Hi everyone, I am a graduating senior studying International Relations at SUNY New Paltz. I do not want to go the traditional route with International Relations. The field of diplomacy is very limited and sensitive to politics. I do not think there is enough job security with government positions given the recent government shutdown. I am currently in this United Nations program at my school where I go to the UN HQ in NYC every Friday to listen to briefings from diplomats, UN employees and representatives from NGOs and government agencies. From that I’ve learned it’s very hard to get a position in the UN as a U.S. resident. Instead I am looking at marketing, research, communications or corporate/global compliance. I am also considering looking at education programs to possibly become a social studies teacher. I was just wondering if anyone here could provide any insight on any other career paths or disciplines for graduate studies that would apply to International Relations. I am just looking for master degree programs. I do not plan to get a PhD in International Relations. Thank you.
Have you considered going abroad to work for a year or two?
That’s just one option. Korea has many openings for English language instructors and that tends to pay well. China also offers positions to native English speakers. Other countries may have programs as well.
By doing something like this, you would gain great language skills and you’d gain cultural expertise. You would also gain work experience – and it’s often quite fun. It’s also quite challenging, but perhaps this is a challenge that you’d welcome.
Often English-language teaching jobs lead to other sorts of work in your host country depending on your visa status and the people you meet there, anything from working in an office setting or law firm, to bar tending. It depends on your interests and opportunities that you create for yourself through networking while there.
Upon returning to the US, if you choose to do so, your international interest could lead to law school. Having an expertise in another culture lends itself well to law. To go to an excellent law school you would need a high GPA and a high score on your LSAT. You could also look at schools with programs dealing with the areas of the world that interest you – South America, Africa, Europe, Asia.
You could also combine that cultural and language fluency in business settings. These would also be lucrative. Executive support of some sort comes to mind, either as an administrative assitant or a personal assistant as an entry level job. Any sort of high-level executive would appreciate a competent discrete person to help navigate the world for him or her. Just for fun, google around for personal assistants and see if you can find postings for this. Many of them pay well.
Any of these positions can lead to greater responsibilities as you grow in your field.
Consider Johns Hopkins University for a masters degree.
In how many languages are you fluent or proficient ?
Unfortunately, IR is the new hot major and a gazillion US kids are majoring in it. There are few jobs in this area, and those at UN and other unicorn agencies go to kids from tip top private schools. (International work is one area where college prestige matters big time.)
Jobs at the State Dept and/or CIA generally require foreign language proficiency, with focus on arabic, chinese and russian.
To strengthen your job or grad school app (for top schools), you really need to live overseas for a bit. Peace Corps is one avenue. Fulbright is another.
OTOH, education sounds great.
Good luck.
I have definitely considered spending some time abroad in China. In my International Relations program, I specialized in East Asia. I have also taken courses that deal with China/Japan politics and foreign policy.Under that, I studied Mandarin up to the intermediate level. My school did not offer any more Chinese classes beyond the intermediate level. I am fairly proficient in Chinese. I am good at reading and writing characters. As for speaking and listening, I have some trouble distinguishing the tonality sometimes. Immersion in China would help me develop an ear for that. I look into the English teaching programs. Thank you. As for law school, I’m not sure if I want to commit three years to that. It is a hefty investment and I think the job market for JDs is very saturated. I would rather try and do a master of legal studies to get the framework to see how companies, businesses and organization adhere to international agreements, laws and policies. I found this program at Fordham that’s only a year for compliance. I found another program called the masters of jurisprudence at Seton Hall. I did not think about administrative positions. I definitely look into that for some work experience.
I am a native English speaker with proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. Thanks I look into John Hopkins. Yeah, I found that a lot of international work are for Georgetown Tier graduates. I look into peace corps and Fulbright. Thank you for the advice.
Wow I did not know International Relations was that popular here. I am from Ghana and it’s a very popular field since one of the UN Secretary Generals, Kofi Annan was from there. I thought everybody was lining up to pursue business/accounting, psychology and STEM fields lol.
Forget law school.
If you do not pursue a masters at JHU, consider working for two years & then getting an MBA degree. Combination of IR degree, English / Mandarin & MBA should yield plenty of lucrative career options. Some MBA schools have programs in china for American students.
I’d look at the MA programs at John’s Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. My son-in-law completed the program after getting a degree in IR at Tufts. He had a number of business opportunities, (International Monetary Fund, World Bank, etc.) open to him upon graduation. He choose the Phd route and continued his education. Now he’s looking at a very bleek job market in academia–at least for tenure track positions.
For the MBA program, does it matter whether its a top 20 school program or just a regular MBA program? I plan to continue studying Mandarin on the side while pursuing career opportunities. Nice, Tufts is a great school for international relations. What area of the world did your son specialize in?
SAIS doesn’t offer an MBA—there are several MA options.