KW: What was your career path after Wabash?
TC: After graduating in 1985 with a degree in Economics and Math I went to work as an actuarial trainee with Golden Role Insurance in Lawrenceville, IL. An actuary deals with the financial impact of risk and uncertainty. I was not particularly satisfied with this job, so I decided to pursue other opportunities. After leaving Golden, I went to work for the Wabash alumni office. After some time there, I decided it would be in my best interests to pursue a graduate degree, so in 1986 I applied and was accepted to the University of Michigan’s Economics Doctoral Program. I spent 6 years in this program, and it was not particularly fun by any stretch of the imagination, with the work week often hitting 60 hours. Upon earning my Ph.D, I took a job with the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, MO as an economist. The Federal Reserve, as students learn in Econ 101, is tasked with, among other things, maintaining the stability of the US economic and monetary system. I have served as a Senior Economist, Assistant Vice President, and currently am a Vice President and Economist in the Economic Research Department. My experience with the Federal Reserve has been very positive.
KW: What are the responsibilities associated with your position?
TC: I would say my job compares to that of an academic in a large university research setting. I spend about half of my time conducting economic research and publishing my findings and the other half I spend on duties ranging from administration to advising the President (of the Federal Reserve Bank) on policy. Policy-related duties include briefing our President for the Federal Open Market Committee meetings where interest rates are established. A recent project that I worked on was a study of the implications of changing demographics for the trend growth in jobs. Due to an aging society, there will be slower growth in population ahead than in the past, and this will have a substantial impact on the US economy.
KW: What advice can you give a Wabash student looking to pursue an advanced degree in Economics, or looking to enter the job market in general?
TC: Know going in to grad school that it’s not going to be fun. You must have a commanding knowledge of advanced mathematics or you will be behind. If econ is your focus, try to take as many math courses as you can, short of majoring in math along with econ. In today’s economics world, math is the key. Employers are looking for a much more technical skill set then they have in the past, so as much training as one can acquire in math, stats, and econometrics will be of the utmost assistance in pursuing a career in this field. However, I must also stress that the communication and writing skills Wabash students learn are of paramount importance in my field, so they should not be underrated or taken too lightly.
In Wabash,
Krzysztof Wojciehowski