Advice on how to benefit from your business degree program

It is sometimes unclear, what you need to do, especially when you are a first-year student. Especially when you decide to study in the business degree program.

Business studies offer you a variety of choices - finances, accounting, entrepreneurship, IT in business, related aspects of legal studies, Information technology in business, economics, public administration, human resources, and, my favourite, marketing, and many more.

With this variety of fields, you can feel overwhelmed and confused, especially if you don’t have earlier experience in business as an employee, entrepreneur, or a member of a family business, as was I.

So, what can you do in this situation? ; otherwise

Here are certain rules I developed based on my own experience over the past 12 years.

- First of all - begin to work on your discipline and the balance of your life. As life goes on, you will face continuously increasing struggles and distractions, and it is vital to identify the priorities. And it is important to remember that life does not only consist of work - your health matters the most, otherwise, you won’t be able to enjoy the results of your dedicated work. - The second point is about asking questions. For you to develop as an expert and grow as a professional, it is important to to learn how to ask questions. Lectures, seminars, courses, tasks, projects, anything else - the ability to ask questions has to be acquired. Additionally, it is needed to improve your communication skills.

- Next point is about participation. When you are in the educational program, there is usually a variety of activities like debate or other thematic clubs and events, which help you test your abilities in events organisation, project management, marketing, customer relationships management, and so on. Moreover, there are also case championships, where you can test your ideas and learn to present better.

- Another important point is that you need to keep your resume updated. When you participate in an event or organize one, when you collect the data for the course, when you contact any company or communicate with a company representative, and during other activities you complete in your everyday classes. Indeed, you will delete unrelated and minor activities further as you develop your career, but as you develop your skills, such a resume is also something you can use to apply to trainee positions or other positions which are open for students with less experience. Moreover, be present on LinkedIn - even though there are debates on its necessity, you will still expand the overview of your activities and network and may find interesting people and positions.

- Important point is - do not wait until you graduate and apply to the vacancies earlier, during your third year at least. It is impossible to expect all the workplaces to be open to you once you get your diploma. Work experience is a competitive advantage, especially if you are in the business field. Do not hesitate to contact your university or other higher education institution - they are most likely to have career centers or communication with the companies which hire recent graduates.

- As you proceed with your studies, do not hesitate to get recommendation letters from your scientific supervisor or other lecturers and professors who have insights into your work and study abilities. These recommendations and references can help you expand your portfolio, especially if you would like to continue further with Masters’ and PhD degrees.

- Networking is important - even if you struggle with communication with new people and keeping them in your network (believe me, I know the feeling), it is important to make yourself present at, for example, conferences, where you can act as a volunteer. Many interesting people are invited to the conferences, and you can ask them questions. Moreover, you can learn new trends in science and corporate life and hence select the topic for your research, which you can further use for your professional career.

- Listen to your emotions towards the particular research topic. There can be different approaches to selecting the topics for your final thesis; however, try to work on one that inspires you; this way, you will not waste time on something you will not use further. Indeed, consider the comments and recommendations of your scientific supervisor but also try to identify which topic makes you happy to spend time on. More information in the new YouTube video: