<p>In the past few months especially, I've seen a huge boom in interest in International Relations/International Studies majors. </p>
<p>How is the job demand in this market? I'm slightly concerned. </p>
<p>On one hand, as the world becomes more global, there will be a higher demand for more people working in various international fields. But on the other hand, especially with the rise of technology, I'm not sure if the higher demand will be high enough (assuming that the career interests of CC kids are an accurate reflection of the interests of the average American teen).</p>
<p>Any thoughts? Does a supply/demand problem seem imminent, or is this sudden boom just within the CC community? Or is it really not a boom at all?</p>
<p>I've been interested in these fields for a long time, but I may reconsider if a supply/demand issue seems likely (I don't like the idea of say, 40,000 people competing for 700 jobs).</p>
<p>To agree, i do think it is becoming quite popular to major in IR or IS. Even international business for that matter.</p>
<p>Well, to get very far in IR, you really need a masters degree. There are some positions that are filled by people with just a BA who have several great internships and some people do get lucky breaks, but generally speaking, you need a masters degree or several years experience (and how do you get said experience without getting a job in the field?) to land an IR-related job. So, if you major in IR or International Studies, you're pretty much in the same boat with people that majored in other liberal arts fields like History, English, or Poli Sci in terms of finding a job. There are jobs available, but they likely won't have much to do at all with your major.</p>
<p>However, the job outlook for people with a masters in IR or Public Policy focusing on international policy is pretty good. Most graduates of the decent masters programs in IR and Public Policy find good IR-related jobs in the government, with private firms, or with international non-profits pretty quickly after graduation.</p>
<p>Thank you. I definitely plan on going for a masters, but I still wasn't sure how the outlook would be, what with the sudden influx of IR-geared applicants.</p>
<p>txinternational: as a parent of an IR major, curious where you get your information to back up what you say here. thanks</p>
<p>A lot of it comes from my own experience out of undergrad and running into a lot of other people in the same situation. I majored in Poli Sci with a focus on international affairs, had a good GPA, had two good IR related internships, spoke two foreign languages fluently (as in I could fool a native speaker into thinking I was from there) and could not for the life of me find a job related to IR. Many of my classmates from undergrad and fellow interns were also in the same position. </p>
<p>As I started researching grad programs, I found out just how common it was to not be able to find an IR job with just internship experience and a bachelors degree. Lots of the people I met at prospective students' days and admitted students' days at IR masters programs were people that had graduated from a respected undergrad (yes, in some cases even Ivies), had a good GPA, and usually had good internships, but just weren't getting a job in the field. There were also people there who had been working and found that even though they'd found an entry level job in IR, their prospects beyond that weren't so great without a masters. </p>
<p>Not all "entry-level" positions call for a masters degree or 2-5 years experience in the job description, but when I was applying for jobs, that's who was being hired for those positions. When I would ask potential employers what I could do to improve my chances after I didn't get a position, they would tell me to get a masters or get experience. Maybe the outlook is a little better than it was a few years ago when I was applying for jobs, but even if it is, it's not better by much. Based on mine and others' experiences, I think that you really need a masters degree, a few years experience (and there's the Catch-22 of how do you get that experience if you can't get an IR-related job), to have really good connections, or to just get lucky (and there are a few that do), to land an "entry-level" IR job. Although I haven't really been in this position, I think that a masters is even more important if you want to get progress past an entry level position.</p>
<p>Ok, it won't let me edit my previous post any more, but I just wanted to add a link to another message board where lots of IR type people hang out. It may be helpful for some of you considering IR careers or IR grad schools. It's a generic grad school board, but it seems like most of the people posting there are IR types. There's some sarcastic people and some trolls, but I've also gotten a lot of useful info from it, too. Anyhoo, here's the link - <a href="http://www.a">http://www.a</a> u t o a d m i t.com/main.php?forum_id=3 and take out the spaces in the first part of the url. For some reason, it turned that part of the link into *********. </p>
<p>Also, you might want to take a look on the grad school part of College Confidential. There are some threads there about IR jobs and IR grad school programs there, too.</p>
<p>All I know is that there are a crapload of International Relations majors at my school. I don't know why. But a lot seem to do it as a double-major with Political Science.</p>