Can you please let me know if links are dead, or if you come across other firms that are hiring you think I should add? Thanks, Pete.
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Below, are firms that have some hand in geopolitical strategy and consulting. Columbia’s SIPA provides a similar list through its Career Services, for “Political Risk Analysis” firms as well as “Political Consulting” firms (though the political consulting shops lean more towards domestic). Would also recommend you check the Young Professional in Foreign Policy’s Job Board. Please let me know if any of these links are dead, or if you have suggestions for firms to add.
- Albright Stonebridge (DC-based plus NYC, Beijing and Shanghaii)
- Accepting applications for Summer Associates and Interns year-round
- Asia Group
- Hiring for associates in Jakarta and Singapore, and for interns in DC
- Avascent International (DC-based plus London, Canberra, and London)
- Business Monitor International (BMI) (London-based, with locations in NYC, Singapore, and South Africa)
- Hiring for a Trainee Country Risk Analyst(due end of February)
- Chemonics International
- For positions, register with their Career Center, or browse for specific opportunities
- Cohen Group (DC-based, plus Beijing, Tianjin, and Haryana (India)
- For internship and job opportunities, please send a cover letter and resume to careers@cohengroup.net
- Control Risks (DC-based, but several locations throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Africa)
- Several dozen openings worldwide on Careerssite
- Economist Intelligence Unit (London)
- Ergo (NYC-based plus London and Yangon)
- Eurasia Group (NYC-based plus DC and London)
- Multiple openings in DC, NY, and London: http://eurasiagroup.net/careers
- Frontier Strategy Group (DC-based)
- IHS Group (Lexington, MA-based)
- Maplecroft (London)
- Oxford Analytica (London)
- Currently hiring for a Lat Am analyst
- PRS Group (Upstate NY)
- Scowcroft Group (Washington DC)
- Currently hiring for a graduate summer intern
- Sidar Global Advisory (DC-based)
- Stratfor (Austin, TX)
- Hiring for Analysts and Interns
- Veracity Worldwide (NYC-based plus London and Singapore)
- Hiring for NYC-based Associate
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Pozières Consulting Inc. (Denmark) http://pozieresconsulting.com/careers
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Hi, do you know what kind of educational background these firms would be looking for in an applicant?
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It’s a tough question to answer because they tend to be position-specific. At the more entry level, it would be important to highlight in no particular:
*some kind of subject matter expertise or interest (e.g., foreign language skills, policy experience)
*strong analytical/writing skills (e.g., experience pulling together a slide deck or summary of the situation over a short amount of time)
It’s helpful to think backwards from some of the projects you might work on. For example, a company may come to the firm for strategic advice, “I am interested in entering a new market, and would like to know more about the political or business climate.” Or it could be more tactical: “how should I be thinking about my investments in country x due to political event y.”
In practice, they will have people with deep experience/knowledge of a region and much of what you might do will be to turn that into something more digestible or client-ready.
Accordingly, i have seen folks with backgrounds from policy to economics and finance to foreign affairs/language do very well in these roles.
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– NRCI (Norway): https://www.nrci.no/
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Thanks for compiling this list of companies, it’s very helpful. I would probably replace Chemonics with Dalberg Global Development Advisers. Chemonics is a great company but most of their work resolves around proposal development and project management, particularly in relation to USAID; they rarely ever provide technical assistance or analysis on political matters.
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It’s a fair distinction. I’ll see about putting together a list of such firms as well.
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Hi Pete –
I’m very excited that I found your site! This list is awesome – thanks for putting it together.
I completed an MS in Economics last year, and have a BA in International studies (minor: Portuguese). I’ve got a couple years of residence in the developing world under my belt and feel that my academic & other experience are guiding me down the Country/Political/Geopolitical risk path.
What’s been your experience breaking into these types of jobs? I know these jobs go by many different names too. Aside from those aforementioned names, do you know of any other commonly used names for such positions?
Lastly, have you found much quantitative analysis in these types of positions? I found one company (Kensho Technologies – might be worth adding to your list), that seems to have quant-heavy geopolitical analysis positions that pop up every once in a while, but I can’t say I’ve seen it’s particularly common throughout the industry. What would you say?
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Hey Alex — applying early and often was my approach. Frankly, calling up some of the HR folks at these places was helpful (and landed me my current job). I remember speaking with someone from HR at Albright Stonebridge who mentioned she received hundreds of apps for an opening. Especially given how many folks may have connections at these places, that’s a steep curve to differentiate yourself.
W/r/t to position titles, they’re a dime a dozen; I’d rec you go through the company sites directly.
W/r/t to quantitative analysis, there is a huge range. Some firms like Maplecroft have their selling point predicated on risk indices (so high quant.) while others are more macro/qual. Should be pretty straightforward to discern based on their staffing.
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