Business Careers
“Business” is not a job. Students need to know which one they are aiming at.
Most business and commerce students can name the subjects they studied but not the jobs those subjects lead to. This session describes the entry-level roles in sales, marketing, finance, HR and operations as the people who hire for them see them, sets out the qualifications and routes that sit beside a job, and helps each student shortlist two or three roles to prepare for.
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A broad degree has to be narrowed before anyone will hire it.
A BBA, BCom or MBA teaches the whole of a business. A recruiter, though, is hiring for one seat: a sales role, a finance analyst role, an HR executive role. A resume that tries to fit all of them usually fits none, and students who have never heard a person in each function describe their week tend to choose by rumour or by which company visited campus first.
This session does not tell students what to choose. It gives them an accurate picture of the choices, including the less glamorous ones, so the decision they make is theirs and is made with the facts in front of them.
What the session maps out
36 topics across 7 areas. Seven areas, each described by somebody who works in it.
Sales and Business DevelopmentThe function with the most entry-level openings, and the most misunderstanding.5
- Inside sales, field sales and business development: how they differ
- B2B and B2C selling, and why the work feels so different
- Targets, incentives and how fixed and variable pay are usually structured
- What a first year looks like, including the rejection
- Where people in sales tend to move next
Ask any employer how much of the pay is fixed and how much depends on targets.
MarketingWider than advertising.5
- Brand, digital, content, product and market research roles
- What a marketing trainee actually does in the first six months
- How campaigns are planned, run and measured
- Why the work leans more on data than students expect
- How a student can show marketing ability without an internship
Finance, Accounting and AnalyticsSeveral different jobs under one heading.5
- Accounting, audit, taxation, financial planning and analysis, credit and treasury
- Banks, NBFCs, insurers, brokerages and corporate finance teams
- Analyst roles: what is analysed, for whom, using which tools
- How much Excel and data work an entry-level role involves
- Where professional qualifications come into it
Human ResourcesNot the same as being good with people.5
- Talent acquisition, HR operations, payroll and compliance, learning and development
- How HR work divides between people and process
- What a fresher in HR spends most days doing
- The legal and documentation side of the function
- Why HR roles are less open to freshers at some employers than at others
Operations, Supply Chain and Generalist RolesThe part of business that moves the product.5
- Operations, logistics, procurement and customer success
- Management trainee and rotational programmes: what they are and how they vary
- Joining a family business: what to ask for, and how the role differs from a job elsewhere
- Start-ups and small firms: broader work, less structure
- What a generalist role teaches, and what it does not
Qualifications and Routes Beside a JobOptions to know about, not to chase all at once.6
Eligibility, fees, exam patterns and timelines change often. Students are told to read each body's own current notice rather than rely on a coaching centre's summary.
- Chartered Accountancy (ICAI), Cost and Management Accountancy (ICMAI) and Company Secretaryship (ICSI): separate institutes, each with its own stages and eligibility
- The CFA Program, run by CFA Institute, has three levels and can be started in the final year of a bachelor's degree
- NISM certifications: some securities-market roles require them, for example SEBI requires research analysts to pass the NISM Series XV examination
- MBA and PGDM entrance tests, and the case for working first
- Bank recruitment examinations, open to graduates of any discipline within each notification's rules
- Apprenticeships under the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme, open to graduates from any stream
Choosing a First RoleA first job is a start, not a verdict.5
- Comparing roles on the work, the learning, the pay structure and the location
- Separating what you enjoy from what you are good at today
- Asking practitioners the questions a brochure will not answer
- Picking two or three roles, rather than all of them
- Planning what to learn in the next three months for those roles
Many people change function within five years. The aim is a sensible start, not a perfect one.
Questions students get to ask
- What did you actually do in your first month?
- What do people not expect about this function?
- How does a fresher get noticed here?
- Which qualification, if any, did you need, and when?
- What would you tell your own younger self?
What students leave with
- A one-page comparison of the roles they heard about
- A shortlist of two or three roles
- Two questions to put to somebody who does each job
- The official sources to check for each qualification or entrance route
How the session runs
A panel of practitioners from three or four functions, each describing a normal week in their first job and answering students' questions, followed by a short exercise in which students compare roles on a sheet and shortlist two or three. We choose functions to match the roles your students are drawn to, and we agree the panel with you in advance. Speakers are asked not to recruit for their employers or to sell courses, coaching or certifications.
What your students leave with
- A plain description of what a fresher does in each major business function
- The difference between a job title and the work behind it
- An outline of the professional qualifications and entrance routes that sit beside a job
- A way to compare roles on work, pay structure, learning and fit
- A shortlist of two or three roles to prepare for, and why
- A list of questions to ask a practitioner before committing to one
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Choose a role on purpose, not by default.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.