A market researcher works for any company that’s involved with the market in some way, in most cases companies selling products. The job of a market researcher is to perform analysis on the current market environment, in order to find trends and notions that can be utilized to better deploy the company’s marketing strategy and increase sales and profits. The job can be highly complicated in some cases, especially when dealing with some of the quickly-changing markets like the financial one. Market researchers almost always work in respectably sized teams.
Getting a job as a market researcher takes at least a Bachelor’s degree in finances, economics, or a related field – a Master’s can benefit candidates though isn’t a requirement in most cases. The job can be very hectic at times and imposes a lot of stress on those who practice it, especially during some of the more tense periods. This makes it important for a market researcher to be able to concentrate well while under pressure, and to be able to make sound decisions on short notice.
A market researcher’s job can be quite rewarding financially, with the median salary for 2009 being $76,000. The job is often seen as having a very good effort-to-reward ratio by most of those who practice it, a notion which is especially reinforced by the fact that any extra effort put in towards the current project tends to pay off timesfold in most cases, resulting in greatly improved progress for the company and, subsequently, good bonuses for the market researcher.