INFORMS Career FAQ: Question 8
Q. What kinds of opportunities for advancement are there?
A. At present (1995), typical entry-level salaries in the private sector range from $26,000 to $31,000 for those with bachelor's degrees, $50,000 to $70,000 for those with master's degrees; earnings for those with a doctorate are $50,000 to $100,000. Research analysts and new assistant professors earn about $60,000+ per year. Top earning possibilities are about $90,000 to $130,000 per year in business and industry, $69,000 to $81,000 in federal government; full professors may earn over $100,000 per year.
Government pay is generally slightly less but, as a rule, still either higher than or competitive with entry-level salaries in fields like accounting, data processing, finance, and product management.
How rapidly you advance depends on factors such as your job performance, the number of higher-level openings in your area of concentration and the firm you select, your department's budget, and so on. But if you do your job well, you can usually expect a raise each year and a promotion within two or three years.
There are a number of paths your career may take. In private industry, for example, you might start out as an analyst and be promoted to senior analyst. From there, you could advance to director of a management science team or technical section or department. Or you might take on functional responsibilities and become a director or vice-president of another department, such as manufacturing or marketing. Or, with sufficient experience under your belt, you might open your own consulting firm.
In civil service or the military, a bachelor's degree would probably qualify you for a GS5 or GS7 rating and placement in a training program. A master's degree would probably mean a GS7 or GS9 rating and several thousand dollars of additional pay. Here again, there's almost no limit to how far your abilities can take you. In fact, such notables as a Secretary of the Air Force and Deputy Secretary of State have recently come from the ranks of operations researchers.
Opportunities in academia also abound. At a college or university, you could become a professor, department head, or dean. And many academics also do consulting work on the side.
Remember when selecting your first job that there are other factors to consider in addition to pay. Academic employment generally offers you more freedom and longer vacations. Government positions provide more job security. And in private industry, there may be perks such as stock options and a company car to look forward to at higher levels.
Don't feel, however, that your initial choice locks you into one career track. One of the advantages of operations research is that the basic skills you learn now are easily transferrable and can be applied in many different fields. So if, after a brief stint in public service, you decide you'd rather be working in industry - or vice versa - a career move is usually not difficult.