5 Ways Real-World Learning Can Boost Your Career

When taking a business course, what’s your goal? Whether it’s to gain specific skills, bolster your resume, or earn a promotion, you can likely distill your objective to: “I want to advance my career.”

Some courses, like Harvard Business School Online’s, use a real-world learning approach so you apply concepts, theories, and frameworks as you take them. Here’s a breakdown of the HBS Online experience and five ways real-world learning can boost your career.

Real-World Learning at HBS Online

At HBS Online, real-world learning takes several forms. Its course platform and certificate and credential programs are specifically designed to facilitate an interactive learning experience. While other business courses may deliver information statically, HBS Online’s feature engaging elements, including:

• In-course activities, such as short-answer reflection questions, polls, rating and ranking exercises, matching activities, and interactive graphs and charts
• “Cold calls,” in which you’re called upon at random to answer a question with a time limit
• Simulations, such as the negotiation simulations in Negotiation Mastery
• Personal action plans and capstone projects that require applying your learning

One of the most revered aspects of HBS Online courses is the case study method, in which you’re presented with a business challenge a real-world leader faced and asked how you’d solve it. After working through it yourself and with peers, you’re told how the scenario played out.

The process of taking on someone else’s perspective and using course concepts to work through their situation helps build decision-making skills and self-confidence in uncertain circumstances.

Learn more about HBS Online's approach to the case method in the video below, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more.

You can also bring your learning experience into the real world through peer interaction. In the course platform, you’re encouraged to engage with fellow learners as you grapple with case discussion questions, reflections, and course topics.

Outside your course, you can join the HBS Online Community—a global network of lifelong-learning business professionals—to have deeper discussions, chat about industry topics, and build your network with others who want to develop business skills.

You can also join one of the more than 30 geography-based Community Chapters nearest you and meet in person. A Chapter Organizer leads each and organizes events, such as speaker sessions, dinners, panel discussions, and sightseeing and food tours.

Through social interaction, active learning, and the case method, HBS Online brings business concepts to life. Here’s how its real-world learning experience can help boost your career.

Related: What Makes Learning from Harvard Business School Online Unique?

5 Career Benefits of Real-World Learning

1. You Can Apply Your Skills Immediately

One benefit of real-world learning is that you can apply your new skills and knowledge immediately—even before you’ve finished your course. According to a 2022 City Square Associates survey, 87 percent of HBS Online learners said they acquired immediately applicable skills.

Because the course platform’s case method and interactive learning features encourage you to apply frameworks and concepts to your career, you can feel confident using them right away.

After learning a concept, you may be prompted to answer how you could employ it within your organization. Instead of simply absorbing the information, you consider how to implement it and start driving results.

For example, Laura Wingate, executive vice president of education, support, and advocacy for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, was able to put her skills from her Certificate of Specialization in Strategy into action.

“I’ve been challenged by every course, learned a great deal, and recommended the HBS Online platform to my staff and colleagues,” Wingate said. “I’ve found HBS Online's courses to be immediately applicable to my work, and they’ve made me a more productive member of our strategic team.”

2. You Can Earn a Promotion or Change Careers

Real-world learning can also help you gain the skills and credibility to earn a promotion or make a career change. In a 2022 City Square Associates survey, 31 percent of HBS Online learners earned a promotion following their course, and 36 percent said they changed careers.

Another 2022 survey shows that 85 percent said taking a course bolstered their resumes, and 42 percent attracted more attention from recruiters.

Aranzazú Martínez Galeana, a senior project coordinator at ERM, was promoted shortly after finishing Leadership Principles.

“I got promoted to a senior project coordinator role just weeks after finishing the course,” Martínez Galeana said, “so I've had the chance to apply many of the topics covered, such as the model of team effectiveness. I've also had the opportunity to motivate and unleash others' potential in some of my recent projects.”

Whether taking a course to level up your leadership, finance, analytics, or strategy skills, the process of applying concepts to real-world business scenarios and connecting with other professionals to strengthen your knowledge can set you apart when advancing your career.

Related: How to Negotiate a Promotion: 7 Steps

3. You Can Increase Your Compensation

Feeling confident in your ability to drive value for your organization can also lead to monetary gains, whether negotiating your salary at a new job or earning a promotion or bonus.

In a 2022 City Square Associates survey, 42 percent of HBS Online learners reported receiving a salary increase after taking a course, with an average increase of $17,000—a 10-times return on investment.

Additionally, 16 percent said they earned a bonus after their course, with an average increase of $14,000.

Having business knowledge rooted in real-world applications can help you prove your worth to your employer.

4. You Can Expand Your Network

When leveling up your career, the importance of having a strong network can’t be overstated. The HBS Online Community is an effective way to expand yours and engage with peers before, during, and after your course.

In a 2023 survey of HBS Online learners who also took a course from another provider:

• Seventy-four percent said HBS Online was better at making learners feel like part of a global network
• Sixty-seven percent said the ability to network with classmates during and after their course was better than other online business courses
• Sixty-three percent said learning from classmates was better at HBS Online

Beyond meeting like-minded professionals to tap into for support, stimulating discussions, or friendship, you can collaborate with them to tackle pressing global issues.

Each year, the HBS Online Community partners with a nonprofit facing a business problem in an initiative called the Community Challenge. Working in teams, the Community creates proposals comprising actionable steps the nonprofit can take to solve that challenge.

Previous themes have included addressing food insecurity through the Greater Boston Food Bank, reversing climate change’s effects through Sustainable Harvest International, and helping those impacted by HIV/AIDS and poverty through the Bantwana Initiative of World Education, Inc.

By connecting your business skills to real-world problems with a team of new connections, you can grow your professional network.

Learn more about the HBS Online Community in the video below.

5. You Can Build Your Self-Confidence

Finally, real-world learning can help you build confidence in your abilities as a business professional.

Data from City Square Associates shows that 90 percent of HBS Online learners feel more self-assured at work after taking a course, and 84 percent have more confidence in making business decisions.

Tina Kamel, a program coordinator at New York University Abu Dhabi, felt this shift after taking Design Thinking and Innovation.

“The material was so digestible, and I’ve already begun utilizing the tools at my job and taught some to my team,” Kamel said. “My colleagues have noticed a shift in how I conduct myself and the ideas I bring forth during team huddles. My confidence has skyrocketed because I feel sure of my knowledge. Learning from an establishment like Harvard Business School and being in a cohort of people from all over the world from a variety of fields was truly monumental for me.”

Finding the Right Course for You

A host of online education options are on the market, but not all leverage real-world learning. If this teaching method sounds like a fit for you, prioritize it during your course research. Determine your goals, the skills you need to reach them, and what factors are necessary or “nice to have.”

For instance, perhaps you:

• Aim to use financial information to make leadership decisions
• Need the skills to interpret financial statements into actionable next steps
• Need a course with accessibility features that fits into your budget
• Prefer a course that uses the case method and has an online learning community to further your knowledge and connections

In this example, Leading with Finance would be a good fit.

All HBS Online courses use real-world learning to drive career outcomes. Defining what you need and prioritizing those factors can enable you to get the most out of your educational experience.

Are you interested in discovering how HBS Online can help advance your career? Explore our course catalog and download our free guide—complete with interactive workbook sections—to determine if online learning is right for you and which course to take.