Are you considering taking your business career even further? Maybe you’ve already earned an MBA, and want to go a step further than most with a DBA or even a PhD in business? But, with so many different options available today for furthering your business career, it’s worth figuring out whether going for a doctorate level degree in business is worth your time.
Before you begin, consider the alternatives:
- Are there any training options offered by your employer that you could take advantage of instead?
- Would professional certification help you achieve the same goals?
- Can you take an online course from a site such as Udemy that will help you achieve your career goals?
While none of the alternatives will offer the prestige and title that comes with being a doctor of business administration or a PhD graduate, if you’re more bothered about furthering your career, and less about the title, then they might be a better option for you as there are many options available to consider; a degree isn’t always the best or the most cost-effective route to take.
On the other hand, if the title of DBA or PhD is something that really matters to you and a huge part of your career goals, you’ll want to take the degree program.
But is spending all the time and money required to get a DBA or a PhD in business worth your time? Here are some of the many benefits that you can expect to receive from embarking on this professional and academic pathway.
Stand Out from the Crowd:
MBAs are in demand. As an MBA, you’ve probably noticed that your qualifications aren’t making you stand out quite as much as they once did; more and more business students and professionals are opting to study for an MBA because they know that it pretty much guarantees them getting hired for a decent position in the future. Going one step further will make sure that you stand out from the crowd. Your MBA was last year’s achievement. You’ll stand out from the crowd because:
- Many universities and business schools now offer fast, easy online MBA degree options and similar programs compared to what it was like in the past
- This has led to more business people getting an MBA qualification – after all, when they’re easier to get, who wouldn’t?
- Business PhDs or DBAs are rare commodities and unlikely to be found in most candidate pools
- As a DBA or PhD, you will demonstrate your extreme commitment to your field; stopping at an MBA like most people just wasn’t good enough for you. You can find out more about the differences between a DBA and a PhD by visiting Aston University Online.
Networking Opportunities:
We’ve all heard the saying ‘it’s not what you know, but who you know’ and when it comes to business, this is definitely true. Ok, not all the time – of course, you need to have a strong knowledge base and a good skill set to do well, but it’s pretty clear that having a wide network of professional contacts and a good knowledge of the business world and the people in it will put you at an advantage compared to those who barely know anybody.
When you study for a DBA, you’ll get the chance to extend your professional network even further. If you’ve already got an MBA, then you probably enjoyed the networking opportunities that you got from that; this is your chance to extend them even further. And the further up the academic ladder you go, the better your chances of being able to meet with, network with, and get to know some of the cleverest and most influential people in the business world. The people that you study with could become:
- Future colleagues
- Future competitors
- Future employers
- Future business partners
- Future investors
- Future recommenders of you to employers, investors and more
Become an Expert:
Truly honing your skills and becoming a top expert in something takes more than a master’s degree and a few courses; you need to put in years of practice. Getting a DBA or a PhD in business can help you hone your skills even further, in a tailored environment where you can easily access high-quality resources and people who are already experts in this field.
Perhaps you have already completed an MBA and discovered that you have an interest in a certain part of business, like marketing and branding, or finance. Studying even further gives you the opportunity to build even more on the skills that you have already developed so far, and provides you with a solid foundation on which to build your future career as an expert in your field.
If you studied for a general MBA without specialising in a certain area, you will have covered all the main pillars of business. As an MBA graduate, this may have helped you realise your strengths and weaknesses, or helped you figure out the direction that you want to take in terms of specialisation in your future career. For example, you could specialise in:
- Business ethics
- Corporate social responsibility
- Non-profit management
- Marketing and branding
- Sales
- Digital marketing
- Customer relationships
- Business development
- And many other topics that you may have touched on already in your past studies.
Business is an area that covers a wide variety of topics, and every student has at least one or two that they prefer over others. If you want to become an expert and focus your studies on a certain area of business, rather than business in general, getting an advanced degree like a DBA or PhD is the way forward. Taking the time to become an expert in a particular area of business can lead to fantastic opportunities further down the road, helping you find a career that’s meaningful, fulfilling and of course, profitable.
Improve Your Earning Potential:
Further education is directly related to improved potential salaries. It’s no secret that most businesses, organisations, and institutions will automatically pay better money to individuals who have a postgraduate degree. When you think of the average salary for an MBA, imagine how much you could get paid with a PhD in business or a DBA?
Holding a DBA, for example, could mean that you are eligible for a higher starting salary in a job that’s advertising for an MBA since you are a candidate who’s gone above and beyond the bare minimum required. And with a business PhD or a DBA to your name, you’re certainly going to feel more confident when it comes to asking for a raise from your current employer, or asking for a higher starting salary from a new one.
And, bear in mind that even if getting your DBA doesn’t mean that you instantly start earning double your current salary, having this type of advanced qualification behind you means that climbing the career ladder is going to be easier overall. In terms of your current employer, you’re probably going to be first on the list for promotions as long as you’ve consistently proven that you’re a good employee and demonstrated a range of valuable soft skills like communication and leadership throughout the course of your career.
Boost Your Confidence:
Having confidence is hugely important in every aspect of your life, but when it comes to the business world, it can make or break your career. There are plenty of techniques out there that you can use to improve your confidence or at least make yourself appear to be more confident in front of others, but the true, genuine confidence that comes from really knowing what you’re talking about is difficult to fake.
Clients, investors, and interviewers who’re experienced in the industry can tell the difference between someone who knows what they’re talking about, and someone who’s trying to look confident in front of them. They appreciate dealing with somebody who is an expert on their subject inside and out, is highly comfortable talking about any aspect of it, and is able to provide satisfactory, detailed answers to questions.
When you’re able to answer any question thrown at you about your subject with ease, the confidence that you have in yourself and your professional abilities will ooze from you and be completely obvious to others, whether it’s somebody you hope will hire you, work with you or invest in you.
Different Opportunities:
If working in the corporate world isn’t quite what you see yourself doing for the rest of your life, earning a business PhD or a DBA gives you the chance to take your career in a different direction, such as teaching business students. When studying, you may have the chance to teach undergraduate or even master’s students of business at the same university, which can be a great experience for improving your leadership skills, even if you decide that teaching business as a career isn’t for you.
The bottom line is that with a DBA or PhD in business, you’re not restricted in terms of future career choices – you can take your career almost anywhere within the industry.
Are you currently thinking about taking your career in business even further with a doctorate level degree? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.
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