How To Become A Business Manager
The role of a business manager is a managerial level position given to people who have sufficient experience and have proven themselves through excellent performance in a particular company. Your specific responsibilities as a business manager will depend on the industry where you are working in. If you are working in a manufacturing firm, you could be tasked with overseeing the entire production department.
If you are in the banking industry, your responsibility could include checking that the business is following federal regulations and other policies. If you are the business manager of a small startup, your job could encompass everything—from thinking of ways to enhance sales to evaluating finances to manning the day-to-day operations of the company.
The main part of your work as a business manager is to ensure that the company remains viable and profitable. This could encompass many tasks, from supervising the employees to looking into the company’s financial records to ensuring the smooth operations of the company to helping top level executives make sound decisions on various aspects of the business. Your role is more of a facilitator and overseer—that is, you won’t be doing the actual hands-on work yourself. Rather, you will see to it that everyone in the department or company is functioning to the best of their ability to achieve established goals.
A common responsibility among business managers is dealing with section heads or supervisors. You will ask them about the activities in their department and check if they are meeting set milestones. You may also make decisions on the job performance of the section heads and may even make the necessary recommendations regarding hiring or firing.
To succeed as a business manager, you will need to have extensive experience in the industry you belong to. This is an essential requisite since you need to know the ins-and-outs of the business so that you can help your company operate profitably. You also need to possess excellent organizational skills since this is a hectic and demanding job that will require you to attend numerous meetings and company activities. You also need to have a good grasp of numbers and how they relate to the firm’s financial performance. In addition, you also need to have exceptional interpersonal skills and be able to relate well to both your subordinates and superiors alike. Keen decision-making and problem solving skills are also requirements of this position. Since this is a senior management position, you’ll need to have excellent leadership skills as well.
Why Become A Business Manager
There are many reasons to accept a promotion to become a business manager. There’s the prestige that comes with the position, for starters. Then there’s also the opportunity to actually become part of the company’s growth. With your decision-making skills and business acumen, you will help shape the direction of the company. While this is a position of responsibility that carries with it a lot of stress, the lucrative salary and perks associated with it makes it very appealing and worth striving for.
Business Manager Work Environment
Business managers can work in virtually all industries. They are commonly found in companies engaged in retail and wholesale trading, manufacturing as well as the finance and insurance industries. They also work in healthcare settings like in hospitals and clinics, service and tourism industries like hotels and restaurants, computer firms and even in the movie, theater and gaming companies.
The work hours are long and may entail overtime in the evenings and weekends. There may also be a lot of travel involved, especially if the business manager is affiliated with a multinational firm operating in various countries around the world.
Business Manager Salary
Business managers earn very lucrative wages. Although the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does not have the specific salary data for the job title of business managers, it does have data for managerial occupations that are similar to it. The Occupational Employment and Wages report of the agency revealed that the mean annual wage of sales managers is $123,150 while that of financial managers is $126,660. General and operations managers, meanwhile, earn $116,090 annually. Industrial production managers earn a bit lower at $99,370. Aside from their salary, business managers also stand to earn performance-based bonuses and other benefits.
Business Manager Career Outlook
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does not have the salary projections specifically for business managers. However, it has the employment rate forecasts of related managerial occupations for the decade covering 2012 to 2022. The job outlook of sales managers for the said time period is eight percent which is as fast as that of other job types. The employment rate of financial managers is similar at nine percent. There will be a need for sales and financial managers as companies strive to maintain their profitability amidst competition.
The employment rate of industrial production managers is projected to show little or no change in that same time period. This is attributed to the increased productivity due to better facilities. On the other hand, the job outlook of general and operations managers for that time period is pegged at 12 percent which is about as fast as the national average. The demand will come from the expansion of existing firms and the establishment of startups.
Business Manager Degree
Business managers typically possess a bachelor’s degree in business, marketing or the field where they are working in. For example, if they are working for an engineering firm, they may have a bachelor’s degree in engineering. If they are working in a bank, they may have accounting as their undergraduate degree. Many of them also have a master’s in business administration (MBA). Since this is a senior management position, years of experience in the industry also count equally as one’s educational attainments, with those having five or more years of experience having increased chances of getting the job.
