Business Development Officer
As a business development officer, you are responsible for understanding your area of speciality and coming up with product strategies. Your role mostly requires confidence to meet new people and make decisions that will benefit the business.
What the job looks like
Salary expectation
starts at $41,658 up to $81,860+
The good
- Travelling to international conferences around the globe
- Attending industry functions and events
- Having a variety of different tasks to do
The not so good
- Sitting at a desk for extended periods of time checking and responding to emails
A business development officer is responsible for a field of speciality and negotiate with many different people to achieve set financial and strategic goals for the company.
You will be busy growing the profile of the company through activities such as networking, negotiating sales or licensing arrangements, securing funds and pitching business plans to investors.
Confidence is key to being a business development officer, so good communication skills are essential to successful network and meet new people.
English skills will come in handy when you carry out market research, present business plans or draw up licensing arrangments as all these details need to be accurate and thoroughly understood.
Maths will also help you create budgets, understand shares and interperet graphs and charts for information about how the business is performing.
If you have a keen interest in business and like working as part of a team, then a career as a business development officer could be for you.
It's about being at the right events, talking to enough people and getting an idea spread through the community.
Pathways to this career
Subject suggestions for the HSC
Choosing your HSC subjects from this list could really help with your career. Think carefully about what you want to study after school as you might need to choose specific HSC subjects for that course and to count towards your ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank). An ATAR is your academic rank in relation to other HSC students and helps with University admission.
HSC subjects
Some subjects will count towards your ATAR, others will not. Check with your career advisor before making subject selections.
- English (Advanced or higher)
- Mathematics (General 2 or higher)
- Industrial Technology
- Business Studies
What can I do after I have finished school?
University degrees
Studying one of these degrees can help with your career.
- Bachelor of Business
- Bachelor of Communication
Suggestions
Talk to a Business Studies teacher to see if they can give you any advice or connections
- Look at job websites and study the job descriptions for business development officers and build up your skills in the areas they talk about
- Volunteer with a company if you can
- Keep up to date with what is happening in the world. Start by watching the news or buying magazines to help broaden your knowledge
- Get involved and help organise a school event or come up with your own idea to list as experience on your resume. Employers will notice your initiative and you can practice important skills like design, communicating and reporting your success
- Go to career expos and events like university Open Days for information about what you will study
