Benchmarking background Of forecasters

BENCHMARKING BACKGROUND OF FORECASTERS By Chaman L. Jain, St. John’s University Whenever a company decides to hire a person, it specifies expected qualifications and responsibilities. Hiring a person for a position in forecasting is no different. Since forecasting, as practiced in business, is still in its early stage of development, defining the role and responsibilities for a forecasting position is not that simple. IBF’s survey of 2005 throws some light on the background of those who are working in the area. BACKGROUND OF PROFESSIONAL FORECASTERS To get a handle on the background of professional forecasters, we asked three questions to the participants in our survey. (1) What is highest degree you have acquired? (2) What was your major field of concentration in university? (3) What is your business background? The resulting data show that most of the forecasters have a Bachelor’s (50%) or a Master’s degree (43%). There is a very small percentage of forecasters that are just high school graduates. On the other extreme, there are even fewer forecasters with a Ph.D. degree. (See Figure 1) The highest degree is one thing; what their major in university was something else. ...