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What Does the Election Mean for Your Career?

Published: Nov 21, 2016

 Consulting       CSR       Education       Finance       Grad School       Law       MBA       Workplace Issues       
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Hard as it may be to believe, given the volume of media coverage it's received, it is still less than two weeks since Donald Trump was elected to be the next President. And many people are still coming to terms with what the result—which it's fair to characterize as something of a surprise, given the pre-election polling—means for all aspects of their lives.

Here at Vault, we're no exception to that—since the election, we've featured pieces on the potential ramifications of the result on the following topics so far: international students and H-1B visas; women's rights in the workplace; the Supreme Court; student debt; and the defense industry and public sector consulting. While that may seem like a lot in such a short space of time for a site that is primarily concerned with career information, we make no apologies for it: understanding the likely direction of the country, and where a Trump presidency will impact it—positively, negatively, and otherwise—is something that anyone with a serious interest in their chosen profession or industry should be making an effort to do at this point in time.

With that in mind, for the past week, we have been running a survey to help us to understand what our readers think of the outcome, and where they see it impacting their industries, if at all. While the survey will remain open for another week, we have selected a sample of quotes from the 1,100+ responses we have already gathered, as a barometer of where those sentiments lie. Check them out below and, if there's something you feel is missing, be sure take the survey yourself, and add your voice to the final results (which we expect to begin publishing next week).

 

  • "In the event that Donald Trump follows through with his protectionist campaign promises, this will have an extremely negative effect on the US economy and the world. Deregulation may also be somewhat positive in the near term, but could lead to decreased stability in the medium term."—Strategy consultant, male, early 30s, voted for Clinton.

 

  • "Republican policies help the economy. Getting away from socialist ideas will help the economy."—Technology worker, male, late 20s, voted for Trump.

 

  • "We live in a global economy and alienating our allies will only harm the economy."—IP Lawyer, female, early 30s, voted for Clinton.

 

  • "Trump is going to bring jobs back to the US and turn things around for many states that have had industry leave for overseas […] he has the business know how to get Americans working again and be the great producers of quality material."—Historian, female, late 40s, voted for Trump.

 

  • "I don't think he will get enough done (e.g. tariffs) to make a difference."—Manufacturing employee, female, late 40s, did not vote.

 

  • "Less regulation on businesses will allow them to hire more people."—Healthcare intern, female, 18-21, voted for a third-party/write-in candidate.

 

Want a visual sense of all of that? Here are a couple of word clouds, one from Clinton voters, and one from Trump voters, which sum up the most commonly used terms in our responses from either side:

 

Clinton supporters 

Clinton word cloud

Trump supporters Trump word cloud

Remember: if you'd like to chime in, there's still time. Take the survey here.

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