Ph.D. Doubts

[EconGradHope]

I am a third year Ph.D. student in economics (a top 15 program, I’m not comfortable saying exactly where I attend) and I have seriously begun questioning my career track since the start of the year. My degree is right on track (“on track” means I’m on track to graduate in 5 years, which is about normal at my school) – I have finished my coursework, I have passed all qualifying exams, and have found my thesis topic and an advisor that seems to enjoy helping me.

My problem is that I can’t see myself working as an economist after I graduate. My advisor is helping me meet contacts and establish a name for myself to help me get a job when I graduate, but my doubts about my career started coming out when I started talking to these people, feeling like I had to bluff my way through to show enthusiasm. I have no desire to work in academics doing research and teaching. I don’t feel comfortable telling my advisor this either because I honestly don’t see him wanting to help me with my thesis if he realizes that I’m not all that excited about my work. It’s an extremely political environment. He’s a great guy and is trying his best to help, but research and teaching is really not for me.

Looking back, I can see that a lot of this comes from the fact that I didn’t come to graduate school for a good reason. I came because I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was an undergraduate, I majored in economics and liked it, so I thought, “why not?” I’m realizing now that research and teaching is just not for me.

I apologize for going on and on. Perhaps I’m just frustrated. My question, however, for anyone who knows is: what opportunities are available to people with a Ph.D. in economics who do not particularly want to do research or teaching for a living? At least not “research” as it is defined academically. What do private sector economists do? What does an economist working at a bank or state/federal governments do? My perspective on the economics profession has been limited to academics. Any advice on how to find information on what else is available?

I have no intention of leaving before I complete my degree. I’ve worked too hard and too long for that. But I’d like to ease my mind in the meantime by finding some careers out there that I can see myself tackling and enjoying after I finish.

[fp3690]

Consulting or banking with loooots of money.

[HelicopterEconDad]

I have a good friend who is all-but-dissertation from a top 20 PhD economics program. It's been 20 years since he left. He worked for about 10 years at a smaller consulting firm which specialized in valuations (loved it); then for about 6 years for a big accounting/consulting firm doing valuations, strategy and a mix of other stuff (hated it); and now is the Chief Operations Officer for a not-for-profit health care clinic (loves it). He has a wife, 3 wonderful children, a happy life and, as near as I can tell, no regrets about leaving economics. FWIW.

[Valfierno]

I believe that in international institutions, IMF, WB, IADB, etc, the research is more applied stuff. Maybe you should contact them and ask what they actually do. They also have summer internships, so maybe a good idea would be to apply and see what it actually is about.

Also, take a look at the kind of stuff that Varian is doing at Google, that might help.

[YoungEconomist]

I am still an undergrad, so you might wanna take my advice with a grain of salt, but here's my 2 cents.

I have no desire to work in academics doing research and teaching. I don’t feel comfortable telling my advisor this either because I honestly don’t see him wanting to help me with my thesis if he realizes that I’m not all that excited about my work.

If I was you, I don't think I'd tell my advisor yet. First of all, what if you change your mind and decide you want to become some sort of academic in the next year or two? Then, it'd be kinda silly to go "burn a bridge" with this guy, and other faculty would find out, and then it'd be difficult to get someone helping you find an academic placement. Second, you probably do want to have a discussion with him about your career aspirations if they stay the same. It's just that I might wait until it gets a little closer to finding a job. When it get's closer to applying for jobs, and if you still don't like academia, I would be completely honest with this guy and if he wants to "drop" you then so be it, you can always find someone else who will take you on and help you find a solid non-academic job.

I apologize for going on and on. Perhaps I’m just frustrated. My question, however, for anyone who knows is: what opportunities are available to people with a Ph.D. in economics who do not particularly want to do research or teaching for a living? At least not “research” as it is defined academically. What do private sector economists do? What does an economist working at a bank or state/federal governments do? My perspective on the economics profession has been limited to academics. Any advice on how to find information on what else is available?

The way I understand it, your career prospects outside of academia will be largely determined by your fiels of specialization. For example, finance people are more likely to get hired at banks and hedge funds, while labor people are more likely to get hired by the BLS.

Here are some gov't jobs (I just typed PhD Economics in the search field).

I imagine you know about this website, and they always have some non-academic job postings for economists.

Here are more private sector jobs (not all, but many of these jobs will take applications from PhD economists).

In the private sector, I think many economic consulting firms and also many corporations hire economists, so you may want to take a look there. The federal government hires a lot of economists (such as the Fed, CBO, BLS, etc). Not to mention, there are always think tanks (RAND, Hoover, Brookings, Cato, etc) and international organizations (like the IMF and World Bank).

In my opinion, those with a PhD in Econ could probably go into many jobs and succeed. It just seems like the analytic and quantitative skills we learn are highly valuable and also somewhat rare amoung the working population at large. Therefore, you could probably find work in many areas that are normally not thought of as economist jobs. For example, in the private sector I'd think PhD economists (with certain specializations) could probably get hired at places that traditionally hire MBAs.

I have no intention of leaving before I complete my degree. I’ve worked too hard and too long for that. But I’d like to ease my mind in the meantime by finding some careers out there that I can see myself tackling and enjoying after I finish.

That's good, I think that will be a wise choice both personally and professionally.

[Valhalla]

First I want to say that it's really great how you, Youngeconomist, spend so much time on issues like that and your comments are always pretty usefull!!

My contribution: The following webpage also gives a nice overview of current job offers for economists. You may even specifiy continents, whether it should be in the academic sector, the private sector or the gov sector.
Hope it helps: Job Openings

best regards

[eqtisadi]

Before you finalize your determination to go for the private sector, try working there for a short period. Maybe an internship in the summer or something like that. I worked for a year in a company and realized I'm always get drifted to the analytical or academic problem-solving style. Before I worked there I didn't know whether I will like academia or business better. My experience there, although very nice and enriching, made me go for the academia.