10 Online Business Certificates to Advance Your Career

Whitney Sandoval
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Updated on May 24, 2024
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Earning business certificates can advance your career. Learn more about 10 popular online business certificates and how they can help you meet your goals.

Pursuing an online business certificate can help you stand out while seeking jobs and can help you advance your career.

You can earn a business certificate in various business concentrations, from global business to marketing to finance. These certificate programs teach you the hard and soft skills necessary to succeed in business.

These programs cover the content necessary to give you the confidence and knowledge to excel in business.

We’ve compiled a list of 10 popular online business certificates that could advance your career in today’s economy. These certificates are not listed in any particular order.

Global Business Management

If you are interested in international business or working for a company with a global presence, receiving a global business management certificate can benefit your career goals.

Courses emphasize understanding business and the global market. Some courses cover competition in the global economy, international trade, and international policy. Some programs may even include a cultural awareness-related class.

Completing a certificate program in global business management could qualify you for careers like international sales and marketing manager, international account manager, and global program director.

Schools with Global Business Management Certificates

Business Administration

If you did not obtain a business degree but are interested in pursuing a career in business, you could pursue a certificate in business administration. With an emphasis on business theory, these certificate programs are designed to help business professionals excel in their roles.

Depending on your educational goals and the program you choose, you could take coursework in human resources management, economics, leadership, and marketing.

Earning a certificate in business administration can set you up to work in a business role across any industry. It can help you change careers or fill in knowledge gaps to help you succeed in your current role.

Schools with Business Administration Certificates

Featured Online Business Administration Certificates

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Content Marketing

Are you interested in the creative side of business? Content marketers are the creative force behind branding and advertising products or businesses.

Content marketing courses center around learning the patterns of human behavior and creating a message that will sway people into buying a product or using a business. Classes include strategic content planning, branding and storytelling, and marketing with search engine optimization.

Depending on the program, you can focus on web design, digital marketing, written content, or advertisements.

With a content marketing certificate, you could pursue a career managing websites for businesses, writing blogs and web content for clients, managing social media or creating marketing strategies for products or businesses.

Schools with Content Marketing Certificates

Leadership and Management

Earning a certificate in leadership and management can mold you into a strong leader or manager. Programs will teach you how to effectively lead groups, small or large.

You will take courses built to help you with communication, leadership strategies, and motivational strategies. The curriculum is often designed to increase your interpersonal leadership skills, build confidence as a team leader, and help you develop an organizational system.

Completing a leadership and management certificate program can prepare you to step into a leadership, management, or corporate trainer role.

Schools with Leadership and Management Certificates

Featured Online Organizational Leadership Certificates

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Finance

Finances are an important aspect of managing a business. A certificate in business finance gives you a broad understanding of the different financial components of business.

A finance certificate is not meant to prepare you to be an accountant but to assist you in making decisions based on financial reports and statements.

Courses could include financial accounting, financial decision-making, and financial statement analysis. You might also take courses in financial theories or investment strategies.

Completing a certificate in finance would be beneficial if you manage a business account or are in charge of making investment decisions.

Schools with Finance Certificates

Featured Online Accounting Certificates

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Business Analytics

Are you a business major with a love of data and spreadsheets? A certificate in business analytics prepares you to tackle the collection and analysis of business data. Depending on your role, you may also help compile and explain that data and its implications to others on the team.

Coursework includes material focused on gathering data and understanding what it means. You could encounter classes like marketing analytics, business analytics, and data mining. The program may cover other skills like coding and database management.

You can further your career as a market researcher, operations researcher, or financial analyst with a certificate in business analytics.

Schools with Business Analytics Certificates

Project Management

Collaborative projects don’t end with your college classes when you work in business. Projects are an essential part of maintaining a business. A certificate in project management will give you the tools you need to manage projects, big or small.

Courses in project management certificate programs cover a variety of topics, from leadership to data analysis. Courses may include project management principles, project leadership and communication, and agile project management.

A certificate in project management could help you gain leadership roles on your project teams, or it could help you feel more confident and knowledgeable if you find yourself leading business projects.

Schools with Project Management Certificates

Featured Online Project Management Certificates

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Operations Management

Operations management focuses on understanding how to turn labor and materials into services and goods in the most effective and cost-efficient way possible. A certificate in operations management gives you the broad knowledge to manage these intricate operations.

Many certificates in operations management programs include an introductory course on operations management. You might also take courses in management, principles in operations research, and cost estimation.

The coursework and the skills you learn within the program can prepare you to become an operations manager, production manager, or supply chain analyst.

Schools with Operations Management Certificates

Featured Online Programs

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Business Communication

Business communication is about more than customer service or being able to talk with coworkers. A certificate in business communication develops your ability to use a variety of business formats to communicate.

Programs in business communication teach how to effectively create and distribute different forms of business communication, from memos to presentations. Many certificate programs include coursework in email effectiveness, effective communication, and public speaking.

Pursuing a business communication certificate can help you improve communication with coworkers in written formats like email or memos. It can also help you run more effective, engaging meetings, helping you enhance your leadership skills or step into a new leadership role.

Schools with Business Communication Certificates

Nonprofit Leadership

Nonprofit work is essential to many social and political causes. Although nonprofits are businesses, working in nonprofits may require special skill sets and extensive knowledge in areas like grant writing and law. You may also wear multiple hats when working in a nonprofit.

Because a career in nonprofit work can encompass many roles, a certificate in nonprofit leadership can help you better understand those different responsibilities and feel prepared to tackle them. You may have an easier time progressing your nonprofit career with additional education.

Coursework in a nonprofit leadership certificate program typically includes options like project management, community engagement, and principles and practices of fundraising.

Schools with Nonprofit Leadership Certificates

Note: The insights on this page — excluding school descriptions — were reviewed by an independent third party compensated for their time by BestColleges. Page last reviewed March 29, 2024.

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