What can you do with a master’s in public policy degree? It is a question that you may ask yourself when looking at the prospect of further education. We are all looking for the most fulfilling and well-paid jobs, and the typical median salary for a policy analyst in the US is $64,474 which is around 5% higher than a professional with a bachelor’s degree alone.
Salaries can range depending on the sector, public, private or non-profit. Working for the government, even with a professional degree can lead to a salary that is 18% less than those working in the private sector.
Having a master’s degree in public policy tells employers that you have an industry standard in data and analysis. The qualification also demonstrates that you have a deep understanding of how governments build regulations, and ultimately form policies.
Public policy positions typically involve analysing problems, considering all of the solutions, building plans and projects to implement change and then following that up by analysing whether the changes had a positive effect and then calculating the costs involved to determine whether the changes were cost-effective and then making further changes if they were not. Most roles will require a broad number of tasks and need an agile, considered decision-maker who is both analytical and flexible.
Environmental And Climate Control
If you are passionate about looking after the planet, on improving the impact of humans on the earth, there is no better place to start than by trying to influence decision-makers by forming policies that make them make the correct and best choices. These decisions can lead to measurable differences that you can actually consider were things that you did, that made a difference. You helped to change something that leads to an environmental change. This would provide an opportunity for career highlights to pass on to your children.
Diverse Opportunities
Governmental policies are just one area for an educated policymaker. Private-sector jobs, to name just a few, are available in:
- Cybersecurity
- City management
- Energy sector
- Project management
- Banking
- Research
- Hospitality
- Health and safety
Each one of them has a plethora of diverse career opportunities where having a master’s degree in public policy will give you a step-up advantage. Roles will typically include helping companies to make the correct choices for security, energy consumption, financial, project and research as well as keeping employees and customers safe.
Knowing how policy can influence key decisions can help steer businesses into making the correct choices that can affect the profit margin as well as reputation, both critical aspects to every business.
What can you do with a master’s in public policy? It turns out that the answer to that is huge and very diverse. It will open up the world to a diverse list of careers, where climbing the career ladder will have many options. Even if you start in one particular area, the qualification will allow you to jump between them.
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