the_chavi posted:

I wouldn't look at what you think your resume prepares you best for but for what interests you the most. You manage people, money, and programs a lot sooner in PD work, and there's a lot of outward-facing events to attend. In POL, academic writing actually isn't usually a good training ground for the written work; it's more about meeting people, asking the right questions, and synthesizing disparate sources into a coherent, short, relevant narrative. Have you spoken to the DIR who covers the region where you live? S/he can probably give you more detailed info. For me, as a closeted introvert, while POL work at the entry/lower mid levels is all about outward facing engagement with people, I still find it much less emotionally taxing than PD work can be. As I'm moving up the ranks, I've found that I enjoy the management side of POL work - managing people and processes, policy recommendations rather than straight information gathering - to be more enjoyable than what I did for my first decade as a poloff.