Some precisions since my answer generated a few negative comments. People
with jobs don't realize it but this is not a good market for Statisticians.
If you are a visionary and can come up with highly creative ideas, but you
don't have the exact skills required by hiring managers, you can outperform
(by a long stretch) the mathematical gurus who design stock trading
algorithms for Wall Street Firms, but you won't get a job. My point is that
it might take you less time to generate $50k this way, as opposed to looking
for jobs. It did for me.

Besides, using several strategies (like the 6 ones I mentioned) to achieve a
return is always safer than just focusing on one idea (job searching). Just
focusing on job searching would be the same as for an investor to buy one
stock, see it go down and wondering if/when it will provide positive return.
Talking to recruiters is already a better strategy - it's just like an
investor who would put his money in a fund rather than on just one stock.

Finally, I've applied my advice (6 suggestions) to myself and found that #6
(job searching) is the least effective, even though I have a Ph.D. and 10+
years of experience in finance/marketing, not to mention a skill set with
SAS, SQL, Splus, SQL, Sybase, C, Perl, Data Mining, etc.



Gareth Thomas writes:

> Some "interesting" suggestions there from Vincent (see below)!  Maybe
> number
> 6 is the only really
> feasible one though!!  As I doubt someone in Vanessa's position has money
> spare to play on the stock market, incorporate to save tax - I doubt
> Vanessa
> is paying any tax right now anyway, and I also think its unlikely that
> Vanessa has health insurance!!
>
> Anyway Vanessa, below might be some more feasible options/suggestions for
> you:
>
> It does take time to find a job, although lots of Statistics vacancies are
> advertised every week the majority are looking for experience as well as
> qualifications.  But even if you havent got experience of Stats in a work
> environment you can use any experience you have gained during your
> studies.
> Keep applying and the right role will eventually be offered to you.
>
> I can only suggest you try agencies, this is how I got my break into the
> Stats world, and I was much like you with only my degree in Maths and
> Stats
> and no experience.  The agency that found me my job is called Leap 29 and
> they sometimes post vacancies on here.
>
> Another idea that you could try is to post your CV on the net at job sites
> like http://www.totaljobs.co.uk as I also got feedback from here. Another
> good thing to do is to send your CV off with a covering letter to any
> companies that you know employ statisticians, or might.
>
> Other than that you just need to stay positive, maybe take some short
> courses to improve your  IT and language skills etc...  just don't give
> up,
> to have attended 56 out of 95 applications is a very good statistic.
>
> Otherwise you could try predicting the winning lottery numbers or one of
> the
> other "great" suggestions that Vincent made!!!!
>
> Hope some of this has been some use,
>
> Gareth.
>
>
> P.S Sorry if this has been posted twice, but didnt seem to go through the
> first time.
> --------------------------------
>
>
>
> Vanessa Narayanassamy writes:
>
>    I have made lots of application for the post of statisticians (around
> 90-
> 95) and I had 56 interviews. I have attended all these interviews and I
> could see myself getting a job. I have asked for feedbacks for all these
> interviews I have been attending. I will give some examples of the
> feedbacks:
>
> For example the interview I have attended at UCL:
>
> She said to me that I was very impressed by you as a good interviewee,
> unfortunately we cannot proceed your application further.
>
> An interview I attended at the University of Bristol:
>
>
>
> Vincent Granville wrote:
>
> Just a few suggestions...
>
> 1. apply your skills to develop statistical strategies to play with your
> own
> money on the stock market or in sport bets
>
> 2. use your number crunching skills to minimize the amount of taxes you
> owe,
> for instance incorporate
>
> 3. cut your insurance expenses: use your expertize to assess your risk and
> then drop your health insurance if your payment is higher than your return
>
> 4. set up a stock market contest: reward = 3 x wage, for participants who
> sucessfully predict whether two S&P 500 stocks will keep their momentum or
> not between today and tomorrow [momentum being defined as I(close on day
> n+1
>    close on day n), I is the indicator function
>
>
> 5. organize statistical seminars
>
> 6. apply to 300 targeted jobs in different countries over a 12-month time
> period
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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