Business Studies Courses

Business Studies or commerce courses are ideal for students who want a career in business, but are still unsure exactly what they want to do.

Education

There are a number of courses readily available nationwide from Level 5 Certificates to Level 8 Honours Degrees.

Any general business or commerce qualification will introduce you to all forms of business activity. These include topics such as:

• Management
• Human resources
• Accounting
• Finance
• Marketing
• Information systems

Students are also taught soft skills which include things like – communication, negotiation, teamwork, and so forth – that are essential in every business.

Degree students often have a choice of subjects during the second half of the course. These options may be traditional business subjects such as marketing, or there may be interesting alternatives. These could be, for instance, Globalisation (Business Studies in UL), Sports Marketing (Waterford IT), or Food Management and Marketing (Commerce in UCC).

There can be large differences between business programmes. Students must do their research and not assume that they are all the same. They may include the opportunity to spend a semester abroad, a work placement, or exemptions from the examinations of professional bodies. A lot of Business and Commerce programmes are strong on enterprise and innovation. These are particularly valuable for students who want to set up their own business.

There is also a dizzying array of Business Studies courses available in further education, with Level 5 certificates and more advanced diplomas. These offer a great introduction to the workplace as well as affording progression to a higher level course. Among the many specialised programmes are Secretarial, IT, Administration, Languages, Legal Studies, and Start Your Own Business courses.

The Work

Working in any business role requires a few key attributes. These include the ability to communicate well and work as part of a team.

Your characteristics and personal preferences will help determine the particular role that is most suitable to you. If you have a head for figures and a good level of concentration, those are useful for accountancy. An outgoing and warm personality can be very useful for sales work, as personal relationships are vital when it comes to dealing with clients. A willingness to listen to and help others may make you suitable for HR, which involves dealing with staff problems and helping employees to improve their performance. Managers must have a grasp of all these tasks and more, which is why a general Business course affords students excellent career prospects.

Entrepreneurs have a tough task in that they must usually take responsibility for every aspect of their business until it has grown sufficiently for extra staff to come on board. They also need to work unsocial hours, in the early days at least.

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