A broad range of career opportunities await Kentucky residents who earn a bachelor’s degree. The state’s Personnel Cabinet’s Career Opportunities Portal has posted a list of jobs for which the minimum educational requirement — with no experience — is a bachelor’s degree. This long list is just a representative sampling.
Many of these are challenging, prestigious and financially rewarding positions with excellent career prospects. These jobs are being offered across Kentucky’s major industry sectors including automotive, aerospace, logistics/distribution, manufacturing, food and beverage, chemicals, primary metals, and healthcare. They include human resource specialist, information officer, investigator, network analyst, research analyst, purchasing associate, sales representative, systems support technician and tourism marketing specialist.
Universities Are Bridging the Educational Attainment Gap
There is a high degree of urgency among state officials and employers to substantially raise the percentage of Kentucky residents who qualify for these important positions and many others.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s latest state data (2016) shows that just 8 percent of Kentucky’s population ages 18-24, and 13.4 percent of the population ages 25+ have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Contrast that with the national percentages at 10.2 and 18.8 percent, respectively. Kentucky is lagging behind the national averages in both age groups, so you can appreciate the need for a boost in state educational attainment. This lag explains why the state and its universities are working to meet the demands of employers and career-minded residents.
Northern Kentucky University Is Playing a Major Role
NKU has been working with state officials and employers to improve the educational attainment of state residents and the pool of qualified candidates for key positions. To help meet these objectives, NKU and its Haile/US Bank College of Business have developed four Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) Online degree programs:
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – General Business Online: This program is designed so that you can create a program of interdisciplinary business study from courses that are appropriate to your academic interests and career goals.
The general business major may appeal to you if you are interested in a broad overview of business practices that can be applied globally. Due to the diverse nature of the program, graduates can pursue a wide range of career paths, including account executive, management analyst, operations manager, small business owner, management consultant and urban planner.
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Management Online: This BSBA program provides you with the fundamental knowledge and skills needed to effectively manage organizational operations and resources.
You can master a variety of business communication forms and develop basic behavioral competencies necessary to oversee operations and personnel within a department or organization. Potential career paths include facilities management, internal communications, operations management and retail/services management.
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Marketing Online: This program is designed to teach you how to make decisions about product, price, marketing communications and distribution.
For any organization to prosper in today’s hyper-competitive global business environment, it must adopt a market orientation as its guiding business philosophy. Being market-oriented means that an organization considers the needs and wants of its customers as crucial input in every decision it makes. To successfully accomplish this goal, the organization must develop and nurture close relationships with its customers.
Marketers are literally the interface between the organization and its customers; this career is about strategically creating and managing these relationships. Potential career paths include advertising, brand management, digital and social media, marketing, research, and sales.
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Global Supply Chain Management (SCM) Online: This program prepares graduates for a career in the supply chain, one of the fastest growing sectors in the global economy.
A supply chain manager is in charge of logistics, directing or coordinating production, purchasing, inventory control, warehousing and distribution. Supply chain managers also provide forecasts to control costs and improve accuracy, customer service or safety.
Behind the products you use are SCM professionals working to make them more affordable and get them to you faster. Career roles in supply chain management include logistics management, transportation management, purchasing management, storage and distribution management, cargo and freight, purchasing, and more.
These online BSBA programs have been designed to enable state residents to reach the educational attainment goals set by employers for key positions and career paths. At $441 per credit hour, the programs are as affordable as they are flexible. If you have been putting off your academic and professional ambitions, this is an opportunity to improve your educational attainment and career prospects.
Learn more about Northern Kentucky University’s online undergraduate business programs.
Sources:
Kentucky Careers: Job Titles Which Require a Bachelor’s Degree
Think Kentucky: Major Industries Sectors
U.S. Census Bureau – Advanced Search – Educational Attainment
