[grassgreener]

I can confirm. I didn't go all the way to the PhD, doors opened earlier than that for a basic analytic job (and the compensations don't make you think twice about staying an extra 5 years in academic).

Econometrics, and by extension statistics, is the most sell-able assets you have as a fresh grad. It is so transferable that you can pretty much work in any industries. I fitted models to forecast water pollution. Although, I should add that most tasks required from analyst are: data cleaning and descriptive analysis.

From there you can demonstrate all the other skills (project management for example) and evolve in whatever position interest you the most.