How to Flourish in a Business Development Executive Career Path

Jobstreet content team – updated on 10 March, 2022

Many people dream of being a business person but aren’t quite sure where to start. If you’re interested in making a company grow and innovate, then setting foot on a business development executive career path could be a step in the right direction.

Business development comprises the pursuit of great ideas, innovative initiatives, and growth activities with the aim of improving businesses. Business development deals in growth opportunities and creating long-term value for companies.

What does a business development executive do?

Business development executives start out as business development associates or managers before becoming top-level management, but all levels entail the same thing: creating growth opportunities for your business. To make it more specific, here are some responsibilities assigned to business development professionals:

Staying up-to-date on industry developments, best practices, and corporate competitors
Researching potential initiatives, projects, or products
Analysing prospective accounts and pursuing leads that could lead to company growth
Discovering and understanding new markets to grow customer or user base
Identifying company weaknesses to prevent risks to growth
Pitching projects to new clients
Ensuring long-lasting, value-adding company growth

Salary Range

A business development career path usually begins with associate, analyst, project lead, or relationship manager positions. The title will change depending on the company you apply for, but you can safely assume that a business development associate position is an entry-level job.

The salary for an entry-level job on this career path pays an average of S$2,753 per month or S$33,036 per year. A junior executive role has a slightly higher salary, averaged at S$3,193 per month or S$38,316 per year.

After entry-level and junior executive salaries, the senior executive role has a large pay hike with an average salary of S$4,193 per month or S$50,316 per year. If you want to level up, manager positions go on to earn about S$5,576 per month or S$66,912 per year. Senior managers take home the highest salaries, averaged at S$8,490 per month or S$101,880 per year.

In total, the overall average salary of a person on the business development career path is approximately S$58,092, according to JobStreet Singapore’s 2020 Salary Report.

What is the career path of a business development executive?

Here are the typical junior, mid, and senior level positions for aspiring business development professionals.

Junior Level (1-3 years of experience)

Mid Level (4-8 years of experience)

Senior Level (8 years of experience or more)

What requirements do you need to become a business development executive?

Technical skills

Unlike more technical career paths, business development executives rely more on qualitative skills than quantitative skills. That said, a business development executive should still be proficient in the following skills:

Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Word
Statistical analysis software
Business processing software

Aside from these technical skills, a business development executive should also show expertise in the following competencies:

Presentation and persuasive skills
Customer services and sales skills
Project management and analysis
Extensive knowledge of competition

Other skills

Soft skills are the secret to success for many business development executives. In the world of business development, your abilities in leadership and public speaking can go a long way in capturing growth opportunities for your company. Never underestimate soft skills in this business niche.

Leadership

A future business development executive should display excellent leadership and teamwork skills even in their beginnings as associates. Business development requires professionals to be authorities on growth, innovation, and creativity. You can’t be an authority if you don’t have leadership skills.

Project management

With the many initiatives that business development executives undertake, project management is crucial to ensure that initiatives meet their goals. This career path demands leadership that backs its talk with actions, and thus project management skills are needed to prove your efficiency and competency in this role.

Attention to detail

Attention to detail and organisational skills are necessary for all executive positions. If you want to be the best, you must exert all your effort into this role and ensure that nothing slips by you.

Public speaking

This role needs advanced presentation and persuasion skills. A big part of being a business development professional is building relationships with customers, clients, and potential clients. A professional in this position must possess charisma, self-assuredness, and a strong sense of what the business stands for and values.

Advanced decision-making and problem-solving

Business development is all about growth and new ideas, so an executive should be able to know what decisions will yield the best results. He must also be able to make tough calls and manage any crisis that might come his way.

Educational background

The business development career path requires at least a BA or a BS degree, most preferably in Business Administration or Business Studies. Most schools do not offer a degree specific to business development. Instead, they typically offer overall business degrees that cover both business development and business management.

Opportunities for continuous education

There are plenty of options for continuous education in business development. The Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) system offers two modules specific to Business Development: Business Negotiation and Sales and Marketing. Both modules require 10 to 30 hours of your time and cover advanced business development learnings that are appropriate for associates, managers, and even CEOs.

Meanwhile, JobStreet’s partnership with FutureLearn enables jobseekers to upskill in fields like digital marketing and e-commerce. You can also enhance your transferable skills in leadership and career development with FutureLearn.

If you’re truly dedicated to taking your education even further, Singapore is home to some of the world’s best postgraduate business programmes. Prestigious institutions like the Nanyang Business School and the National University of Singapore Business School offer master’s degrees in business development fields like Venture Creation, Human Capital Management, Business Analytics, and more.

How to write a business development resume?

Show off your way with words in the first three sentences of your resume. A business development executive is confident, charismatic, and professional, so be sure to display how well you will fit into this role.

Download this Business Development Executive resume HERE.

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