CEO of Kimberfire. “Whether it’s adopting new technologies or shifting strategies, adaptability keeps your business competitive.”
Read industry news and follow relevant industry professionals on LinkedIn to stay current on what’s happening in the industries you’re interested in.
>>MORE: Learn more about adaptability skills and how to add them to your resume.
Build Relationships
It’s cliché advice for a reason — networking works, especially in business careers.
That’s because so much of working in business involves collaborating with others, even if you’re in a role that requires some independent work. In an organization, it’s crucial to share what you do, what you’re working on, and how you’re doing it to help promote your growth and build relationships with others.
“Building a successful business requires strong relationships with clients, suppliers, and partners,” Goldberg says. “Networking opens doors to opportunities and collaborations that are essential for growth.”
What Business Career Is Right for Me? The Bottom Line
Business careers cover so many different types of work, from financial analysis to helping recruit new employees. That means there’s a lot to choose from and a variety of opportunities depending on your unique skill set, work goals, personality type, and preferred work environment.
No matter what type of business career is right for you, cultivating a problem-solving mindset and adaptability skills can help you stand out in job applications and succeed once you’re in the role.
You can build these in-demand business skills and get real-world work experience with Forage job simulations — and more than triple your chances of landing a business career.
Image credit: Canva
