Jobs jobs jobs

I'm starting to think that I've made some bad career choices....

As all of you (or almost all of you) know, I'm a graduate student in economics who is going to have his master's degree in May. That's all fine and dandy, right? Well, maybe not. I'm starting to find that the MA in economics might not be the most marketable degree, especially the way I've gone about it.

Well, let me back up a bit. I think the trouble may not be with the degree per-se, but my concentration. Last year I decided to go with regulatory economics because I was under the impression that the job market was good and that I would be able to find something pretty easily. That is not completely panning out how I had planned. Very few public utilities seem to be hiring for these positions and the ones that I've applied to, so far zilch.

State agencies do seem to be hiring people for jobs, but there are two huge conditions. One, every single one of them is paid for with ARRA (i.e. stimulus) funding and nobody seems to know how long those jobs are going to even exist once they are given. Second, a lot of these jobs are going to require a pretty substantial move on my part and frankly, I don't know if I care enough about regulatory economics to move hundreds and hundreds of miles away for it.

There is a third option, but I'm not sure how this is going to work out. I'll still have an MA in economics and that opens up a few more doors, mostly in research fields. But here's the rub there, because of my focus on regulatory stuff, I've neglected some areas that are pretty important for economic research, namely statistics. So while I certainly have a background to be qualified as an economist, I'm a far from ideal candidate for most jobs.

I see it now, I should have done an MBA, finance, accounting, or at the very least, something with a heaver statistical bend. But then again, I've never been one to make sound choices regarding my future.

There is one ray of light, though. However few the nibbles might be, I have had some. I had two interviews last week. One I was already rejected for, which is ok, because I was only marginally qualified for that job anyway. The other, however, is a very strange thing. On Thursday, I had an interview with a state that won't be named, but it looks like a boot and has a lot of Mormons. The interview went well, but there's a catch, they seem to want somebody right away. They haven't actually rejected me yet, but they even seemed hesitant to wait until Spring Break so I can get up there for an in person interview. If they won't wait two weeks for SB, they won't wait two months for me to finish.

So yeah, such is life.