Contract Management graduates play a crucial role in the business world. Contract management professionals help businesses set boundaries and parameters for how goods and services are obtained and sometimes in what way they are used.
Furthermore, having a Contract Management degree helps individuals develop many key skills needed for global business and business relationships. Read on to find out what this degree entails and how you can benefit from it.
What Is a Contract Management Degree?
A degree in contract management trains students to write contracts effectively, analyze them, and make sure they are being implemented correctly. It combines complex business and acquisition knowledge. The jobs you can get with this degree place a strong emphasis on creating relationships and partnerships, setting up business strategies, assessing risk, financing contracts, choosing suppliers and distributors, analyzing customer data and algorithms, and setting up contractor responsibilities.
What about Government Contract Management degrees?
A Government Contract Management degree program is in many ways similar to that of a commercial Contract Management degree one. However, this program requires more in-depth expertise, so graduates will be able to establish and maintain formal business relationships between private-sector contractors and government agencies.
Additionally, earning a Government Contract Management degree can pave a successful career path in fields related to acquisition within both the government and private industry. Although this degree is rare, it can help students with gaining specialized knowledge, which will open doors for those who want to work in the field of government contract management. The fact that it is rare makes it more valuable since there is little competition in the job market for this kind of position. You can get your Government Contract Management Bachelor’s Degree exclusively from University of the Potomac.
The Contract Management Degree Program
The Contract Management degree program typically stretches over 120 semester credit hours, which makes it comparable to other business administration degrees. Some of the classes of a Contract Management program at University of the Potomac include College Algebra, English Composition, Finance, and Economics. Additionally, you will learn about international business, critical thinking, business ethics, as well as project management.
What sets this program apart from others is the variety of electives. For instance, you will be able to learn corporate taxation, cost accounting, risk management, investment analysis, total quality management, database management, international marketing, human resources management, and salesmanship. The specialization opportunities within the Contract Management degree serve to pave the way to a broad range of prospective careers which we’ll elaborate on in a bit.
Benefits of a Contract Management Degree
A Contract Management degree program, while lengthy and extensive, is very beneficial to students who choose it. Because of the nature of the field, students are expected to gain skills that involve critical thinking, time-efficiency, and decision making. Apart from that, students will also get to prepare for actual jobs by practicing what they learn.
Prepare for an actual job
One of the benefits of this program is that it prepares you for an actual job. Hence, instead of completing one class after the other, the students take on the role of a business professional by selecting a concentration within the specialized degree program. For instance, students with good mathematical skills may benefit from finance concentration. As for students with a focus on the market, contract management may be a better fit, because they will learn to transform resources into measurable goods, services, and products and control them as such.
Practice what you learn
Contract management students can count on getting to practice what they learn in theory. Sometimes learning the fundamentals of finance in a lower division course is not enough. Hence, why for many contract management students who want to apply the knowledge gained already, an in-depth study of portfolio management and international banking works well.
Gain decision-making skills
Another thing you can benefit from in the program is creating actionable decisions. Contract management is a discipline that calls for decision-making skills. It’s generally harder for students to feel the connection between the course material and the real-world application of the lessons unless they have an opportunity to try putting together actionable plans and models firsthand.
Improve communication skills
Since contract management requires being able to communicate well with both parties participating in a contract and making sure everyone is on the same page, you can expect to improve your communication skills while getting a degree. Furthermore, you will be in charge of communicating the roles and responsibilities to both sides, and that too, will work in favor of your communication skills.
Contract Management Skills
A Contract Management degree can open many doors for you in the business world, as employers are actively searching for skillful employees. Here are some of the skills you can expect to learn during our Contract Management degree program:
- Manage others to help develop systems of procurement, whether for supplies, services, construction, R&D, proposals, and overall negotiations.
- Evaluation of contract and price proposals.
- Control or terminate contracts.
- Have a complete understanding of legislation and regulations as they pertain to business methods and practices.
- Apply data and statistical analysis, as well as critical thinking skills to solve contract management problems.
- Use graphical and statistical charting methods to forecast decisions, as well as use visual aids to show relative cost and time spent on projects.
What Can You Do With a Contract Management Degree?
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With a degree in contract management, you should expect to work closely with others in a related field, applying your knowledge of legislation, regulations, sourcing, and product cost to your daily interactions. There are many contract management jobs for students who complete the program.\
Those who enroll in the government contract management degree program should expect to seek employment in many sectors of the business world, including the public and private sectors, as well as many military jobs.
Here are some of the career paths you can follow with these degrees.
Purchasing Manager, Purchasing Agent, or Buyer
These professionals are in charge of buying products for companies so they can either use or resell them. Their duties include evaluating suppliers based on quality, price, and speed of delivery; interviewing vendors and visiting suppliers’ distribution centers; attending meetings, conferences, and trade shows to evaluate new industry trends; negotiating contracts for their organization; working out agreements with suppliers.
Median salary: $51,470-$100,170
Logistician
Logisticians are the individuals responsible for analyzing and coordinating an organization’s supply chain. They work in nearly every industry and are in charge of managing the entire lifecycle of a product. This means that they manage the process of a product being acquired, allocated, distributed, and delivered. In addition, they also track the movement of products using special software systems.
Median salary: $70,029
Claims Investigator, Adjuster, Appraiser, or Examiner
These professionals are in charge of evaluating insurance claims. This means that they are in charge of making a decision when it comes to insurance company’s paying claims and how much they pay. Their duties consist of investigating, evaluating, and settling insurance claims.
Median salary: $59,960-$82,540
Federal Contract Manager, Administrator, or Specialist
A federal contract manager is responsible for managing government spending and fighting inefficiency. They are in charge of preparing requests for proposals, administering and negotiating contracts, and making sure the contract terms are being fulfilled according to federal regulations, policies, and legislation.
Median salary: $76,000-$96,000
Contract Manager
Contract managers are an essential part of an organization, as they are in charge of overseeing the whole lifecycle of a contract. Some of their duties include negotiating, recommending best practices, monitoring, changing management, and others. Their job is to make sure that the contract management process runs smoothly.
Median salary: $67,907
Cost Estimator
A cost estimator is a professional in charge of calculating the cost of labor, time, and materials that are needed for the construction of a building or producing of a product. Their responsibilities include visiting working sites to review the manufacturing process and preparing cost estimates to assist in price determination or bidding.
Median salary: $63,110
A Contract Management degree is a good way to make your way in the world of business relationships, and all they entail. There are many benefits to earning this degree, and there is a lot you can learn from the program. Furthermore, entering the government contract management program will open doors for you whether you want to work in the private or government sector. This degree is not very common, but it comes with many perks, as listed above. We hope this helped you and good luck with your studies!
If you’re sold, apply for a Government Contract Management at the University of the Potomac here, or contact us for more info.
