Careers in Conflict Transformation and professional peaceworking: Human Resources

 Focusing on Human Resources is an excellent career path for the Conflict Transformation degree-holder who is drawn to devising methods of people-helping, encouraging innovation, and bringing conflict management services into the workplace.

In one study of more than 650 full-time employees in Vietnam the development of enduring Human Resources policies and practices showed a marked uptick in innovation and job performance (Hoang, Nhat & Duy, 2025).

The generally recognized set of competencies[1] advised to HR professionals start with excellent communication skills, including active listening, cross-cultural competence, coaching, team-building, and of course all the administrative, business, and technological skills that an HR staffer or director would require. Planning for a career in HR might be best done with a Conflict Transformation degree but with electives focused on courses from other departments in business schools--or a degree directly in HR but a minor in Conflict Transformation, which would be a serious advantage to the aspiring HR professional. 

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[1] https://www.aihr.com/blog/hr-skills/

Careers in Conflict Transformation and professional peaceworking: Negotiator

Who hires negotiators? While the job title may not be Negotiator, the skills learned in any competent CTPS program prepare the student to enter that world. Each union has negotiators, most of whom have other responsibilities as well. Each employer has negotiators, most of whom have other responsibilities, so the CTPS student simply gains one valuable competency that is applicable to many careers. 

This is not to say that there aren't full-time negotiators; there are. A Contract Negotiator,[1] for example, is quite specialized and is quite suited for the CTPS student who is attracted to that work. They may be consultants or work for a consulting firm that is known as a third-party neutral because: 

"It is their job to ensure that any contract is legally binding and mutually beneficial.

Contract Negotiators must possess a number of specialised skills; they must be diplomatic, have excellent negotiation skills and a good understanding of legal terminology, the principles of contract law and the techniques of contract formation. It is also important they be knowledgeable in the particular business the contract concerns, in order that they can properly advise the parties. Negotiators must come to a mutual agreement; one that meets the objectives of both parties."

Any CTPS student aspiring to this sort of career should work with the program advisor to negotiate courses such as Contract Law to count as electives, or earn a minor in pre-law. 

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[1] https://careers.aacei.org/career/contract-negotiator-2

Careers in Conflict Transformation and professional peaceworking: Non-profiteers

Some feel drawn toward the nonprofit world, which is a wide-ranging set of legitimate careers, as there is a number of positions in even the smallest nonprofit and many in the larger ones. 

Starting a nonprofit was once almost byzantine in its complexity; now you can find online companies[1] who will take over that process for you. 

One of the most difficult skills to master in the nonprofit realm is to keep the books and stay current with state and federal requirements. Some days you will feel like a paralegal--which is exactly who we hired for years to be the administrator of the Oregon Peace Institute. Some people seem to have a natural affinity for learning these skills and some seem averse to even attempting them. When developing your competencies in order to develop your career, you will likely be far happier with a greater job satisfaction when you cultivate the competencies that you enjoy doing, while learning just enough about the skills you do not enjoy to enable you to be employed doing mostly what you love.

Indeed, doing what they loved as a volunteer is quite often the origin story of a nonprofit. In addition to holding a sign as an individual at a demonstration for human rights, eventually a person or group of people may decide to try to make the leap from all volunteering to being paid to work for the goal of more human rights.

There is a great deal of helpful (and at times confusing) information on starting a nonprofit at the federal level,[2] and each state[3] has its own rules for state recognition. The 501 c3 nonprofit is often focused on the educational work necessary to develop public understanding of the issues that are the focus of the organization. Care to generally avoid direct political involvement should be taken: "it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates."[4]

The IRS offers online instructionals[5] in dealing with the nuances of federal nonprofit law but now disclaims that parts may have changed and are not updated since the passage of the so-called 2025 "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." They give no word on when it's likely to be updated.

There are dozens[6] of other tax-exempt organizational categories, ranging from "Civic Leagues and Social Welfare Organizations and Local Associations of Employees" (the 501 c4 groups) to "Black Lung Benefits Trust." A 2025 76-page guideline manual[7] is available, but it also appears to have been written before the legislation passed that included massive changes to many aspects of the law.

Overall, it makes most sense to keep political activities separate, possibly simply undertaken by individuals who may identify as being associated with the nonprofit but should probably note that mentioning that is for identification purposes only, not to express organizational views.

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[1] https://instantnonprofit.com

[2] https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations

[3] https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/state-links

[4] https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/exemption-requirements-501c3-organizations

[5] https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/stay-exempt/virtual-small-to-mid-size-tax-exempt-organization-workshop

[6] https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/other-tax-exempt-organizations

[7] https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p557.pdf

Careers in Conflict Transformation and professional peaceworking: Junior diplomats

Junior diplomat

Many career paths are open to the graduate of a well-designed Conflict Transformation degree within the fields of negotiation and diplomacy. 

Aspiring diplomats can take a solid core set of Conflict Transformation courses and branch to international relations for electives, as recommended by a combination of organizations, including the Institute for Global Affairs, which also offers an internship program[1]--and if a CTPS student hoping to be a diplomat is advised well, that internship can count for elective credits. 

In the past, career civil servants in the US State Department served without partisan orientation except for serving in the interests of the United States. In 2025, however, that began to fundamentally change, so that lower-level diplomatic staff who might have served without any significant adjustment when the party in power changed from Republican to Democrat or vice-versa, suddenly were largely fired or pressured to take early retirement. Radical shifts rightward in rhetoric, erasure of some histories, and new expectations at almost every level have changed the nature of working for the US in any capacity that deals with an international environment. 

That noted, there are still opportunities[2] listed in US State Department Foreign Service, Civil Service, and Limited Non-Career Appointments[3] (LNA, often 15-60 month contracts).

Foreign Service[4] is the flagship component of the State Department's overseas operations, which, for better or worse, makes it likely the most vulnerable to political pressures from the administration. Many of the competencies[5] required for this work dovetail precisely into many CTPS degree competencies, such as: 

"Negotiation:

To recognize divergent and overlapping interests; to recognize advantages and disadvantages of agreement and available options; to advocate, influence and/or persuade others using information, facts, and reasoning rather than emotion; to resolve disagreements; to maintain or develop mutually beneficial working relationships with counterparts in the process."

Under the LNA there is a special category, the Consular Fellows Program,[6] that might be of interest to the CTPS graduate who has language proficiency in Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish, or Portuguese and is hoping to work overseas. Benefits may include student loan forgiveness.

Can negotiation promote a reduction of structural violence even as it enhances both intercultural collaboration and peace? One study of the New Silk Road Initiative believes that is happening (Boukrou, 2024). The New Silk Road Initiative is one undertaken by China to negotiate mutually beneficial trade agreements with other Asian countries, boosting prosperity amongst those nations while reducing Western dominance. To match such thinking with a CTPS philosophy and basic start point, these trade agreements would not include or be linked to military agreements, such as permission to either base foreign (Chinese in this case) troops on other's sovereign lands, or establish militarily mutual defense treaties. That, in this case, would simply be substituting Chinese dominance for Western dominance. Indeed, delinking peace and trade negotiations as a representative for any nation or consortium of nations from military aspects would be in line with a CTPS education, primarily because we teach alternative methods of coercion, not a lack of it. A BATNA that only involves non-military enforcement mechanisms is entirely doable and is the only path to environmental justice, human rights, and peace.

References

Boukrou, N. (2024). The Impact of the New Silk Road Initiative on the International Balance of Power. Philosophica (1857-9272), 11(22/23), 139–147. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.62792/ut.philosophica.v11.i22-23.p2730

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[1] https://instituteforglobalaffairs.org/announcements/2024/08/job-opening-research-and-communications-intern/

[2] https://careers.state.gov

[3] https://careers.state.gov

[4] https://careers.state.gov/career-paths/foreign-service/

[5] https://careers.state.gov/career-paths/foreign-service/competencies/

[6] https://careers.state.gov/career-paths/foreign-service/limited-non-career-appointments-lna/consular-fellows/

Careers in Conflict Transformation and professional peaceworking: Humanitarian aid worker, human rights worker + social work

In domestic US professional positions, employment with a strickly humanitarian aid focus is more limited than international work, though this may change depending on the state of previously less common factors, such as houselessness, hunger, and other formerly relatively uncommon phenomena.

Domestically, in the US, this work can be classified as social work, a natural career option for a CTPS major or minor. Indeed, there are areas of the country that are historically impoverished, with less public funding, where a graduate with a BA/BS in CTPS can be hired as an entry-level social worker without any other qualifications. The pay is often lower than average for social workers, the clientele may be more marginalized and impoverished, but it's a dream job for the right person with certain ideals and orientations. It can also give a working person time to earn a graduate certificate or even a masters degree while working full time, paving the path to a position as a social worker anywhere. 

Income is generally greater in some of the international humanitarian aid projects, especially those which are well funded by governments or consortia of governments, e.g., more dangerous conditions in hot conflict zones. The dangers can be prohibitive, such as those humanitarian organizations that were active in Gaza during the 2023-2025 war between Israel and Hamas, when both sides targeted noncombatants, which is frequently where humanitarian aid workers and their fixed or mobile facilities were.

Sadly, the wreckage committed by the Trump regime, such as destroying USAID, greatly negatively impacted that career field, with overseas opportunities largely veering toward the fewer opportunities in private foundation-funded nongovernmental organizations. It is to be hoped in this arena and many others that a future US administration and Congress will strongly restore this funding and rebuild the governmental agency infrastructure that had previously made humanitarian aid worker a staple career option for the CTPS graduate. 

Some humanitarian aid work remains available and will not close down, such as the American Red Cross,[1] which works domestically and internationally. The student who hopes to do this work will be well served to earn an undergrad degree in CTPS with a minor in public health or a CTPS degree with electives in public health, though even with the American Red Cross there are entry-level positions that focus more on marketing and communications. As with any desired career path, the idea is to fix on what you want to do and work with advisors to build the coursework and degree composition that is your on-ramp to employment in your envisioned future.

Human rights work is one career extraordinarily attractive to some CTPS students and entry-level work in that field is available. Enduring organizations, such as the International Rescue Committee, Front Line Defenders, Save the Children, Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, Amnesty International, the Associations of Women's Rights in Development, Open Society Foundations, and Freedom House all hire at the entry-level. Some require post-degree experience and some do not. Some have affiliate organizations that hire separately. As with all CTPS career paths, volunteering for such organizations and serving as interns at such groups can be a strong advantage in post-graduation job search.[2]

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[1] https://www.redcross.org/about-us/careers.html?srsltid=AfmBOooJghHo_NbLMrOQMzm0H86epiQEkA2pC9xIS3ZrEg7tSDMP2VxG

[2] For example, some years ago I had lunch with the volunteer-coördinator for a large humanitarian assistance organization and she told me that she fielded, on average, approximately 200 inquiries per week just to volunteer for the group, only a tiny handful of whom she was able to place. Later I sat with a student who had her heart set on working for that organization and, armed with her transcript showing her strong affinity for that work, as well as a letter of recommendation from germane professors (including me), she not only secured a volunteer position, but within a year she was hired by them full-time and was, in her case, deployed to do work in the Middle East helping them bring aid and CT education to one country. 

Careers in Conflict Transformation and professional peaceworking: Your favorite boss (you)

 Your favorite boss (you)

You have a CTPS degree of some sort. Each degree from each institution is unique; some were founded by a psychology professor and are heavily favored with coursework that emphasizes that. Some degrees are developed and founded by a sociology professor and feature courses that tilt toward that corpus of knowledge. Other common founder specializations that lead to degrees oriented toward their origins: Political Science, Law, Religion, History, and Philosophy. Note that only Law (Alternative Dispute Resolution) leads naturally toward noted non-academic (teaching/research) employment. Other degrees stretch further and further toward acquisition of terminal degrees in order to teach in higher education.

However. There is a grand tradition of simply declaring yourself as available to do certain paid work. Using what students learn in some CTPS programs, there is really no limit to what a graduate may decide is their chosen profession and they may offer their services to the marketplace of potential clients, none of which generally involve government licensing or mandatory legal requirements aside from legal business practices, including but not limited to: 

·       peace journalism content creator, either to a publisher or as monetized creator content in any number of forms on any number of platforms

·       conflict coach

·       facilitator: general, consensus, retainer

·       public office (school board, city council, city manager, etc.)

·       consultant to local or state government offices, either with elected officials or with agencies

·       tutor, research assistant

·       expert witness for litigators[1]

·       development director for a nonprofit or advocacy group

Any of these may require further development of a curriculum vitae that shows subject matter expertise; this can be gained in a number of ways, including but not limited to: 

·       academic peer-reviewed journal article publishing

·       volunteer experience

·       entry-level experience

·       establish your own specialized non-profit to provide services either as fee-for-service or funded by grants or a combination

While it is, to be blunt, a dreary chore to upkeep your c.v., do so. It should be ready to send out to clients at a moment's notice. While there are many intricate guidelines for preparing a proper c.v., here is what I stumbled across after a university administrator rejected my curriculum vitae in one promotion process: I asked a senior, highly accomplished professor for her c.v. She sent it to me, I saved it as mine, and then cleared all the content except the categorial headlines. Then I filled in my own credentials, publications, education, university service, community service, and awards. When I resubmitted, it passed through without a hitch. When I told this senior scholar what I did she burst into laughter. It remains my c.v. to this day. Thank you, Dr. Schechter.

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[1] This occurred a few times for me. I volunteered as an expert witness in civil resistance necessity defense cases because I have a fairly strong personal history and knowledge that qualifies me. That is in cases of accused criminal behavior. However, somehow this came to the attention of some litigators and they paid me to testify in civil cases, including wrongful death, which was both satisfying (we won a great deal of compensation to the family of a man wrongfully killed by police) and lucrative. I was compensated for a day in court at a rate approximately equal to a full month of teaching as Associate Professor at my university. The pro tip: keep your c.v. up to date. Seek an occasional media exposure--law offices take notice.

Careers in Conflict Transformation and professional peaceworking: DEI workers

 DEI workers

Diversity is the hallmark of success. A diverse natural world is a resilient world, as evolution experts tell us. The more species there are in an environment, the more that environment can withstand pressures. Similarly, a stock portfolio that is diversified weathers problems to various sectors of the market with more abilities. Studies done on the intersection of cross-cultural competence, conflict transformation training, and work teams show the more trained a team is in both, the more productive they are. Diversity tends to make groups of humans more successful. 

Equity is not mandated sameness, or even equality. When someone plays poker all night and is found cheating at 3 a.m. the players don't agree, well, okay, play fair from now on--that is equality. No. They confiscate the cheaters' winnings. That's equity.

Inclusion is avoidance of exclusion. Getting everyone possible included in the workings of society, the successes that flow from those workings, and leaving no one behind--that's inclusion.

These are simple concepts until attempts are made to enact them, at which point many parties begin to howl about relative deprivation, which is the idea that whatever the other party has is somehow more than I have and thus more than they deserve. People will resist that perceived or real relative deprivation, as we see all over the world and in our communities, our families, and our workplaces. The DEI officer at an institution is someone who is a master of the arts of conflict transformation. That official will excel at the problem-solving approaches learned in all the courses taken to earn a CTPS degree. It will not be enough to be BIPOC, though that seems to be an assumption some have made through their own lens of relative deprivation. 

DEI has thus been under attack and it will often be approached using alternative terminology to avoid attack by the political officials inclined to do so, oftentimes elected by resentful voters whose own perceptions are driven by feelings of relative deprivation. Now, starting in January 2025, entire federal agencies have banned the term DEI and all words that seem associated with it. That ban cascades not just to federal employees, but to recipients of federal funds in any capacity. It has also metastasized to the corporate world and into higher education as business and universities seek to avoid being punished for apparently favoring DEI.

The obvious problems with this lurch to the right and heavy-handed attack on what DEI directors achieve are many, yet enlightened organizations continue to practice it and even hire new DEI staffers and directors.