How a bachelor's degree can help your career

Find out why returning to education to get your bachelor's degree can enhance your career prospects.

If you’re already in work and left formal education some years ago, it’s natural to question whether it’s worth investing four years of your time to study online for an undergraduate degree.

As we show below, a bachelor’s degree can open up doors to more job opportunities, enabling you progress to senior roles and increasing your earning potential.  

While there’s no doubt that practical, work experience has its merit when it comes to advancing your career, a bachelor’s degree could help you achieve your professional and personal goals more quickly. It will also give you access to career opportunities that are simply unavailable to non-graduates. Below, we look at the many benefits of studying an undergraduate degree.  

More job opportunities 

You’re probably well aware that there are some professions which require a bachelor’s degree to gain an entry-level position, for example, medicine, law and teaching. What you may not have realised, however, is that the job descriptions and personnel specifications for most managerial or senior positions also ask for a first degree.  

Among UK employers’ most in-demand university degrees are Engineering, Business, Management and Marketing. Within professional industries, such as government, healthcare, finance, business services, retail, insurance, and education, an undergraduate qualification reassures employers they are recruiting sufficiently skilled and competent staff.

This is because graduates bring experience of critical thinking, analysis, problem-solving, decision-making, networking teamwork, time management and communications – all of which feature in the top soft skills.  

The fact that you have studied over a number of years also demonstrates your initiative, self-discipline and commitment to getting the job – in this case, your degree – done. Plus, if you’re an international student, it highlights that you have a good grasp of the English language, the most commonly spoken language in the world. 

Higher earning potential  

An investment in higher education is one that will pay dividends for decades to come, thanks to the ‘graduate premium’. This refers to the increase in average wages that university graduates can expect after having achieved a degree as compared with non-graduates.  

According to UK government statistics, the graduate premium is currently around £10K per year: the median salary for working-age graduates in 2021 was £36,000 versus £26,000 for non-graduates. This means your degree could effectively leverage you an additional £200,000 worth of salary over 20 years.

In the US, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s published in 2022 found the median annual wage for a full-time worker ages 22 to 27 with a high school diploma is $30,000, yet it is $52,000 for a full-time worker with a bachelor's degree. 

Greater job stability 

Having a degree means that you are less likely to find yourself unemployed during times of economic turbulence. The UK graduate labour market statistics found that employment rates for working-age graduates (those aged 16-64) increased in 2021, while it fell for working-age non-graduates.

The employment rate for graduates being 86.7% in 2021 compared with 86.3% in 2020, as opposed to 70.2% for non-graduates, down from 71.1% the year before.

It’s a similar story in the US, where the US Bureau of Labor Statistics also found that the higher the level of qualifications, the lower the unemployment rates. 

More than an academic qualification 

While having a qualification to add to your CV gives you a certain amount of prestige, the whole experience of studying a degree gives you much, much more.  

Furthering your education is a significant accomplishment and one you can rightly feel proud of. Growing personally and professionally will boost your confidence and self-esteem, which in turn will improve your performance in any interviews.

Becoming part of a global online learning community can also be socially rewarding. You’ll make new friends and network with students who have similar interests and career ambitions. It also helps build the professional connections which can lead to insider knowledge and insight about future vacancies and promotions.  

How can we help 

Since 1952, Cambridge Education Group (CEG) has been delivering the highest quality academic programmes, providing a valuable stepping-stone for thousands of students to progress onto the world's leading universities and maximise their career opportunities.  

Find out more about our part-time, 100% online BA Business Management. The course is validated by London South Bank University (LSBU), which takes pride in offering industry-relevant degrees giving you skills for life and the experience employers are looking for: