<p>Is it plausible for a liberal arts major to consider a position at a company in supply chain, as an analyst or in a similar logistics position? I know I can translate my degree into practical skills but I wonder if a corporation would hire me over, say, an industrial engineering or business major? As far as skillset, I have strong decision making skills, am quick thinking, have great interpersonal skills, am highly organized, and would say I'm quite analytical-minded, so I believe I would really enjoy this kind of position if a corporation looked past my major and gave me a chance. What do you think? Would they?</p>
<p>i am more inclined to think that a supply chain analyst would need to become comfortable with the mathematical methods and operations research techniques/models to correctly understand and analyze the chain.</p>
<p>not that i don't believe you don't have the capability to do it. the more probable scenario is that you just have not been trained in it. it's just that you'd be at a disadvantage in applying against people who have been acquainted with those models. after all, they would want someone who can contribute directly, yes? i would also guess that training a new hire in all that methods would need a lot of money. training analysts in ibanks would probably cost less because some of the concepts are 'soft' and can be picked on the job. not so much for a supply chain analyst.</p>
<p>a good friend of mine got his OR degree from MIT, and is now working at a respectable airline. it's an engaging job, but it definitely has a quantitative skill barrier of entry. i don't know how quantitative/skill-based is the job definition for the analyst position you described. but if it's anything like what my friend is doing, it would be a challenge.</p>
<p>by the way, IEOR in berkeley is pretty awesome, no?</p>
<p>I think a strong math and/or statistics background is highly important. An internship would be nice also. I don't know what sort of software is typical used, but whatever it is (matlab, mathmatica, SAS, or some other specialized packages) would be nice to pick up also.</p>
<p>Math is one of the liberal arts, so go at it.</p>
<p>However, if by 'liberal arts major' you are referring to the humanities or psychology, then you would need to develop the quantative skills.</p>