Harvard Business School Online offers certificate courses, Learning Tracks, and credential programs designed to equip you with essential business skills to make a positive impact on your career.
Spanning seven subject areas, you can take HBS Online courses in:
- Business essentials
- Leadership and management
- Entrepreneurship and innovation
- Strategy
- Marketing
- Finance and accounting
- Business in society
To level up your learning, you can pursue a Learning Track and earn a Certificate of Specialization by completing three courses in a subject area.
You can also earn a credential through two programs:
- Credential of Readiness (CORe): CORe combines three business essentials courses—Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting—with a final exam. Originally designed for incoming HBS master of business administration (MBA) students, you can take it to prepare for business school, bolster your skills, or jumpstart your career advancement.
- Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB): This yearlong, comprehensive program for new and experienced leaders consists of seven courses—spanning leadership, management, finance, strategy, personal branding, dynamic teaming, and leading in the digital world—and culminates in a capstone project to apply your learning.
In a 2023 City Square Associates survey of HBS Online learners who also took courses from other providers, 76 percent said HBS Online had a bigger impact on their careers.
What makes the HBS Online learning experience unique, and what outcomes could you experience after taking a course? Here are those answers.
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DOWNLOAD NOWWhat Makes HBS Online Unique?
Among a host of online business course options, HBS Online’s approach to learning is unique.
The HBS Online learning experience features:
- World-renowned HBS faculty
- Self-paced coursework with deadlines
- Engaging, interactive content
- Social interaction with fellow learners
- Examples of real business challenges faced by industry-leading experts
- The HBS Online Community, a global network of business professionals
- Opportunities for career growth and a positive return on investment
Sichao Ni, who works for the United States Department of Commerce, has earned Certificates of Specialization in Business in Society, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Finance and Accounting, Leadership and Management, and Strategy.
“I enjoyed the HBS case method in all of my classes,” Ni said. “It forced me to challenge previously held assumptions about business. HBS Online doesn't teach you knowledge or prescribe to any cookie-cutter solutions to problems. Rather, it teaches you how to think about business problems and arrive at a solution yourself."
8 Real-World Outcomes of Taking an HBS Online Course
1. Landing a Job or Making a Career Change
If you aim to land a job or change careers, a business course can bolster your skills and resume.
In a 2022 survey by City Square Associates, 36 percent of HBS Online learners said they changed careers after taking a course. Another 2022 survey revealed that 85 percent said taking a course bolstered their resume, and 42 percent attracted more attention from recruiters.
Megan Valanidas, now the creative director at Altimeter Design Group, took CORe while preparing to make the jump from visual artist to professional designer.
“It’s really helpful as I apply for jobs to be able to demonstrate that I have the capability to consider economic constraints or opportunities,” Valanidas said. “Also, the same kinds of market research methods used in CORe are highly applicable to the types of research we engage in during the design process. That’s reassuring in a necessarily messy creative process. It’s given me confidence in the creative process as a result.”
2. Earning a Promotion
HBS Online business courses can also position you to earn a promotion by gaining new skills—like 31 percent of learners.
That’s what drove Riya Dashoriya, who works at global learning platform Quizlet, to pursue a Certificate of Specialization in Leadership and Management.
“I was having a hard time trying to convince leadership at my company why I deserved to be an engineering manager so early in my career,” Dashoriya said. “Earning a Certificate of Specialization in Leadership and Management helped me boost my skill set and build the confidence to ask for a promotion.”
Dashoriya not only gained the confidence to ask for that promotion, but leaders within her organization listened.
“I'm now an engineering manager and get to apply what I learned in my daily life,” she said. “All three courses help me from time to time.”
3. Getting a Salary or Bonus Increase
In addition to earning a promotion, boosting your business skills can result in increased compensation.
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. Investing in yourself and your career can pay off.
Related: Are Online Business Courses Worth It? 10 Benefits to Consider
4. Gaining Confidence
While some course outcomes are tangible, like changing careers or earning a salary increase, others mark internal shifts—and can have just as great an impact.
Data from City Square Associates shows that 90 percent of HBS Online learners feel more self-assured at work after taking an HBS Online course, and 84 percent have more confidence in making business decisions.
One such learner is Tina Kamel, a program coordinator at New York University Abu Dhabi, who took Design Thinking and Innovation.
“I learned more than I expected to,” Kamel said. “The material was so digestible. I’ve already begun utilizing the tools at my job and taught some to my team. 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 HBS and being in a cohort of people from all over the world from a variety of fields was truly monumental for me.”
5. Starting or Growing a Business
Another motivator for taking business courses is gaining the knowledge, skills, and confidence to start or grow your own venture.
Anita Umoh, director of the Ayzer Centre of Entrepreneurship, took Entrepreneurship Essentials to do just that.
“My favorite part of the course was the case studies,” she said. “They brought everything to life. Successful entrepreneurs are real people and not superhuman. They pursued their passion, followed the principles, and continued pushing forward despite challenges they encountered. I loved the case study on Intuit and the Quickbook app. It was something I could relate to, and it helped me to understand and know that fear can be good because it fuels your passion to keep you moving forward.”
Learning from scenarios that real entrepreneurs faced can prepare you to tackle similar challenges in your startup journey.
Related: 3 Inspiring Success Stories of Entrepreneurs Who Turned Ideas into Triumphs
6. Garnering Respect and Influence
Along with confidence, taking an HBS Online course can help you gain respect and the ability to influence others at work, as 65 percent of learners have reported.
Because of your new skills and certificate or credential, colleagues may turn to you for opinions and answers in areas they otherwise might not have—enabling you to weigh in on business decisions and shape your organization’s trajectory.
For David Bergin, chief technology officer at Nantucket Technology Partners, this meant acquiring new expertise from Disruptive Strategy to share with clients.
“As a consultant running a boutique management and technology consulting practice, I’ve already started applying what I learned in Disruptive Strategy toward my own business,” Bergin said. “Additionally, the theories are an extremely valuable set of tools that add greatly to the guidance I provide to my clients.”
7. Finding a Sense of Community
One of HBS Online’s key differentiators is its robust Community—a network of business professionals from around the world. Within the course platform, you can engage with peers and work through course concepts. Before, during, and after finishing your course, you can deepen and expand your network using the HBS Online Community platform.
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 or business community
- 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
Sheneka Balogun, chief administration officer and chief of staff at LeMoyne-Owen College, echoed these sentiments when reflecting on her experience taking CORe.
“The amount of support I felt during the CORe program was incredible,” Balogun said. “CORe was much more than a tripod of rigorous courses. The sense of community that developed from all the various social platforms that were unique to HBS Online that provided me the platform to interact with other students from all over the world in various industries was instrumental in my application and understanding of the concepts.”
Related: 7 Ways to Build Your Network Through the New HBS Online Community Platform
8. Building Applicable Skills
When taking an HBS Online course, you can apply your learning right away—87 percent of learners said they acquired skills that were immediately applicable.
Kerri Roche, owner and strategic planner at Sift Strategic Planning, took Business Strategy to refresh skills she could use in her daily work.
“This was an excellent course with concepts that were immediately applicable to my consulting business,” Roche said. “I already have an undergraduate business degree and an MBA, so I took this course to refresh my knowledge and earn the certificate. I didn’t anticipate getting so much from the course that I could implement for my clients and businesses.”
Investing in Your Career
Deciding to enroll in a business course shouldn’t be taken lightly—after all, it requires time, money, and effort. Yet, if you choose the right course, it could level up your career and provide a monetary and emotional return on investment.
No matter which HBS Online course you take, you could experience these outcomes and more. Take one and learn for yourself.
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.
