Explore Careers in Business, Marketing & Accounting

According to the House of Commons Library, Business Statistics Briefing Paper, July 2020 there were more than 5.9 million private sector businesses in the UK in 2019.

Employment opportunities in this sector can generally be split into two main areas: business management and consultancy.

You don’t need to restrict yourself solely to the business sector as the majority of organisations require managers and consultants in order to operate effectively. Because of this, graduates have plenty of job opportunities to choose from.

Business managers usually work general management jobs or hold specific responsibilities for a particular area of an organisation, such as marketing, strategy planning, human resources (HR) or information technology (IT). Some roles lean towards people management, while others focus on project management – but most managers need skills in both areas.

Meanwhile, consultants offer advice to organisations to help them solve problems and enhance performance. They either work in large companies or consultancy firms. Organisations can be general, specialise in strategy or offer advice to a specific industry, such as:

• finance
• HR
• IT
• marketing and public relations (PR)
• media

Work in this area is highly competitive, with firms looking for bright, high achievers. However, you may find it useful to first move into a role where you can build up business knowledge and maturity before heading into consultancy.

Alternatively, consider other business jobs that offer specialist information, advice and support to companies, such as data mining or market research, or specific roles such as business adviser, economist, risk manager and operational researcher.

When researching potential areas of work it’s likely that they overlap with the accountancy, banking and finance sector. Professionals from both sectors work together to ensure the best outcome for the client and the lines between the two industries can sometimes become blurred.