Professional Skills and Workshops

The CAPS AI Policy and Strategy skills course is an immersive six-part seminar that trains you in the role of a fictional forward-deployed policy engineer tasked with overseeing AI systems deployed in an ongoing conflict zone. It begins with an AI bootcamp and quickly moves you "into the field" to confront case studies rooted in real needs in the test environment of Afghanistan.
Washington DC

Gain a broad understanding of the management consulting industry, the various consulting models, and how consultants can generate value for their clients; learn and practice structured approaches to problem solving used by leading management consultancies; understand other skills required in management consulting – such as communicating persuasively and managing projects and client relationships – as well as some of the ethical issues that consultants, along with other professionals, often face.
Washington DC, SAIS Europe

Through practical examples and exercises, the seminar illustrates the fundamentals of popular valuation techniques used by Wall Street practitioners. The seminar also discusses applications of key valuation concepts such as EBITDA, Enterprise Value, WACC, accretion / dilution and LBOs. The main goal of the seminar is to assist candidates seeking employment on Wall Street and in the field of finance.
Washington DC

This course is designed to provide an overview of entrepreneurship, develop an entrepreneurial mindset, and learn the practical skills needed to identify, test, validate and prototype an idea using Stanford University's Design Thinking process.
Washington DC
 

Alumni provide an information session on how to get a security clearance in the US Federal Government.
Washington DC

In this interactive boot camp, you will learn exercises and techniques to bolster your speaking ability, and develop a new approach to speech preparation. The first half of each day involves a series of mini-lessons and exercises. The second half of each day focuses exclusively on speaking practice. The truth is that great speakers aren’t just stylistically superior. The foundation for a great presentation lies in the content and flow of your material. For that reason, the course explores both style and substance in these workshops.
Washington DC

Held annually in Washington, DC, this session brings together alumni and students from outside the US to share advice and tips on landing a job through effective networking.
Washington DC

Gain an overview of the business transactions and reports used in financial accounting; increase your understanding of the relationships among the financial statements used to describe a business; learn key accounting terms and concepts, understand the balance sheet, and analyze the statement of cash flows.
Washington DC, online

Learn about basic geospatial theory, tools and software, and the integration of geospatial data into traditional data analysis. Practice the use of open-source desktop GIS software to solve problems of a spatial nature, beginning with framing the problem, through development of data requirements, collection of data from public sources, data processing and analysis, and map or application development.
Washington DC

This skills course will introduce you to the fundamentals of financial intelligence (FININT) collection, research and analysis in support of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) missions. The course covers what is financial intelligence; how and by whom it is collected, accessed, and shared; and how FININT practitioners perform research and analysis to identify and mitigate the illicit placement and movement of value. Real case studies and use cases are presented.
Washington DC

Familiarize yourself with basic Excel functions such as data entry, formatting and editing data, and using basic formulas; progress to using intermediate techniques and functions that are relevant in a professional context (and often come up in interviews); develop advanced skills to work with larger amounts of data, utilize functions in Excel, create sensitivity analyses, and increase overall speed and proficiency.
Washington DC, SAIS Europe

This course is designed with the view that political developments and policy/regulatory changes impact investments and business operations. The class will introduce you to the various methods to analyze political developments and translate your implications to actionable insights and strategies for business leaders. It reviews key global trends and variables necessary to understand and anticipate political change, and the best practices for effectively engaging with a range of stakeholders who may have different interests. You will be exposed to real business cases and current political considerations impacting a range of industries.
Washington DC

Python is quickly becoming the de facto tool for automating work processes, building web applications, and conducting data analysis. This Introduction to Python course provides a functional approach to learning Python so you can quickly apply programming skills into work and academics. You will learn the building blocks of Python programs by gaining core skills and applying them to projects. You will then be introduced to essential analytical libraries, focusing on retrieving data from the web, data analysis, and data visualization.
Washington DC

The purpose of this course is to equip you with fundamental principles and practices that are valuable for large-scale data analysis projects in policy careers. We will use the R programming language, which is advantageous because once you learn it, you can easily adapt to a more focused platform (e.g., STATA) or a more flexible language (e.g., Python). The goal of this course is to help you master the basics involved in significant data analytics projects.
Washington DC

This course will prepare you to utilize STATA, one of the most commonly used statistical analysis software packages, and develop a deeper understanding of econometrics; manipulate data, learn basic programming commands, and analyze regression output with the aim of independent skills application.
Washington DC, SAIS Europe

You will learn beginning techniques of data visualization using Tableau Desktop Professional Software and gain the ability to implement best practices in data visualization, develop a wide range of charts and graphs in Tableau tailored to different data sets, enhance and customize visualizations for a specific business context, visualize spatial data, and verbally communicate data-driven insights using Tableau.
Washington DC

The Finance Online Course provides a fundamental understanding of the principles, analytical tools, and knowledge needed to make good investment and financing decisions. The course will introduce you to finance ratios, forecasting methods, capital structure theory, and risk-return analysis and then will ask you to apply these concepts in several different approaches to valuing a business. Learning objectives include understanding (1) basic principles of corporate finance, (2) essential tools for basic financial analysis, and (3) introductory models and frameworks used in corporate financial decision-making.
Washington DC, online

Several of these workshops are offered in advance of the school's Career Fair in order to teach you how to interact with employer representatives at the fair, how to navigate the fair (what to wear, what to bring with them, how to prioritize, how to follow-up), and what you can do in advance to be well-prepared.
Washington DC

Mastering Excel for Business (Level 4) expands on the techniques introduced in the Advanced Excel course and reinforces these skills through practical model building. You will become comfortable employing methods previously covered, such as lookup and reference functions as well as the basics of modeling. In addition, the course will elaborate on new concepts, including dynamic charting, indirect and offset functions, arrays, and iterative calculations. Throughout the course, you will construct a forecasting model that employs each of the skills taught and demonstrates how they work in conjunction with each other.
Washington DC

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) has taken on a more prominent role in the international development community, particularly with donors and governments calling for greater accountability, more efficient use of funding, and rigorous measurement of results from the programs and projects that they have funded. This course will introduce you to the field of M&E and focuses on its application to the field of international development. The course will be instructed both by lecture and by hands-on examples for you to work through in groups. You will gain an in-depth understanding of the field of M&E in international development, as well as increased exposure to its current challenges and innovations. By the end of the course, you will be able to apply what you have learned to your coursework and to your future work and also be more knowledgeable about M&E.
Washington DC

This course is designed to give you a practical understanding of monitoring and evaluation in conflict or political transition environments. The course is informed by a number of real life case studies from the instructor's own practice - providing an opportunity for you to engage in developing M&E tools and evaluation frameworks for ongoing projects. By the end of this skills course you will be able to utilize monitoring and evaluation techniques to set up a framework designed to promote learning around relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of a project for a local or international organization aiming to create social impact.
Washington DC

This workshop will help you craft your perfect 'elevator pitch' for introducing skills to potential employers. It begins with a series of smaller sessions where you will define your skill set and craft pitches with career counselors, and culminates in a main event where you will practice and refine your pitch with alumni volunteers from a variety of sectors and industries.
Washington DC, SAIS Europe

Understand the importance and impact of political risk in business decisions and the role of stakeholder relations in a market strategy; gain a set of frameworks to analyze political change and stability in a given country and ability to identify key individuals and variables that impact an investment or business decision; provide perspectives on how to plan and manage political risk and develop effective engagement strategies.
Washington DC

This course introduces you to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) as employed in Excel and practical basic uses of the language for automation. It begins by covering the underlying concepts of computer programming employed in VBA and every other programming language. Once you are comfortable with the functioning of VBA, the course moves past the core ideas to cover practical uses within Excel, including custom functions, recording macros, conditional statements, and looping methods.
Washington DC

Familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of project management including theories, tools, and techniques to successfully manage projects; learn how to develop a project charter, define project goals, and develop project teams, schedules, and budgets. Gain practical insights into the key aspects of project life-cycles (initiation, planning, execution, monitor and control, and closing).
Washington DC

Take part in an introduction to using statistical methods to solve business problems; act as a consultant hired to develop statistical models to aid a management team in making decisions for running a hotel; use sampling and estimation techniques to determine guest satisfaction levels, and analyze the risks and returns in investing in a new business venture for the hotel. This course teaches statistics from the management perspective and places special emphasis on developing the skills and instincts needed to make good decisions and become a more effective manager.
Washington DC, online

This is a weekly session that focuses on salary negotiation techniques and advice by sector and organization.
Washington DC, SAIS Europe

You will learn skills two millennia in the making, skills that can launch careers, break regimes, and save billions of listeners from utter boredom. Whether you intend to lead a nation, revolutionize an industry, or teach an undergraduate class, you will do it better if you can write and speak in ways that will inspire allies, console mourners, unravel opposition, and shape public opinion. This course prepares you to write concise, clear and persuasive speeches; choose structures, arguments, and framing appropriate to context; and write speeches that connect to your speaker, audience, and goals.
Washington DC

Use Microsoft Excel as both a reporting tool and a modeling tool for solving business problems; take an in-depth tour of the Excel environment with many helpful shortcuts and tips for mastering the functions in Excel; apply this knowledge to create spreadsheet models that are powerful tools for analyzing data and making business decisions; study product costs, determine pricing, and track payroll.
Washington DC, Online

This workshop provides an overview of the federal job search process on USAJobs and includes a free book for each participant. Please note – you must be a US citizen (or US permanent resident actively pursuing US citizenship) to apply for US federal jobs.
Washington DC

This workshop will feature discussion of best tactics for using LinkedIn, addressing issues including profile do's and don'ts, LinkedIn for research, LinkedIn for networking. The session will build on input from the facilitator and from participants.
Washington DC, SAIS Europe