As businesses place increasingly higher importance on technical innovation and integration, developing your skills in how to extract and analyze data can help set you apart in the job market. Business analytics professionals are unique in that they live at the intersection of business and technology, leveraging their business savvy with technical expertise to have a direct impact on the day-to-day operations of their company.
Graduates with a foundation in information systems have solid business skills that are in high-demand as the private sector incorporates more analytical functions into their operations. Living at the intersection of business and technology, they can leverage their business savvy with technical expertise to have a direct impact on the day-to-day operations of their company. And with business decisions becoming increasingly more evidence-based, the need for experts who can derive insights from in-depth analysis of this data is growing as well. Every business can benefit from becoming more data-driven. It helps them understand their clients, perform internal operations more efficiently, and guide decision making.
How to Become a Leader
Current research shows that the average worker stays at their job for four-and-a-half years and this diversity of experience can help accelerate career growth – younger workers can try new roles, take risks, and expose themselves to different areas of business.
Here are some tips that can help recent graduates make the most of their early professional experiences and become tomorrow’s leaders.
Know Your Role
One of your first priorities when starting a new job should be to understand your company’s goals, your boss’ goals and their role in the company, and then how you can best apply your skills to help. Understanding the bigger picture will help you overachieve in your role and reinforce your usefulness, and if the company’s goals don’t align with yours then you can more quickly make a move to somewhere else that does.
Take Risks
Career mobility is the norm, so embrace it and don’t allow yourself to become too comfortable or, even worse, stagnant in your role. Whether you move to another role in your company or to another company altogether, what’s most important at this stage in your career is that you continue to learn and add to your experience.
Schedule Regular Reviews
Even if your company provides regular performance reviews, they’re likely to be annual. In the meantime, don’t fall into the “no news is good news” trap and assume that you’re progressing in your role. Proactively schedule informal meetings with your boss to review your contributions, goals, and performance as well as a personal review where you ask yourself what areas you may have neglected, where you can improve, and whether your goals are aligning with your development.
Seek Out A Mentor
Make an effort to find someone who can help you grow in your career. Most leaders naturally enjoy helping others become the best versions of themselves, especially if they see you as a hard worker who will take their advice to heart. And remember to pay the advice forward when you’re a leader yourself and you recognize that potential in someone else.
For business professionals looking to advance their career in information systems management, the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Collat School of Business offers a Master of Science in Management Information Systems degree. Building on the foundation of a bachelor’s degree, students will learn to expand their technical knowledge, refine their business savvy, and develop the skills needed to ascend to leadership positions in business technology.