Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service

Jobs in Political Risk, Government, and Intelligence Intrigue Students

Career planning and development is a primary focus for Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (SFS). Top student interests include diplomacy, intelligence and security, international business, international development, and political risk. These interests also align with employment trends that the School of Foreign Service has observed among its master’s degree graduates.

The two sectors that employed the largest share of SFS graduates between 2019 and 2023 were the private sector (37 percent average) and public sector (36 percent average), according to SFS Career Center Executive Director Nathan Slusher. The other sectors that graduates went into were the nonprofit (22 percent) and multilateral (5 percent) sectors.

Among graduates taking private sector jobs, many were interested in consulting, especially in the subfields of political risk, management consulting, and government contracting. Deloitte, Guidehouse, and Booz Allen Hamilton were three of the biggest employers.

The public sector—especially intelligence organizations—has always been keen on SFS students because of Georgetown University’s focus on public service, as a Jesuit institution, and the school’s location in Washington, DC, Slusher says. Top 2023 public employers were the departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, and Commerce, the Intelligence Community, the US Agency for International Development, and the US Congress. The State Department was the single largest 2023 employer, with 33 hires.

Recent SFS graduates taking government jobs bucks a nationwide trend of an aging US government workforce. At the end of 2020, only 7 percent of permanent full-time federal employees were younger than 30, compared with 20 percent in the broader labor market, according to the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization focused on improving government. The reasons that were cited included lengthy and convoluted hiring processes and an outdated pay system.

One source of support for job-hunting graduates across all industries is a network of engaged alumni, Slusher says. The School of Foreign Service celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2019, which gives graduates a wide swath of alumni resources to draw from.

“The alumni community here is bigger, stronger, and more engaged than any alumni community I’ve worked with before,” Slusher says. “That goes back to the Jesuit value of ‘people for others.’”

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Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service
https://sfs.georgetown.edu/admissions/graduate-programs
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202-687-9267