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Top 4 Careers For Operations Management Graduates

October 2, 2023
Bill Kimball

Many insurers support their employees’ continuing education and actually have departments that actively provide opportunities for staff to learn more. The Business Operations Manager oversees every aspect of production and the day-to-day activities of an organization. In this role, you’ll use your business savvy and know how to streamline operational systems, build a talented workforce, improve quality and increase revenues. Opportunities for Business Operations Managers exist in a variety of industries including retail, construction, transportation, the hospitality industry and healthcare organizations. One of the perks of the operations management field is that there are jobs available in almost every industry. Whether it be retail or education, government institutions or manufacturing and service organisations, operations management is a sought-after skill set applicable to every organisation. Swathy always loved math and science in school, so it was a natural fit to study industrial engineering in college.

Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they’re making history. Business careers span a range of disciplines, but one thing that they have in common is that they all help promote a prosperous and efficient enterprise. By consenting to receive communications, you agree to the use of your data as described in our privacy policy. Fill in your details to receive newsletters from GetSmarter (a 2U, Inc. brand) and the2U family of companies, inclusive of news, thought-leadership content, and the latest blog posts. D’Amore-McKim faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, and friends are all invested in each other’s success, and collectively this community has helped to raise the standards of our school. Our trend for the past decade has been to move consistently upward.

Many chief of staff roles have a term limit, and individuals typically graduate into more senior roles at their company. Libby went on to hold executive roles at Facebook and SoFi and is currently a regional president at Compass. Often, compliance officers will be required to earn certification through an industry-specific organization, like the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions for finance-focused jobs.

Business Operations Careers

Dima works with stores to make sure they have everything they need , as well as helping Sephora’s other departments—like marketing and visual merchandising—promote the program effectively. But, those post-college plans didn’t go quite the way he expected.

Some of the common jobs in this career track include traffic managers, warehouse managers, materials managers, and logistics managers. When I left business school many years ago, a career in strategy meant a role at a consulting firm. Today, it also means a strategy & operations position at companies like Asana, Facebook, Gusto, LinkedIn or Twitter. In short, the workplace of the future means that the operations management profession is going to rise in demand in the fields of business. If you’re aspiring to a career in this industry, you’ll need to prove yourself by being a fast learner, digitally savvy, adaptable to the changing rules of the workplace, and highly motivated.

Financial Management

Whether it’s to pass that big test, qualify for that big promotion or even master that cooking technique; people who rely on dummies, rely on it to learn the critical skills and relevant information necessary for success. C++ is an object-oriented language derived from C, and invented by Bjarne Stroustrup, while working at AT&T’s Bell Labs. It is widely used for systems-level programming, and building applications on Windows and various Unix operating systems (Lin… Structured Query Language is a highly popular domain specific language used to communicate with relational database management systems . SQL is a standard that is based on the “relational model”, defined by professor E.F. Analytical skills – Extreme accuracy, thoroughness and attention to detail when reviewing financial spreadsheets, legal documents and corporate procedures is a skill that you will also need. People skills – The majority of the time you will be working with personnel.

The number of years of experience varies based on position. For example, a typical manager level job requires 3–5 years of experience. Below are typical, primary responsibilities at the different levels in a strategy and operations organization. The easiest way, of course, is to have worked in the consulting sector with firms such as Accenture, BCG, Bain, or McKinsey.

  • Learn about educational requirements, important skills, career outlook and salary to find out if this is the career for you.
  • That figure is expected to increase at a rate roughly in line with the average across all occupations, with an estimated 210,700 job openings becoming available between 2016 and 2026.
  • Whether it’s to pass that big test, qualify for that big promotion or even master that cooking technique; people who rely on dummies, rely on it to learn the critical skills and relevant information necessary for success.
  • A major part of the job responsibilities are in negotiating and comparing offers in order to ensure that the company procures the best quality material at the best possible price.
  • He came across an open position at startup Expensify, applied, interviewed, and—well, didn’t get the job.
  • Our expertise in experiential learning is pioneering and transformative.

Flexibility to respond to change, good budgeting and forecasting skills and the ability to plan well are also important. 10 Pillars of Business OperaitonsWhen I tell someone I do ‘business operations’, nine out of ten times the reaction is ‘and what is that? Business operations has been an emerging role, but is not as prominent as other operations role such as Marketing Operations, Sales Operations or even Product Operations. In fact, this function – also called bizops, business strategy & operations or strategy & business operations – has exploded in popularity in recent years. Being a part of the managerial team, you’ll participate in numerous leadership meetings to brainstorm safety, performance, personnel and technical solutions. Getting promoted to Senior Business Operations Manager will require a successful record in cross-functional duties.

The Business Operations Manager might work for a company that produces either goods or services. In this capacity, you will work with numerous departments and managers. This might include marketing, accounting, human resources, production and purchasing. Concerned with quality and responsible for overall operations, you will recruit, hire and train both a production and support staff. Ensuring your staff complies with company standards and procedures, you’ll conduct audits/inspections, collect client feedback and building corporate promotions. Other administrative tasks include departmental budgeting, inventory control, accounts payable and staff scheduling. Workflow process skills – As important, you will need to have both an analytical and creative mind.

Desired Skills

Data that is collected when a user interacts with a system is then cleaned and stored. That data is then accessed using reports and graphical dashboards. The retail landscape has changed dramatically over the past few decades.

News and World Report, operations management jobs will grow by an estimated 12.4% between 2012 and 2022, and the median salary was $96,430 in 2013. The top 10% of earners in this career path earn $187,199 or more. The knowledge and abilities required of operations managers are in line with that of most business professionals in any occupation. They should be adept at the principles underlying effective management and business administration. Operations managers should also be well-versed in the legal and practical foundations of capital management, human resources, and corporate communication, as these will determine the path forward for many of their more specific roles.

careers in business operations

While most college students consider quite a few paths, it wouldn’t have made sense for Kalisa to major in anythingexceptfood science. “My whole life, I’ve been obsessed with food,” she shares. And after learning the science behind cooking, she decided to attend culinary school to perfect the art of making food, too. By design, I prioritized and focused on Manager and Director of Business Operations role rather than senior executive roles such as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Dummies has always stood for taking on complex concepts and making them easy to understand. Dummies helps everyone be more knowledgeable and confident in applying what they know.

Business Development

He came across an open position at startup Expensify, applied, interviewed, and—well, didn’t get the job. “I didn’t ever really intended to work a day job,” says Christopher, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music. “I figured there was going to be a magical career as a professional musician that would materialize after school.”

Your Career Path

A degree from a top MBA program, domain and industry expertise and networking will help you get your foot in the door. I go into detail on my tips for how to do this here (I was in the same boat with no consulting experience when trying to land my first role!). To excel in this career, you’ll need to have strong managerial, communication and organizational skills. You might work closely with others in leadership such as the General Manager, Brand Manager, Human Resources Manager or the Quality Assurance Manager. Operations management course, as well as knowledge of multiple departments, in various functions, ensuring that each part seamlessly works together to produce a productive and profitable machine. To help you bring together the elements involved in producing goods and services, your success in this career will be driven not only by your education but also by leadership and negotiation skills.

Business Operations Managers often work full-time with some overtime hours. Attendance at evening or weekend marketing or public relations events might also be necessary. It can be a stressful job as you will have varied responsibilities and will be accountable for both the successes and failures of the production and manufacturing processes. Highly pressured at times, you may be in the hot seat if you are operating under a tight budget. In order to reduce costs, you might also have to make tough decisions related to employee layoffs or cutbacks. Staff meetings may become just as intense as you broach difficult subjects like poor team performance or non-compliance with corporate standards and procedures.

Want To Land The Salary You Deserve?

You’ll also need to be a solid negotiator and able to influence both your superiors and junior personnel. An MBA (Master’s in Business Administration) might also give you an advantage over your competition. Computer skills – You must be familiar with software applications including word processing, spreadsheets, database management, e-mail and multimedia presentations.

Formal education typically involves various levels of education, including preschool, primary, secondary, tertiary, vo… “The most exciting part about my job,” Dima explains, “is that I get to make it an even more fun and cool and exciting place to shop.” She does that by developing and overseeing Sephora’s customer loyalty program.