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Are you looking to break into the political risk consulting industry? There is a lot of misinformation out there about how you need to get a job role as political risk consultants and the types of skills that you require. Here, we are taking you through these myths about breaking into political risk consulting.
The Word ‘Risk’ should be in the Title
A common misunderstanding when people are looking for jobs in political risk consulting is that they think the word ‘risk’ has to be in the job title, however, this is not always the case. Sometimes they can be referred to as other names such as media analyst, sovereign risk analyst or intelligence analyst. Each of these roles all contain elements of political risk analysis, so when you are trying to get a foot in the door, it is always a good idea to look out for job roles with these titles.
You Only Need Skills in Writing, Languages and Research
Another common myth about breaking into the political risk consulting industry is that you only need basic skills in languages, research and writing, and little else. However, this is untrue and you need other vital traits to be great in the job role. This includes having good judgement, a creative side, resilience, persistence and flexibility when you are dealing with a number of different projects at once. When applying for jobs in this field, ensure that you include these other traits in your cover letter to make yourself stand out from the crowd.
How Are Your Maths Skills?
We hope that they are great! Not only do you need to have all of the previous skills mentioned, you also need to be good at maths too. There is a lot of maths involved in political risk consultancy and you’ll need to be able to read statistics and compare them. Other maths areas you will need to be comfortable in include graphs, risk matrices and charts. We see more and more quantitative methods being used in this field and so it is important that you have these skills and that you highlight them on your resume.
Get an Internship
No matter what field it is that you work in, internships are a great way to learn skills that are not taught in the classroom and gives you invaluable experience that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. Along with the skills above, having a good internship can really make your CV stand out from the crowd. In political risk analysis, it is also good to have different sector experience that uses political risk firms such as shipping, manufacturing, banking and oil and gas.
Networking
If you want to break into the political risk consulting industry, one of the best ways to do so is through networking. While you can always try filling out online applications, it is better to effectively use any personal or professional networks that you might have.
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