Policy Jobs Forecast

[SuperSmash]

Hi! This is my first post on this forum, but I've been keeping up with everyone's decisions. 

I received an offer to Notre Dame's IR program and I'm concerned that I won't find an academic job considering it's not a top 20 school (is it even top 30?). But they say they're supportive of landing people jobs in the policy community too and I realized, nobody ever talks about the forecast of the policy/gov job market.

So how does that one look considering finding a job as an academic is long shot?

[Tedmonkey]

4 hours ago, SuperSmash said:

Hi! This is my first post on this forum, but I've been keeping up with everyone's decisions. 

I received an offer to Notre Dame's IR program and I'm concerned that I won't find an academic job considering it's not a top 20 school (is it even top 30?). But they say they're supportive of landing people jobs in the policy community too and I realized, nobody ever talks about the forecast of the policy/gov job market.

So how does that one look considering finding a job as an academic is long shot?

Overall, Notre Dame is ranked 37th. I don't know their IR field ranking though. They will have a solid placement record but mostly it comes down to you. Get good teaching experience with good evaluations and publish, publish, publish as a grad student. Those things will really help you have a better application package for placement. Also, check to make sure you will have a good research fit with them as a good mentor is invaluable in reaching those goals.

[gradqs]

9 hours ago, SuperSmash said:

Hi! This is my first post on this forum, but I've been keeping up with everyone's decisions. 

I received an offer to Notre Dame's IR program and I'm concerned that I won't find an academic job considering it's not a top 20 school (is it even top 30?). But they say they're supportive of landing people jobs in the policy community too and I realized, nobody ever talks about the forecast of the policy/gov job market.

So how does that one look considering finding a job as an academic is long shot?

I've worked with a lot of PhD's that did not go to academia (and even interviewed a few for jobs). If you are angling for an industry position, or just want to prepare for it as a plan B, I think there are two main tips:

1) Cultivate quantitative research skills (modeling; statistics; computer learning; using R, Python, SPSS, or Stata). Your hard skills matter much more than your pedigree in Industry jobs. Industry will take the person who can build them a model from Middle of Nowhere University over a Yale graduate who can't. 

2) Cultivate your teamwork skills and be able to talk about them in a compelling way. Academics (and by extension PhD students) can sometimes get a bad reputation in industry circles for being overly focused on their own goals and interests and being difficult to work with.