[Samuel Tolulope]

If you’re reading this, you must be wondering: what can you do with an International Relations degree?

You’ll have the opportunity to maintain positive diplomatic relations between countries, prevent international conflicts, and make sure things run smoothly between governments in our highly interconnected world.

1. Diplomat – Maintaining good relations between countries
As a diplomat, you will represent and protect a nation’s interests abroad in terms of politics, trade and consular services. You’ll spend usually around three years in a foreign country. Some of your responsibilities will be:

Act as a link between the country you represent and the country where you are stationed
Collect and report on all the information that would affect your nation’s interests
Discuss, negotiate and mediate with the local government issues about peace and war, trade, commerce, economics, as well as social and cultural aspects.

2. Intelligence Specialist – Gathering state-critical information
As an intelligence specialist, you can work in the military, the navy, national security departments, or almost any state department of one of the national government agencies. Your main duties will include:

Collect and analyse operational intelligence data
Conduct mission reports, using data, maps and charts
Evaluate results and prepare reports, statistics and graphics
Maintain intelligence databases, libraries, and files.

3. Political Analyst – Explaining the political climate
Generally, you’ll be employed by the government, but you can also find work opportunities within media companies or research institutes. Your tasks will be to:

Inform about and interpret various political developments
Analyse laws, public policies, and government decisions
Advise government officials, political parties, or the media
Forecast political trends and election results
Put events into historical context.

4. Lobbyist – Promoting ideas to those who can make them a reality
Lobbyists are usually hired by an association, corporation, or non-profit organisation to convince government members to make a decision that would benefit the organisation or company they are representing.

As a lobbyist you will perform tasks like:

Monitor, research and analyse legislation
Attend congressional hearings
Reach out to government policymakers
Use communication tools to promote ideas to the public.

5. Communication Specialist in a non-profit
A degree in International Relations can land you a job in a non-profit organisation that operates on an international level. As a Communications Specialist, you’ll have the chance to develop your career in a local office that has a global reach. Non-profit agencies like World Vision and Red Cross provide such global service, but there are many other options, too. Your main duties will be:

Creating effective communication strategies
Handling internal communications
Writing content for media and social networks
Graduates of International Relations degrees can pursue even more careers in the field. Discover them for yourself by diving into the wide range of Masters all over the world connected to this popular subject.

Average International Relations jobs salaries
Being passionate about your job and doing something that’s meaningful to you and beneficial to the society is great. Still, at the end of the month, you’ll have to pay bills, buy food, and spoil yourself a bit. For this, you’ll need money. Let’s look at the average salaries in the US for popular International Relations career paths.

Diplomat – 87,000 USD/year
Intelligence Specialist – 75,500 USD/year
Political Analyst – 94,000 USD/year
Lobbyist – 87,500 USD/year
Communication Specialist – 55,000 USD/year

NOTE:
To have a successful career in one of these fields, make sure that during your studies you develop the right skills, such as learning at least two foreign languages, level-up your communication skills, persuasion and negotiation abilities, creativity, and problem-solving skills.

[Martins]

If you’d suggest, what two foreign language would you advice me to learn in order for me to develop my skills?

[Samuel Tolulope]

You have to be multilingual to have an edge over your peers. But the preferred language should be French, and Spanish. But China is becoming a force. So madanrin is important too.

[Martins]

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate

[Author]

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