Pivot to the For-Profit Private Sector from International Development
On July 17, 2025, Richard Verma, Chief Administrative Officer at Mastercard, Prashanth Rajan, Government Engagement Head & Chief of Staff for the Chief Government Affairs and Policy Officer at Mastercard, and Marc Busch, Georgetown SFS, offered tips, tricks, and insight into how we can all pivot from public to private sector careers. The event was moderated by Adia Armstrong (Georgetown SFS) with Steve Radelet (Georgetown SFS) also providing commentary.
This session was the first in our Pivot to New Career Paths seminar series, designed to offer attendees the opportunity to hear from colleagues who have already made these important career transitions and glean how to best embark on these changes themselves.
To open this session, both Richard Verma and Prashanth Rajan recounted their experiences transitioning to private sector roles after enjoying long and successful careers in public service. They spoke candidly about the excitement, anxiety, and (ultimately) the pride of having navigated these transitions successfully – they promised that many of us would feel the same way once we found our next opportunity!
For Verma, there are four key lessons to remember as we transition to the private sector:
- Translating our public sector experiences for private sector audiences is profoundly important.
- Activating our vast networks across sectors to vouch for our work and skills is equally vital, especially as we transition to new career fields.
- Preparing for a challenging transition (though not fun) is critical – there are a few major differences between public and private sector work, and learning about these differences takes time.
- Understanding these transitions can be time-consuming and challenging is crucial, and as a result, we should embrace that this process will be a marathon, not a sprint.
With these four recommendations in-mind, Verma stressed that we will be better positioned to make the switch to the private sector, more prepared for the inevitable challenges that lie ahead, and more open to new opportunities.
He continued his remarks by offering participants four noteworthy, private sector fields to look into for employment opportunities.
- International Business and Political Risk: As businesses become more globalized, they all have an interest in the world and its affairs – We are all well-situated to help them understand and translate risks to opportunity.
- Social Impact: An interest in global affairs often goes hand-in-hand with an interest in the impact these companies have over societies – For these firms, “doing good to do well” is a key strategy that allows us to draw from our prior experiences in international development.
- Project Management/Operations: This skill is foundational to any job and is one we all possess thanks to our work managing grants and contracts across the globe – Our ability to be good stewards of government funds and effective evaluators of international initiatives is highly attractive to private sector companies.
- Emerging Technology: This field is growing constantly and at an incredible rate, and their search for talented people from a variety of backgrounds should prove to be fertile ground for those of us willing to explore new career fields – These opportunities also give us the chance to be the “public voice” in tech spaces and to provide important insight for these firms.
Rajan expanded on these comments further, reminding us that we have a core competency that all private sector firms value: Communication skills.
Given our professional backgrounds, we are all able to convey complex points face-to-face or in writing to high-level audiences, simplifying complicated global issues and summarizing “need-to-know” data points for decision makers in various roles.
Private sector companies worldwide are taking a greater interest in global political developments, economic trends, and societal shifts. We are all well-positioned to lean on our previous career experiences to lend the expertise on various issues that private sector firms prize. Our knowledge and backgrounds are an asset!
Of course, neither Verma nor Rajan have all the answers. The job landscape is evolving constantly—especially today. They also stated that this recent transition was not their first. Drawing from their past experiences, both Verma and Rajan reassured attendees that we should remember that we all have the skills private sector companies look for in potential candidates. We just need to market them effectively!
After this first half of the event, Marc Busch continued the conversation, leaning on his background in teaching business diplomacy to reveal some essential truths about private sector work and how we can best identify career path that most closely aligns with our needs and values.
According to Busch, we do not need to consider what our whole lives will look like at a certain job or in a specific field to figure whether it is right for us; we only need to think about one day. For him, there are four critical questions we must answer for ourselves (and in the most honest terms possible) when thinking about this single day at in a new career:
- Structure or Entrepreneurialism? It is important to decide whether you function better in a well-structured, clear environment, or if you’d benefit from working in a more “flat” or “free-wheeling” system.
- Group work or solo work? It is also crucial to think about whether you work more effectively on your own, or if you enjoy the social camaraderie of group or external work.
- Take it home or leave it at work? There is a surprising amount of divergence and variance among individuals who prefer to be “on” wherever they are and those who simply want to “check-out” once they leave the office. This difference may also apply to those who are passionate to engage with their work around-the-clock, instead of those who are not. Where do you fit?
- What is “success?” Perhaps the most important question, it is paramount to understand what success means to you, how “important” it is to achieve that version of success, and what you are willing to do to get there. Do we want to work for a “mission” or are there other considerations (e.g., money, promotion, life style) that are more valuable to you?
Once you answer these four questions, you can then identify what organizations meet your criteria and values, and how you can best pursue these opportunities.
Busch also encouraged attendees to look beyond the obvious choices for employment. Too many job seekers fail to look beyond their immediate surroundings for jobs — as a consequence, we find ourselves all applying for the same positions.
Indeed, we should all search for new job opportunities or different organizations outside of our comfort zone. Doing so makes it easier to discover new jobs, meet new people, and come across new potential firms with which we can pursue employment.
In addition, this kind of research gives us the chance to learn the terminologies, objectives, and scope of initiatives that specific firms possess and pursue. This information is vital as we transition to new career fields and work to stand out from other candidates during the application process.
These points also build on those offered in the first portion of the session: our skills our truly transferable, and the private sector is diverse and large enough to accommodate all of us. Whether there are major consulting firms, smaller boutique analysis companies, in-house strategy consultants, or trade associations, all private sector companies conduct the kind of work we have experience doing and prize our skillsets!
Finally, and perhaps most important, Busch argued passionately about the high value doing improv has for all of us.
Eventually, we will all need to communicate and work with others in any career path we pursue. Thus, there is nothing that we do that is more important than speaking and listening actively. Improv teaches us to listen, speak, and update your others in real-time; it also trains us to think on our feet and to take the unexpected in stride. These skills are critical to our success in the private sector, and will only help us pursue these opportunities more effectively — and thrive once we start our work!
All three speakers agreed that there is no “ideal” or “dream” job. To a certain extent, we have to make the most out of whatever experiences we have and choose to pursue. Still, that should not discourage us from looking, nor does it condemn us to uninspiring careers or unhappy futures in our new lines of work.
As he began his remarks, Rajan looked back at his career fondly and spoke of the pride he felt working across so many sectors and developing numerous skills. Both the process and destination of finding a new career path in the private sector was rewarding for him.
There is a good chance we will all feel similarly when we transition successfully into the next phase of our careers!
Other Previous Sessions
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