Snapshots from the Field
Several months ago, Politik spoke with career counselors from policy grad schools around the country to find out what skills are most in demand and how policy students have been able to market their degrees to employers.
More recently, we spoke with recent graduates of policy schools to hear about their experiences. These graduates came from very different backgrounds: one was a mechanical engineer at a major European automotive company before graduate school; another was a journalist covering energy in Ankara. In our conversations, they reflected on how the policy field is changing, how they’ve used their degrees, and what skills they’ve gained from their education.
Identifying and Addressing Areas of Improvement
Helena, an energy resource planner for the state California, studied journalism as an undergraduate. She chose to attend a policy graduate school to learn more about energy policy and economics. Here’s what she gained from the experience, in her own words:
The greatest skill I ultimately gained was the ability to think more critically about policy issues that have no clear-cut answer. I took a class in my second year of grad school that required me to orally argue for and justify an energy resource mix and its cost implications for a particular region. Initially, my arguments were weak and undeveloped, but I learned so much from that experience. I now work on integrated resource planning for the state of California and you bet I am working every angle to make the strongest arguments I can.
Making a Career Change
Karim is helping launch a startup that focuses on pairing European migrants and refugees with jobs that leverage their areas of expertise. Here’s why he chose to attend grad school:
Prior to grad school, I worked as a mechanical engineer at a European auto manufacturer. My parents both worked in the humanitarian field, and I always planned on using my engineering skills in an international development context. What I founder after graduating, though, was that most jobs combining development or humanitarian work and engineering expertise required 20+ years of experience. I chose to attend graduate school to accelerate my path into the development space.
Gaining Exposure to New Ideas
Jared is pursuing a degree in law after working in media for several years after graduate school. In our conversation, he mentioned that, if not for grad school, he wouldn’t have known what opportunities existed in international relations. More specifically, he enjoyed meeting people from a variety of professional backgrounds.
For me the most valuable thing was the network. [Grad school] brings together a lot of people with disparate interests under one roof so you get a lot of ideas and come together around intellectual topics.
