| Topic Name: |
consulting--not for "some"? |
| Message Name: |
you are nice so I will help |
| Date Posted: |
05/03/2003 |
| In Reply To: |
TCO,
Thanks for your reply. I have looked into firms that do work for governments. But it seems like it's less in demand. Also, even if that's the ultimate goal, interviewers seem to want a more quant-oriented background. The frustrating thing, of course, is when they screen you from an interview because of a more hard-core social science background (this happened to me exactly last week and I was explicitly told so). It's frustrating because I'm really not a "mathphoic," my initial major was physics. Perhaps it's a matter of luck and how to sell myself--any advice?
tx! |
| Message: |
1. There is a poster here (Steubenville, I think) who works for one of these firms and who has some experience with the overall sector. If you can prompt him to post that would really help you. Given that this thread title isn't that descriptive, mayme start another with a general title like "Government consulting"
2. I think the mathphobia thing is an interesting issue. What you need to look at is what your level of abilities are. What is really needed at these places. And what your resume/etc. conveys. And to a certain extent ability to do math and enjoyment at doing math can be considered the same thing from an employer perspective. The good news is that there really are lots of places where you don't need to be a stats jock. The bad news is that a certain level of comfort/ability is needed for many (not all) roles. Some things that you might think about. What were your math SATs. Did you take calculys, etc. If you have some good things here, it is pretty easy to sell yourself as "a little more mathfriendly" than the average "bull major". Even if this is not the case, there are still decent roles out there, that are less quant-heavy. You just have to find them. Try playing with this a little as an external/internal research project.
3. You might look into whatever the hot topics are in consulting right now. I mean some typical things that come top of mind are anti-terrorism, Iraq/afghan-rebuilding, and education (last is like a perennial hot topic).
Sorry I can't help more, but I'm sure if you keep doing some more research, you can learn more about this space. I would be glad to respond (just as a poster) to any ideas/infor that you dig up. Probably best done in a new thread. I guess the first thing to do would be to try segmenting the govt/NGO consulting market. What types of work is done, who buys, and how much. Probably several ways to slice this pie and be good practice for you to make some pire charts of what have you. (Maybe help get over mathphobia. Haha-just kidding.
4. You should also realize that to a certain extent you are selling yourself as a development project. In the end people are not that worried about your specific training/work experience. They are more interested in your skills. So when they prefer an engineer to an english major, its not becuase of trainong but from a perspective on their balance of math or writing skills. So you can still sell yourself regardless. (i.e. nobody cares about what you learned in Byzantine history or in fluid dynamics classes. They just care about abilities.)
5. Just a few tactical places to look for a job at: Rand Corporation, Lincoln Laboratories, Center for Naval Analysis.
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