Careers of the future?

Dionysus

Hi,

I have to decide what career to get into now. I've just finished a PhD in the arts/humanities and I have debts of €19,000, the clearance of which is my immediate priory.

As unusual as it might sound, I haven't a clue what I'm going to do now, but I need to settle down, marry my long-suffering girlfriend and build a life together.

So, here are the positives. I have strong analytical, comprehension and problem-solving skills. I'm also highly computer literate. I soak up a vast amount of information relatively easily and I'm able to identify its importance, understand and empathise with actions, and the place of this information in implementing strategies. I'm always curious, always reading, so reading a vast amount of literature to familiarise myself with a new specialisation would be something I would enjoy doing. Ideally, I would like to move into a job that exploits these skills straight away, but I do not know what sort of jobs would use these skills. One idea was a job researching trends in the various markets (commodities etc), as I’ve always been interested in finance. However, I'm only surmising that such posts exist in finance, without knowing the name of those positions. Indicating my situation, I think I'd be equally happy building some social or cultural project or negotiating on behalf of social partners etc. There just seems so much that I'm genuinely interested in. I really need something challenging, with the opportunity to contribute something, and to advance. The money is not too important at the start, but the ability to advance quite soon is. Job satisfaction is important to me.

What sort of careers would use these skills?

I've been spending 70-80 hours per week in front of the computer for the past year researching, analysing, thinking, writing and re-writing, and I've been really satisfied by it. However, I need something more dynamic, something fresh- a new challenge. All ideas would be great.

Thanks.

experiMental

You're just what I'm looking for - someone who would like to analyse and research market trends and in addition understand financial aspects.

You could be a design researcher. What you do is look at culture, social environment and market trends, and then decide with a designer (me) what new manufactured product or gadget one could develop, either to increase efficiency of a certain activity or make some aspect of peoples' lives better.

Ideally, I would like a person to help me with this research activity, so I could develop a good design portfolio of credible products that can be patented and that could guarantee both me and you the jobs that we want.

The bad news is, I'm a second-year product design student in DIT, without any industry experience or financial backing. I'm not even allowed to submit any drawings I made to any manufacturer, until graduation. I'm in the same boat as you are, maybe even in the one that's not swimming too well.

It sounds a bit far fetched, but if you are interested, feel free to PM me for more details.

AARRRGH

Try these guys: http://www.analyticpartners.com/employment/

They pay decent money and like hiring people with MSc and PhD qualifications.

gerry87

Dionysus wrote: »

Hi,

I have to decide what career to get into now. I've just finished a PhD in the arts/humanities and I have debts of 19,000, the clearance of which is my immediate priory.

As unusual as it might sound, I haven't a clue what I'm going to do now, but I need to settle down, marry my long-suffering girlfriend and build a life together.

So, here are the positives. I have strong analytical, comprehension and problem-solving skills. I'm also highly computer literate. I soak up a vast amount of information relatively easily and I'm able to identify its importance, understand and empathise with actions, and the place of this information in implementing strategies. I'm always curious, always reading, so reading a vast amount of literature to familiarise myself with a new specialisation would be something I would enjoy doing. Ideally, I would like to move into a job that exploits these skills straight away, but I do not know what sort of jobs would use these skills. One idea was a job researching trends in the various markets (commodities etc), as Ive always been interested in finance. However, I'm only surmising that such posts exist in finance, without knowing the name of those positions. Indicating my situation, I think I'd be equally happy building some social or cultural project or negotiating on behalf of social partners etc. There just seems so much that I'm genuinely interested in. I really need something challenging, with the opportunity to contribute something, and to advance. The money is not too important at the start, but the ability to advance quite soon is. Job satisfaction is important to me.

What sort of careers would use these skills?

I've been spending 70-80 hours per week in front of the computer for the past year researching, analysing, thinking, writing and re-writing, and I've been really satisfied by it. However, I need something more dynamic, something fresh- a new challenge. All ideas would be great.

Thanks.

How mathematical was your area? Google quantitative analyst, you basically described that job, and phd is usually min entry requirements! Plus its extremely high paying. Financial analyst might also suit.

Dionysus

Thanks very much to all.

Experimental:

I never knew that's what a design researcher did. It sounds very interesting so I'll pm you, but it would have to be a side thing until I clear my debts!


AARRRGH,

I've bookmarked them, and will apply in the next week. The careers' office suggested that McKinsey management consultants recruit people with PhDs in arts and humanities to work as management consultants, so your link seems similar except focused on maximising marketing budgets. It is definitely something I would be interested in so thanks.


Gerry,

Maths would, unfortunately, be my worst subject so statistics, acturial finance and that Google job would be out. I'm more arts/literature/sociology. I'm absolutely fine at doing sums very quickly in my head, but dire with equations of any sort. As my post mentioned I am, however, thinking that some financial analyst job would suit me despite my aversion to equations. I'm not sure of the best recruiter to contact about these positions, though, or even the best area within finance to be looking at in the current economic climate.

newestUser

Generally speaking, financial institutions are interested in PhDs who have mathematical and/or programming skills.

As a quantitative analyst working for a bank, you will have to have *very* strong maths skills. Without being facetious, the clue is in the word quantitative.

As a PhD graduate in the humanities, you are skilled in qualititative research, but not quantitive research. If you're not very, very comfortable with complex maths and large datasets, I can't see how you could possibly come close to performing the kinds of modelling and analysis that would be required of you as a quantitive analyst.

Though, as you've said, there are roles such as management consultancy that might be open to you. I think that a role analysing trends in financial markets is beyond you though, because you'll be expected to use complex maths 'n stats to do that.

cerebus

Dionysus wrote: »

Thanks very much to all.
AARRRGH,

I've bookmarked them, and will apply in the next week. The careers' office suggested that McKinsey management consultants recruit people with PhDs in arts and humanities to work as management consultants, so your link seems similar except focused on maximising marketing budgets. It is definitely something I would be interested in so thanks.

I would definitely encourage you to look at McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) or Bain - all three are strategy consulting firms who might be very interested in your background. Very interesting work, but also quite demanding - there can be lots of travel required, depending on the client you work with and where you are based.

McKinsey have an office in Dublin I think, and all three have large offices in London.

All three firms usually have excellent exit opportunities if the consulting lifestyle gets to be too much... working for any of them is a great thing to have on your CV/resume. They also pay well, but you can expect them to work you pretty hard.