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How does one use their college degree to work their way up to the corporate world of business? ?

What does the process look like and how could internships during college help me to get there? #Fall2025

career business business-management fall2025
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Marty’s Answer

A college degree shows potential employers that one has applied themselves - it's a sign that you've started and finished a course of study that will lead to your future opportunities. It's not essential that the degree is aligned with the employment direction you may take, there are many folks who study one field and pivot to something completely different - it doesn't necessarily work against you.

The simple fact that you applied yourself gives weight to your employment applications - not everyone has the fortitude to complete a degree.
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Shawn’s Answer

Earning a degree is your first step into the professional world, often leading to an entry-level job, internship, or management-training program. Once you're in, you can grow by taking on projects, showing initiative, and becoming known for reliability and problem-solving skills.

To keep moving forward, focus on expanding your skills. Learn tools like Excel, explore data analytics, and improve your leadership, communication, and project management abilities. Finding mentors, joining professional groups, and volunteering for opportunities in different departments can help you understand how the company works.

With time, your hard work and strong connections will naturally lead to promotions and higher-level roles. In essence, your degree opens the door, but your dedication, skills, and network help you climb the ladder.
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Kayla’s Answer

Hi Sophia! Getting your degree is a great first step and a great way to get your foot in the door but after that it will be all about becoming skilled in your chosen field! The first thing I would suggest would be to find opportunities to take initiative, this will show that your interest in growth. I would also suggest that you continue to learn outside of your degree whether that would be taking the time to learn about the business you're working at, learning more about the roles of those around you or by gaining knowledge through certificates or courses through LinkedIn learning. This is how you'll find yourself in a higher-level role!
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James’s Answer

Your degree is essentially the first step in many to working your way up the corporate ladder.
One thing I found interesting is that the phrase "X person has forgotten more than you know" has reigned true when entering the workforce, but it works both ways. What I mean is this: yes, many people around you will have more experience than you (naturally), but you will also have the "textbook" way of doing things fresh in your mind, which can be a significant advantage.
It is easy for someone who has been a people leader for 10, 15, or 20 years to have forgotten the classic approach to business problems. Still, you may have taken a class on this just 6 months ago and have a framework in mind that will help solve a given problem, reorient that problem into an opportunity, or identify another strategy most useful to the task at hand.

I love that others suggested internships above. These can be a great way to get your foot in the door and start to see things from the inside of an organization.
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Hagen’s Answer

Hello Sophia,

I agree with Shawn's answer and will add one thing for you to consider. It's tempting to think of business as, well, "business in general" but in reality business is very specialized. We call that domains (e.g. medicine, manufacturing, education, technology etc.) and successful business people develop "domain expertise" as well as business expertise. For example, medicine -providers vs payers. Providers are the hospitals, clinics and doctors that deliver care. Payers are insurance companies through which patients generally pay providers. Both are highly regulated by government but each domain predictably is solving very different problems. They overlap, of course, but from the point of view of a career, you need to consider which domain would appeal to you.
More than just your preferences, you need to think about your natural aptitudes. Are you good in math? Do you like a lot of detailed quantitative records and record keeping - that's more of a payer career. Are you good at science? Do you love chemistry and biology? Then that's more of a provider career. It's critical to assess your own preferences - you're going to be spending your life doing this day to day work so it's best to love it. But it's also critical to honestly assess your talents. If you're not particularly good at math then you're not likely to excel in finance. If you aren't particularly good at chemistry and biology then becoming a health professional is going to be a tough climb.
Pay attention to what you find exciting to learn and your track record learning that subject. It's way better to be realistic about who you are, what you love and what you're good at, than to pretend or hope you're good at something only to find your not.

Hagen recommends the following next steps:

Consider what you love to learn and don't love. That's important information.
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