Associate Degree in Business Administration

An Associate Degree in Business Administration is a two-year degree that helps you to dive in the field of business. You can either initiate your career in the field or advance it. There are various cities, colleges, and vocational programs that help you procure an associate’s degree.

Generally, an associate’s degree serves as the initial two years of a bachelor’s degree. There are 60 semesters or 90 quarters in the associate’s degree.

Some people tend to apply for various job opportunities after getting their associate’s degree. On the other hand, other people may continue their Bachelor’s Degree.

There are umpteen lucrative career options for people who have an Associate Degree in Business Administration. Such a degree can also help you to amass greater profits than a bachelor’s degree.

According to a report by the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), people with an Associates Degree can fetch approximately 20% more than their counterparts with a higher diploma per week.

Payscale reported some statistics related to an Associate Degree in Business Administration. According to this report, approximately 62% of females and 38% of males enrolled in this program. The average salary is at almost $55,000.

A survey was conducted in which the opinions of 14,000 degree holders were analyzed. This survey exhibited that five out of five people were satisfied with their associate’s Degree in Business Administration.

Expenses

The cost of getting an associate’s degree varies from institution to institution. But the associate’s degree tends to cost you approximately $25,000 to $30,000.

If you enroll for an Associates Degree program from a non-profit public educational establishment, the cost will be approximately $60,000.

The expenses amount to $30,000 per year, and the same value for a bachelor’s degree is $120,000. You can also get an associate’s degree by enrolling yourself in various online programs.

Skills Learned

An associate’s degree is a formal credential that helps you to amass various technical and soft skills. The technical skills relate to the following subjects –

• Macroeconomics and microeconomics,
• Business communication and its models,
• Different aspects of business finance.

The soft skills entail effective communication, team working skills, leadership skills, and ethical business reasoning.

When applying for a job opportunity, your soft skills help you to be at an advantage from your strategic adversaries. The applicants applying for a particular job post have the required technical skills and formal credentials for it.

But with the aid of the soft skills, you can complement your hard skills and give the best to your potential.

For example –

You are given a project in the company. To complete it, you have the required hard skills and knowledge. But you lack the team working skills and hence, cannot coordinate with your teammates. This lands you into a problem, and you do not submit the project before the deadline.

Jobs and Salary

Let us glance at the various jobs and their approximate salaries, which you can practice by having an associate’s degree.

Sales Associate

There are various industries in which a sales associate can work. The salary in this profession expands as the job post becomes more specific and detailed. In the capacity of a sales associate, an individual is required to perform several functions.

These functions entail –

• creating leads for a business organization,
• making decisions related to buying,
• attending conferences by representing the company,
• promoting the company through various offers and discounts,
• clearing the queries of the customers by answering their questions, etc.

The sales associates are required to persuade people to become regular clients for the organization through effective communication skills. Hence, this profession augments the importance of soft skills. Besides a fixed salary, the job may also proffer bonuses, commissions, incentives, etc.

The National Average Salary of this profession is approximately $11 per hour. Various companies that offer job posts to candidates in this position are Petland, Sam Ash Music, etc.

Payroll and Benefits Administrator

With a whisk of bookkeeping knowledge and effective government laws, you can become a payroll and benefits administrator.

With an associate’s degree, a payroll and benefits administrator keeps account of the employee’s attendance and their approximate benefits and wage rate.

Besides supervising the payroll, they advise the employees relating to their benefits. Be it the lower-level employees or the executives, the profession requires the payroll and benefits administrator to maintain the records of each employee’s compensation and benefits.

The average annual salary of a person as a payroll and benefits administrator is approximately $52,878. But the yearly salary of the 25th percentile in this profession is $45,000.

A payroll and benefits administrator can amass an average monthly salary of $4,406. He or she can get the 25th percentile of the monthly salary at $3,750.

By becoming a payroll and benefits administrator, you can get an average weekly salary of $1,017. The 25th percentile of the weekly wage in this profession is $865.

Accounting Assistant

An associate’s degree also helps an individual become an accounting assistant if they have good mathematical and accounting skills. The accounting manager or supervisor determines the responsibilities and duties of an accounting assistant.

Some of the standard functions of an accounting assistant are as follows –

• If you become an accounting assistant, you will have to prepare various credit memos, invoices, and purchase orders. Processing the payment, company receipts, and sales invoices from customers and suppliers is an accounting assistant’s practical function.
• Though the accounting assistant works under a supervisor, the work activities may require them to work independently.
• An accounting assistant also fabricates transparent accounts with the employer’s outstanding balances, Incomes, and expenses.
• Sometimes the accounting assistant also greets the clients, attends phone calls and emails of the customers, create financial reports, and perform other administrative functions. These administrative functions include photocopying, filing, attending meetings, etc.

When you initiate your career as an accounting assistant, you can amass approximately $39,000 per year. But an accounting assistant with nearly 20 years of experience can fetch as much as $46,000 per year. However, incomes are different in different places in the US.

An accounting assistant can get $43,000 in NYC, whereas the same person can earn $41,000 in Georgia.

Marketing Coordinator

As the name suggests, a marketing coordinator helps in marketing the brand.

Though a marketing coordinator has a lower job role in the marketing department, they perform several tasks. These duties include administrative functions or creating various posts, blogs, content, etc. to promote the company’s products.

The marketing coordinators fabricate compelling videos and content to entice the attract audience towards the brand. They help to transform prospective clients into regular customers.

A marketing coordinator should initially recognize the target audience of the business. He or she modifies the content according to the requirements of the target audience. =

With effective communication skills and decision-making capacity, a marketing coordinator can help the business to soar great heights. The average salary of this profession is $44,584 per year.

Due to intense competition, various business organizations hire marketing coordinators’ effective services to be advantageous from their adversaries.

Retail Account Manager

With excellent customer service skills, the retail account manager needs to foster relationships with the company’s retail and professional contacts.

A retail account manager also performs administrative functions like fulfilling the customers’ requests related to their purchase orders, bills, and other documents.

Sometimes, they may also require –

• to train the retail executives,
• handle queries from customers,
• track customer orders,
• coordinate with other departments of the company,
• proffer feedback to the organization and management regarding the retail operations of the company,
• monitor the work of other retail account executives, and
• set performance norms for the company.

A retail account manager can amass approximately $53,879 per year.

HR Manager

A human resources manager performs a variety of functions in an organization. In the smaller corporations, people may use the terms HR Manager, HR director, or HR supervisor interchangeably. However, in larger organizations, there are separate individuals for each post.

Depending upon the organization’s needs, sometimes an HR Manager may supervise an HR team’s functions. Initially, an HR manager’s responsibilities included determining the wages, benefits, and compensation of various employees.

However, with the time, the organizations require different employees to perform several functions. Due to some reasons, the company’s employees may leave the job post, and business may need new people. An HR manager looks upon all such activities.

Thus, an HR manager’s responsibilities encompass Hiring, training, and recruiting staff members through leadership, team building, and effective communication skills.

With the aid of an Associates Degree, an individual can pursue his or her career as a human resources manager. This career can fetch you approximately $72,117 per year.

Sales Manager

The responsibilities of a sales manager differ from Organisations to Organisations.

However, the general role includes supervising the Sales Department of the company by managing the distribution of goods and services to the customers.

Other duties include –

• resolving customer issues regarding the products and services of the business.,
• preparing budgets and estimating the expenditures,
• analyzing sales statistics,
• monitoring customer preferences to analyze the sales target,
• enticing the customers towards the business through various promotional techniques like effective offers, discounts, etc,
• training the sales team to help the business achieve its goals.

There are different types of sales managers like B2B sales manager or business to business sales manager and B2C sales manager or business to customer sales manager. In bigger organizations, the sales managers supervise the functioning of various Department’s sales heads.

They also help the sales team to improve their functioning to help the organization in achieving its aims. If you become a sales manager, the organization will also require you to train, recruit, and hire the sales staff.

Hence, the responsibility of a sales manager helps the business to mushroom and reach great Heights.

A sales manager can amass approximately $79,439 per year.

Teller

With a whisk of math and active communication skills, you can become a bank teller. The functions of a bank teller require the individual to help customers with general banking transactions. He or she solicits information from the individuals about their accounts and checks their cash withdrawals and deposits.

A bank teller also has the right to exchange foreign currency. Sometimes, the profession also compels individuals to act as a salesperson by selling things like credit cards.

An individual should have strong attention to detail and socializing skills to become a bank Teller. The approximate national average salary of a bank teller is $13.35 per hour. Various banks proffer such job opportunities to individuals like Wells Fargo, BB&T, etc.

Growth Outlook

Researchers expect a significant growth rate in the various careers related to an Associates Degree. Let us have a glance at them.

The growth rate in –

• the field of sales management is 7%, which is slower than the average.
• marketing management is 10%, which is a bit higher than the average.
• Human Resources Management is 9%, which is faster than the average.
• finance management is 19%, which is as good as an average.
• food service management is 5%, which is slower than the average.
• healthcare administration is 10%, which is a bit higher than the average.

Approximate Salaries

The various salaries of the jobs related to an Associates’s Degree are as follows. These revenues are according to the reports of the Bureau of Labour Statistics for the year 2018-2019.

• The approximate salary in sales management for the above period is $117,960.
• The salary in financial management is $121,750.
• By working in the field of Human Resources Management, you can procure approximately $106,910.
• Marketing management helps you to amass $131,180.
• A person working in food service management can get $50,820.
• With the aid of Healthcare Administration, the practitioners can receive $83,810.

Colleges for Associate Degree in Business

To procure an Associates Degree, you can enroll yourself in the famous colleges.

Boston University

Boston University is a very popular College in the US. The school was founded in 1839 and was initially called by the name of Newbury Biblical Institute. In 1867, the educational establishment was transferred to Boston and was called Boston University after two years.

The eminence of the University is evident from its alumni. Martin Luther King Junior computed his education from Boston University. Moreover, Alexander Graham Bell used one of the University’s labs to invent the telephone.

With over 4000 staff members and 33,700 students, the University has two huge campuses. Not only this, but this staff of the University includes Nobel Prize winners and Pulitzer Prize winners as well.

With so many pieces of evidence to substantiate the education and popularity of the University, it is one of the best choices for the people to procure an associate’s degree.

Apart from the theoretical lectures, there are approximately 33 club sports teams and 500 student activity groups in the University.

Fort Scott Community College

You can procure an associate’s degree at the Fort Scott Community College, the college’s highest degree. As the name suggests, Fort Scott, Kansas, USA, houses the college. This college is ideal for students who want to acquire an associate’s degree at affordable prices.

The room cost of the college is approximately $2,980, whereas the board cost is $2,790.

The college has good placement services that can help you to procure lucrative job opportunities. The students can also reap the benefits of on-campus housing.

Troy University

The Southern Association of colleges and Schools Commission on colleges accredits the Troy University. Troy houses this public University, which was fabricated in 1887.

Initially, the name of the University was Troy State Normal School in the Alabama State University system. The University proffers associate, Bachelor’s, Master’s, and other doctoral degree programs.

New York University

This private University is meant to appreciate the applicants based on merit rather than their social privileges. Albert Gallatin founded this University in 1831, and the Greenwich Village houses the historic campus of the establishment.

Being one of the world’s best universities, seeking admission to this educational establishment is daunting. The number of students at the University in 2019 was approximately 52,000. This included roughly 27,000 undergraduate students, and the rest were graduate students.