economics or business related careers for someone who wants to "save the world"?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Do you have ideas of possible careers or majors for someone interested in economics, politics, and French. </p>

<p>Something where they can work abroad perhaps... or with international business... and have a chance to use language skills??</p>

<p>An Economics Major and French Minor perhaps??</p>

<p>Anyone w/similar interests?</p>

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<p>This sounded interesting... this was someone who was a senior at Northwestern, planning to go into Peace Corps but using business too.</p>

<p>I'm going into the Peace Corps in Bolivia to work on microenterprise development. Microenterprise refers to the statistic that 85 to 90 percent of the businesses in Bolivia have five people or less. We'll try to assist them in terms of planning and marketing, basically with whatever skill they need the most. The population is very uneducated in terms of school experience, and they don't necessarily have the business-planning skills or the understanding of what to look for. I don't expect, frankly, that in my two and a half years I'm going to make an incredible difference, but I think that I'll plant seeds and hopefully some of them will bloom. It may be while I'm there, but more likely it won't be until after I'm gone.
Deciding to go into the Peace Corps was a long, involved process for me. I see a lot of people going into consulting or investment banking and then getting a professional degree and living a happy life ever after. For the last two years, I've really been trying to assess what I want to do, and I came to the realization that, no matter what, I wanted to be helping people. Eventually, when I decide to settle down and have a family, making money will be a much higher priority than it is now. But first, I want to go beyond the boundaries of what I'm comfortable with and what I know and challenge myself intellectually, physically, and emotionally. I want to see what the world's like and hopefully make myself a better person.</p>

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<p>Hello, it seems I have the same interests as you. Economics, politics, and I speak French. I am a senior at university right now. I don't really know much about the Peace Corps, but what I DO know is that the last thing I want is an office job when I graduate. </p>

<p>About me: My undergraduate degree is in quantitative economics. My dream job would be economic policy consulting for foreign governments, particularly on the micro level. I want to be on the ground in developing countries, interacting with real people as they run their small businesses. But I don't want to run their businesses for them, or try to tell them how to do their jobs. I want to study the effects of government policies on small firms, small regional economies and emerging industries, use the findings to develop new or modify existing economic policy, and then hopefully get involved with the implementation stage as well. If that involves ducking at the sound of automatic weapons fire or paying tolls on roads controlled by armed resistance factions, so be it. I only live once as far as I know, so I'd much rather spend my time experiencing the real world than enduring a banking job complete with stupid corporate team building events, office politics and trust fund babies. (I don't care how much money they'd be willing to throw at me; if you've seen Office Space, you'll know exactly what I'm trying to avoid)</p>

<p>One of the neat things about speaking French is that it opens a lot of opportunities in Europe and Africa that are closed to non-French speakers, particularly with international organizations. (It also makes you instantly more attractive to many American girls aged 18-24. But you are probably female, now that I think about it...) Of course the OECD would be an obvious choice if you don't mind office work. It's based in Paris I think. (?) There are also loads of NGOs based in Geneva, which would require that you speak French if you're to work at their offices there.</p>

<p>I would encourage you to look beyond the UN, World Bank, IMF, Red Cross and Peace Corps, all of which are massive, massive bureaucracies. There are hundreds of other international organizations that work in developing countries that you may not have heard of. They are smaller, and may offer more interesting jobs at the entry level. They also may involve less paperwork. (ie TPS reports, and other useless standardized forms and organizational BS typical of organizations and companies that are huge) But I don't know this for sure because I have exactly 0 years of work experience.</p>

<p>So what positions are out there for you? Tons! And you probably have a pretty decent shot at landing most of them since everyone and their dog wants to be an investment banker these days. Development-related work in West Africa is just one option of many, but it definitely encompasses all three of your stated interests. </p>

<p>A hint though: the absolute coolest opportunities are the hardest to find. Most positions aren't even advertised. I certainly don't expect to be hired to do the work I described just by sending in a CV and cover letter because frankly I don't even know if the job exists. What I may end up doing is pitching an entire project to the head of an organization and, if they're into it, offering to head it up.</p>

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<p>thanks, money is a prority to me, only so that i don't have to worry to much about finances later on in life, i would love to use french in a career & i like politics & i am strong in math... we'll see</p>

<p>where do you go to school?</p>

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<p>There is a recent article in New Yorker magazine concerning "microcredit", which involves banks giving loans to the very poor in developing countries. Might want to look into it, from reading it seems like the field needs a few more visionaries.</p>

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<p>I go to the University of Amsterdam. And yeah money is somewhat important to me. Not that I want to be filthy rich but I don't want to need to think about money, yknow? With an MSc in economics from a respected school and a few years' experience overseas I can pick up a consulting job with a private international firm or a central bank for a year or two if at some point I'm running low on cash. And I don't think people at NGOs are starving anyway, lol.</p>

<p>You seem more concerned with money though, in which case I would suggest trade diplomacy. Positions with the State Department are well paid and come with benefits and overseas opportunities I hear, although the entrance exams are apparently very difficult. But apparently your priority is not saving the world, but rather making lots of money quickly so you have some for later in life... in which case I'd suggest signing on with a European bank, working your way up, and getting yourself a posting overseas.</p>