Government Analyst

There are as many types of Government Analysts as there are programs, projects, and agencies in the government. This is a blanket term applied to any Analyst within the employ of the government. When you’re a Government Analyst, it’s generally up you to analyze protocols, situations, rules, and the like to determine where weak spots in policy exist, and then suggest ways to correct or strengthen those spots. Put simply, you look at how the government is doing something, and try to figure ways to do it better.

Government Analysts exist in all facets of the government, and your areas of expertise are usually specific to whatever sect you’re working in. However, regardless of what that sect is, you will basically be doing the same thing: researching the issues, performing critical analysis on your research, then drawing conclusions/making recommendations based on your findings.

Your research and analysis will take different forms depending on your subject matter. It might be quantitative, and require you to look at economic data sets. It might be qualitative, and push you to find discrepancies in the foreign policy agendas of two leading US Diplomats. Either way, you’ll come at it with an analytical eye, ready to find gaps in numbers or logic, and figure out how to fix those gaps.

In practical terms, this requires going over lots of material and understanding what that data means. You’ll also be required to create content to convey your results– research papers, project reports, and other ways of communicating: “Just what the heck is going on with (your research topic).”