College students choosing a major or minor usually have one thing on their mind: Where am I going to work after this? Finding a career – much less a satisfying one – can be very difficult. While some students feel pigeon-holed, entrepreneurship majors are uniquely positioned for an ever-changing job market.
We’ve rounded up some of the best positions for entrepreneurship students by interviewing students and career-placement professionals at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, a top-10 ranked school for entrepreneurship.
In our list below, you’ll find some expected and unexpected ideas that will show you what’s possible with a major or minor in entrepreneurship. These career options are also possible for those pursuing a related academic option, such as electives or programs like the three-course Lassonde+X program at the University of Utah.
For more information about ways to study entrepreneurship at the University of Utah, visit the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy website. Options include a major, minor, electives, master’s, and more.
1. Your Own Business
We’d be remiss to start off our list without mentioning your own business. Entrepreneurship majors are well prepared for this and may have entered the major for this purpose.
“Students aren’t only learning how to maximize all resources within a company – they’re well-rounded generalists with the accounting, finance, marketing, and idea creation skillsets,” said Marcella Kirschbaum, an entrepreneurship and management career coach at Eccles School.
2. Join a Startup
You don’t have to have the best, newest, or most unique idea to get into the world of entrepreneurship – join a team that’s already started. Startups vary in size, purpose, and location, but each one of them relies on their people to keep going.
If you are at the University of Utah, you can find many startups to join at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. Or consider companies that are part of Silicon Slopes, which includes many new and established tech startups in Utah. They look for students with quick minds who can look at the big picture and identify the details of it all, too.
3. Sales
“This field is always looking for people who are motivated, not shy,” Kirschbaum said. “Communicative students are in a great position for sales, and they often recruit entrepreneurship majors,”
Active listeners and effective communicators are the foundation of a career in sales, and that’s what you’ll find in an entrepreneurship student.
4. Marketing
Entrepreneurship majors take classes in almost any field of business during their degrees. Sometimes, students don’t find what they want to do (or what they’re capable of) until they’re actually in the workplace.
“When I decided to study entrepreneurship, I wasn’t looking for anything specific to learn,” said Shaykayla Warren, a recent entrepreneurship graduate from the Eccles School. “The program covered everything, and that’s what stood out to me.”
Warren knew she wanted to work in small business and, eventually, the fashion industry, but she found an interest in marketing through her entrepreneurship major.
“One of my marketing classes was taught by a CEO of a really cool startup, and he brought me on as an intern and eventually full-time,” she said. “My position works with the marketing budget and lets me control and oversee how our marketing strategy coincides with all of our other projects. From my degree, I got to see sides of all parts of a business and knew how they interacted with each other to make better decisions.”
5. Finance
Shows like “Silicon Valley” and “Shark Tank” have popularized the process of venture capital financing. However, as an entrepreneurship student, you’re not just watching it on TV. Through participating in business plan competitions, pitching your ideas in class (and to actual VCs), you have unique first-hand experience. No matter the outcome, you know what it’s like to plan, prepare, and pitch. Bring this know-how to the other side of the table.
6. Tech Analysts
With an entrepreneurship degree, you’ve developed quantitative skills and an entrepreneurial mindset. This unusual mix of skills makes you a stand-out candidate for a tech analyst position, especially in Utah. As a tech analyst, you’ll investigate and track movement in the stock market to help consult clients in making the best investment decisions.
“It’s directly based on innovation and innovative thinking,” Kirschbaum said. “I feel like any of our grads can slip into any role almost in somewhere in Silicon Slopes or the tech industry in general and have the skills to succeed.”
7. Analytics and Data Management
In the analytics and data fields, you need a diverse array of skills. Entrepreneurs are problem-solvers, critical-thinkers, and can consider both the big picture and the nitty-gritty: everything you’ve learned during your degree.
“I took a couple of analytics classes, and I nerded out so much,” Warren said. “We learned to dissect numbers and look at data differently. It wasn’t just ‘this person clicked on my email campaign, cool.’ It was deeper analysis, studying behavior, and predicting actions.”
The analytics and data management career path gives you the chance to apply these practical skills to decision-making processes in any industry.
8. Corporate Intrepreneur
Even non-startups need entrepreneurs because you have an entrepreneurial mindset.
“It’s really the ability to observe and to recognize,” said Brad Williams, an assistant professor and program director for the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the University of Utah. “Approach problems from both a causal perspective, thinking in terms of results you’re trying to generate, and from an effectual perspective, which is more the mindset of say, an explorer.
With this way of thinking, you can fit in – and add value – anywhere.
“What I like about entrepreneurship is that you don’t have to know everything – you just have to know how it works together,” said Camryn Polansky, an upperclassman in entrepreneurship at the University of Utah and owner of Camspire.
… And Many More
With a degree in entrepreneurship, you leave with practical and personal skills that make you a one-size-fits-all employee.
“It sounds cheesy, but entrepreneurship is the major that makes sure you can make your dreams come true,” Polanksy said. “Anything you’re thinking of doing, anything, you’re prepared to break down into smaller pieces, figure it out, and get going.”
