Made with FlowPaper - Flipbook Maker
BUSINESS CAREER GUIDE 2020/2021 Business2 Copyright Success at School Ltd 2020 AboutSuccess at School J.P. Morgan is a global leader in financial services, offering solutions to the world’s corporations, governments and institutions in more than 100 countries. We are recognised as one of the premier financial institutions in the United Kingdom and provide our clients with a range of integrated financial services. At J.P. Morgan we hire employees who help us do first-class business in a first-class way. We recruit people who are passionate, motivated and who always look for ways to do better – and who else is more passionate than young students who are eager to learn something new? The youngest generations drive innovation, and for this reason J.P. Morgan start to engage with students as young as 15 years of age. Whilst at school, you can join us for insight programmes such as Summer School or Work Experience and post A-level, students have the option to join the firm for our degree apprenticeships in Financial Services or Technology. University students can benefit from internships and graduate rotation programmes that last from a couple of months up to 2 years. Aboutour sponsor Success at School is a national careers website for students aged 11-19, as well as their teachers, careers advisors, parents and other influencers. Young people can learn about their future career options through no-nonsense careers advice related to their own experiences. As well as covering topics such as career paths, industries, apprenticeships, university and employability skills, we connect schools and students to employers and universities through opportunities on our site and our interactive forums. Millions of young people and their influencers have visited our site for advice and information to help them plan for the future. Go to successatschool.org for more information.3 BUSINESS CAREER GUIDE Contents 05 What is business? 06 How will business prepare me for work? 10 Should I choose business? 12 T-levels 15 Job roles 18 How to future-proof your career 14 Why work experience matters 20 J.P. Morgan profile 32 Everything you need to know about gap years 22 Spotlight job 34 University 24 Interviews 28 Apprenticeships4 As you begin to think about your career options, it is important to learn what skills you can gain by studying different subjects. For some career paths, specific knowledge and skillsets are required. But for many roles, J.P. Morgan – along with other employers – consider students with different backgrounds. There are many subjects that provide a wide range of skills. One of those subjects is business. Business allows you to learn a mix of people skills and analytical skills. It also teaches you how different businesses operate and what makes them successful. You will also learn how to problem solve – an important skill in every field of work. And by studying different business case studies, you will also see how businesses make decisions and where those decisions lead them. When we assess applicants for our apprenticeship programmes at J.P. Morgan, we look for good communication skills and experience which indicates that candidate will have a strong client focus. Both of these skills are learned by studying business. This subject guide will help you to explore the career opportunities that can open up to you if you study business. You may want to go to university, or straight into the workplace, or combine both with a degree apprenticeship. Whatever you want to do in the future, this guide will show you different options open to you. Phill Paige Head of EMEA emerging talent J.P. Morgan Foreword Unlock5 You’ll encounter dozens of businesses every day. If you buy sandwiches from Greggs, you’re supporting a business. Or if you watch films on Netflix, you’re supporting a business. If you have a mobile phone contract with O2, you’re supporting a business. Businesses come in all shapes and sizes and they underpin our economy and society. Business is all about producing and selling goods or services to make money. That doesn’t always have to mean huge profits – there are a growing number of social enterprises that put some of the money they make back into good causes. When you study business, you’ll learn about different business models, as well as what running a business involves. Every business is made up of various departments, which means roles within business are incredibly varied. You could work in the financial side of business as an accountant, or you might develop your leadership skills to move into a management role. There are also opportunities in human resources (HR), where you’re responsible for recruitment and staff wellbeing, as well as in legal departments. If you’re interested in technology, you could use your strategic thinking abilities as an IT consultant. The skills you develop by studying business are transferable to many jobs. A recruitment consultant needs to evaluate candidates and put the best ones forward for roles. A digital marketer needs to combine their creativity with commercial awareness to develop eye-catching content to help grow a brand. What is business?6 5 workplace skills you’ll learn in business Commercial awareness In class: You’ll explore different types of businesses, from sole traders to large private companies, as well as why you would choose a particular form of business. You’ll also learn about the external factors that can affect a business’s performance, such as competition, market conditions and environmental issues. At work: Being aware of the wider commercial environment is essential in any company. Businesses’ development managers need to think carefully about who to build relationships with and which prospective clients to target. Risk managers need to use their commercial awareness to identify things that could damage a business. How will business prepare me for work? Decision making In class: You’ll explore the various factors you need to consider when making decisions in a business context. You’ll also look at what might influence your decisions, as well as looking at how decisions can affect different elements of a business. At work: Using data and evidence to support decisions is important, but so too is learning how to explain your decisions. As an HR officer you’ll need to make decisions about who to hire for new roles. Product managers need to make decisions about everything from what materials to use in certain products to where they’ll be manufactured. Evaluation In class: You’ll learn to evaluate your work and various information to help you make business decisions. You’ll also look at different ways of considering the business opportunities, challenges or problems you may encounter. You’ll take a critical view of the information and put this into business and wider economic contexts. At work: Being able to look at the big picture when you’re evaluating information is essential in a role like insurance underwriter, where you evaluate various factors before deciding what level of insurance cover to offer. As a cyber security specialist, you need to evaluate different threats and take appropriate action. Leadership In class: You’ll discuss different theories of leadership styles and management, such as the Tannenbaum Schmidt continuum. You’ll learn about the effectiveness of different leadership styles and the role that managers play in teams and in a business. At work: As an entrepreneur, you need to be a strong leader to establish and grow a business with a dedicated team behind you. If you work as a department manager you need to have the confidence to lead your team, as well as the leadership skills to motivate them. Data analysis In class: To make good business decisions you need to gather evidence. Learning about how data is collected and analysed across different areas of a business will provide you with valuable numerical and investigative skills. This may include data analysis in finance, human resources, operations and marketing. You’ll also learn how to use this data to inform your decision making. At work: Understanding data will help you make better decisions. A marketing executive needs to use data to help design and target marketing campaigns. Software developers use data to help them improve programs. Retail buyers use data about shopping habits to help them choose the right products to stock.7 BUSINESS CAREER GUIDE ...and 2 you may not have thought of Adaptability In class: You’ll learn about the importance of taking a creative approach to business opportunities, problems and issues. You’ll also look at business behaviour from a range of perspectives to help you broaden your thinking on various topics. At work: There are many jobs where you need to take a creative approach to your work. Product designers need to explore concepts from various angles to create the best possible product design. An environmental consultant may need to come up with creative solutions to ensure they promote sustainability and support business interests. Strategic thinking In class: You’ll learn to think strategically about a business’ position and how they can adapt to keep up with market trends. Businesses must constantly reflect on their activities and explore how to manage changes across an organisation. This will include looking at why some strategies fail and how others could be improved. At work: Investment bankers need to take a strategic approach to the management of their investment portfolios to maximise returns and make sure they are suitably diverse. If you’re a strategic cost analyst, you’ll ensure that a company isn’t spending too much money and that it’s spending in the right areas. 8 Learn about the difference between organic and external growth. Explore potential problems with business growth and how to overcome them. Some of the issues you’ll cover include ways that businesses can grow, franchising, mergers and takeovers, economies of scale, and overtrading. You’ll also learn about Greiner’s model of growth. Business growth consultants focus on helping organisations to grow and fulfil their potential. But understanding the factors affecting business growth is important in a range of commercial roles, including as a financial advisor where you’ll help companies understand how they could finance growth or as an operations manager where you will manage the efficiency of an organisation to help it grow. KnowledgeHow will it help me at work? Learn how to set financial objectives and how to analyse financial performance. You’ll find out how to construct cash flow forecasts and budgets, as well as how to carry out a break-even analysis. You’ll also explore how to analyse profitability, covering concepts such as gross profit, profit from operations and profit for the year. You may look at this from the point of view of Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line. Understanding the financial side of business is vital if you’re planning to set up your own business. Within businesses there are financial roles, including a finance manager where you’ll use your knowledge of accounting to plan for and manage business decisions. Many businesses have internal legal teams. Lawyers also need a good working knowledge of the financial aspects of business, particularly in relation to legal contracts, as well as an understanding of intellectual property. 5 ways your business know-how will help you at work Explore the value of change and of having a flexible organisation. Look at what’s required to create a flexible organisation, including flexible employment contracts, delayering and restructuring. Learn about the barriers to change and how to overcome them. Understand Kotter and Schlesinger’s 4 reasons for resistance to change and their 6 ways of overcoming this resistance. Businesses are having to evolve rapidly due to new technology and global events, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Being flexible will be vital to survive in today’s business world. An organisational development specialist helps companies manage organisational change. Digital transformation specialists work specifically to help businesses update their technology and move towards digital working practices. 9 BUSINESS CAREER GUIDE Gain an understanding of how businesses trade globally and participate in international markets. You’ll discuss methods such as exports, licensing, alliances and foreign direct investment and the factors which influence or limit the globalisation of business. Think about the future to understand how economic, political and environmental changes, such as Brexit, will influence business activity and the impacts this may have on a national and international scale. Today’s world is more open than ever before. Businesses increasingly operate across international borders. As a management consultant you will use your expertise to advise businesses on how to streamline their business objectives to meet the demands of different markets. Corporate social responsibility is becoming more and more important. You could work as a corporate social responsibility manager to ensure that the practices, processes and products at a company are ethically and environmentally sustainable. Or you could use this knowledge as a corporate auditor to help businesses make positive changes to their practices. KnowledgeHow will it help me at work? Develop your knowledge of innovation and why there is pressure on businesses to be innovative. Examine innovation in terms of product and process development. Find out how to become innovative as an organisation and why this is important in today’s digital marketplace. Explore the different ways of protecting intellectual property (IP) and innovation. Develop knowledge of how E-commerce and M-commerce can be used to help businesses generate a competitive advantage. Being able to stay at the forefront of an industry is important for many businesses to succeed. Product/ process development scientists focus on improving the efficiency and profitability of products that are manufactured. Or you could become a specialist IP solicitor to help organisations protect their ideas and innovations. User experience designers may need to be innovative to find the best way of improving a product or service for users. Digital marketing specialists need to create content that will bring brands closer to their audience. Next >