Aside from learning general theory about how to run a business, you may be wondering what skills you can pick up from taking a GCSE in Business Studies. Perhaps you are thinking of taking GCSE Business Studies but are concerned about how useful it will be to you. Even if you don’t have aspirations of becoming a budding entrepreneur, there’s plenty to gain from the subject:

  • mathematical skills
  • presentation skills
  • adaptability and flexibility
  • planning and decision-making capabilities
  • understanding how businesses function

GCSE Business Studies will allow you to develop transferable skills that can improve your chances of being hired. They will stay with you for the rest of your life, regardless of what career path you take. Here is a list of the skills you will develop and perfect throughout your business studies ventures:

The best Academic tutoring tutors available
Daniel
5
5 (18 reviews)
Daniel
£90
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Siddharth
5
5 (39 reviews)
Siddharth
£70
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Syed
5
5 (47 reviews)
Syed
£60
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Gokhan
4.9
4.9 (22 reviews)
Gokhan
£45
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Marianne
5
5 (12 reviews)
Marianne
£30
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dr amin
5
5 (5 reviews)
Dr amin
£35
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dr fouzia
5
5 (30 reviews)
Dr fouzia
£80
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Aya
5
5 (6 reviews)
Aya
£35
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Daniel
5
5 (18 reviews)
Daniel
£90
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Siddharth
5
5 (39 reviews)
Siddharth
£70
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Syed
5
5 (47 reviews)
Syed
£60
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Gokhan
4.9
4.9 (22 reviews)
Gokhan
£45
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Marianne
5
5 (12 reviews)
Marianne
£30
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dr amin
5
5 (5 reviews)
Dr amin
£35
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dr fouzia
5
5 (30 reviews)
Dr fouzia
£80
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Aya
5
5 (6 reviews)
Aya
£35
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Let's go

Understanding How Companies Work

One of the most important skills you can gain from a Business Studies GCSE is a keen understanding of how companies and organisations are run. This might not be an active skill you can apply to a certain career. But a deep understanding of the inner workings of companies can give you great insights into what it’s like to be a working professional.

A group of people sit around an oval wooden table, each with an open laptop in front of them, listening to a man speaking while standing at the head of the table.
Getting to know the ins and outs of companies and how they are run is an invaluable skill. Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash

This will almost certainly prove to be a valuable skill for any company you join or interact with. Your knowledge of the ins and outs of the business can help you work well as part of a team within an organisation.

Without much prior knowledge of how companies are run, you might find that it takes you a long time to adjust to a working environment and learn the ropes. The quicker you can integrate, the more likely you are to impress your new employer and gel with your new colleagues and workmates.

Decision-making

Good decision-making is an invaluable skill for any working professional to have under their belt. A GCSE in Business Studies can force you to make tough decisions, even if they are only hypothetical ones. The choices you make for an imaginary business may seem arbitrary at times, but this will help you make quicker decisions if it ever becomes a reality.

Being exposed to the various decisions that a CEO or basic employee of a company has to make will help you in the long run with your decision-making. This will save you time and hassle in both your personal and professional life and can stick with you throughout your life.

Mathematical Skills

A small chalkboard set in a light-coloured wooden frame displays E=mc2 in the middle of other equations. A person wearing a brown, long-sleeved garment points to the equation's exponent.
Improving your mathematics skills will likely increase your future employability. Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

One of the most important skills to have in business is proficiency with numbers. This doesn’t mean you need to be able to do complicated sums off the top of your head, though. Having good numeracy and mathematical skills can give you credibility when it comes time to crunch numbers.

The last thing you want is to come off as unprepared or frazzled in a business meeting just because you didn’t learn the basics about numbers. Fortunately, GCSE Business Studies will give you the tools you need to work with numbers proficiently, as you study investment, funding and how to use and interpret financial data.

These mathematical abilities are widely useful and will demonstrate to your future employers that you have a logical, analytical mind. At the end of the day, money talks in business. You need to be able to wrap your head around the numbers to appear confident and credible.

The best Academic tutoring tutors available
Daniel
5
5 (18 reviews)
Daniel
£90
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Siddharth
5
5 (39 reviews)
Siddharth
£70
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Syed
5
5 (47 reviews)
Syed
£60
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Gokhan
4.9
4.9 (22 reviews)
Gokhan
£45
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Marianne
5
5 (12 reviews)
Marianne
£30
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dr amin
5
5 (5 reviews)
Dr amin
£35
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dr fouzia
5
5 (30 reviews)
Dr fouzia
£80
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Aya
5
5 (6 reviews)
Aya
£35
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Daniel
5
5 (18 reviews)
Daniel
£90
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Siddharth
5
5 (39 reviews)
Siddharth
£70
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Syed
5
5 (47 reviews)
Syed
£60
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Gokhan
4.9
4.9 (22 reviews)
Gokhan
£45
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Marianne
5
5 (12 reviews)
Marianne
£30
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dr amin
5
5 (5 reviews)
Dr amin
£35
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dr fouzia
5
5 (30 reviews)
Dr fouzia
£80
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Aya
5
5 (6 reviews)
Aya
£35
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Let's go

Adaptability

Studying how organisations adjust to a changing market will teach you how to be adaptable in business. This is an extremely useful and desirable quality that will make you more than capable of taking on multiple roles within your career. If you have aspirations of climbing the career ladder and working your way up to the top, then you have to show that you can be adaptable.

Things aren’t always going to go well. When disaster strikes, you want to be confident in your ability to react positively and take decisive action. A lot of big businesses were formed around the time of the economic crisis in 2007-2008 when cunning entrepreneurs capitalised on the uncertainty to make their move.

If something similar happens and you are left unemployed, or in a company that’s sinking, then adaptability is the skill that can help you most. Also, you’ll be more than happy to accept that amazing promotion, knowing that you can step up and adapt to the workload. Are you now ready to start looking for GCSE Business study resources?

Planning

In the same way Business Studies can prepare you to deal with unforeseen circumstances, they can also help you to get organised and plan. One of the best ways to mitigate a disaster when you’re leading an organization or even an employee is to plan. GCSE Business Studies teaches you that planning is one of your most powerful tools.

With it, you can avoid certain failures, and flourish when others are floundering. A great plan is key to a lot of success in life, including writing those essays for GCSE Humanities. Learning how to innovate and develop business plans requires a great deal of organisation. So it’s well worth learning the skill of planning before you go into the world of work.

This, of course, is a crucial skill that will serve you well no matter what career you decide to pursue. Whether you end up working in accounting or the entertainment industry, having a contingency plan is essential. If you plan, there are fewer events that can surprise you, which will give you the upper hand over others who are blindsided by such events.

A person wearing a long-sleeved black top and a digital watch with a square face pushes a pin into a business flow diagram.
Learning how to plan is an invaluable skill you can pick up in Business Studies. Photo by Alvaro Reyes on Unsplash

Problem-solving

The skill of problem-solving plays a significant role in any GCSE Business Studies course. There are many scenarios in which problem-solving comes up in GCSE Business Studies. These include coming up with a business plan that works, adapting to changes in the market and deciding whether or not it would benefit a company to employ people. Pretty much anything you do in GCSE Business Studies will require you to put your thinking cap on and solve the problem/s in front of you.

In business, there are always fires to put out. The higher up the chain of command you are, the more fires you will have to put out. So you must work on your problem-solving skills as much as possible, particularly if you’re ambitious and see yourself in a management position someday.

The workplace is full of workers who might appear to be a single collaborative unit, but each worker is a person with career aspirations, dreams, and problems. As a result, it can seem like a juggling act at some times keeping people happy and working as hard as possible.

Even in an entry-level position at a company, you can find yourself with plenty of problems to work on. Through taking GCSE Business Studies you will likely improve your ability to come up with elegant and logical solutions to problems which employers will love. If you want an extra boost in these skills, consider GCSE Health and Social Care. It places heavy emphasis on communication; a vital skill in business.

Presentation Skills

Presentation skills are imperative in many positions of power at a company, so a subject that allows you to develop them is a definite advantage. Practising presenting will improve your communication skills and confidence, which are both valuable life skills.

At just about any level of business, you will have to give a presentation at one time or another. Employers, business partners, and investors like to stay abreast of everything that’s going on within a company. That could mean that you are called upon to present findings or figures.

In a GCSE Business Studies course, it’s more than likely that you’ll be asked to make presentations to convince your peers that you have the strongest case. Being able to stand up in front of a class full of your peers takes courage. It can certainly be intimidating the first few times but you will get more comfortable doing so over time. Business matters are far easier to present on than Relationship and Sex Education topics, after all.

If you avoid it at all costs, then when the time comes to make a presentation in your working life, you’re probably going to panic. That’s why you need to challenge yourself to work on your presentation skills as much as possible. That way, you can master oral communication for when it becomes an important part of your work.

Public speaking is one of the most impressive and employability-boosting skills you can pick up, and it transfers to pretty much every field. No doubt working on your public speaking will boost your confidence, which can in itself have numerous benefits for your professional and personal life.

Summary

As you can see, the skills learned in GCSE Business Studies are useful, practical and fascinating. This should alleviate any concerns you may have had surrounding the subject's usefulness and benefits, even if you don’t plan to work in a business in the future. A GCSE in Business Studies is a worthwhile qualification for a variety of careers and will open many doors to you.

You just need to make sure that you apply yourself fully and confront problems with a positive attitude so that you can get the most out of this course. Also, you might need more study resources than GCSE Business studies past papers. Boost your revision with other GCSE study tools, applications and websites.

Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!

4.00 (3 rating(s))
Loading...

Samuel

Sam is an English teaching assistant and freelance writer based in southern Spain. He enjoys exploring new places and cultures, and picking up languages along the way.