INFORMS Career FAQ: Question 5

Q. How big is the demand for operations researchers?

A. A number of major social and economic trends are increasing the need for operations researchers.

In today's global marketplace, businesses must compete more effectively for their share of profits than ever before. And public and non-profit agencies must compete for ever-scarcer funding dollars.

This means that all of us must become more productive. Volume must be increased. Consumers' demands for better products and services must be met. Manufacturing and distribution must be faster. Products and people must be available "just in time." And accuracy must be made a priority to satisfy increasingly narrow tolerances for error.

It's a tall order. But fortunately, new technologies developed over the past few decades have given operations researchers sophisticated tools to cope with these challenges.

Improvements in communications and informations systems have made it possible to collect and store large amounts of data at drastically reduced costs. And thanks to the personal computer explosion, this data can now be evaluated far more quickly and efficiently.

As a result, the demand for operations researchers is expected to increase dramatically by the turn of the century and beyond, according to U.S. Labor Department projections.

Dramatic growth is expected in telecommunications and service firms. And traditional fields such as defense, manufacturing, and transportation should remain strong, as well...opening many attractive career paths for those entering the work force in the next decade.