Pros
- immediately handle complex casework because they are understaffed - relaxed environment where even senior analysts are happy to explain things to you - go on verification missions all around the world for the cases (expect to go 3 to 4 times a year and trips are 2 or 3 weeks long depending on if it's AD or CVD) (mostly Asia but there are cases from everywhere, luck of the draw vibes) - if you are interested in the steel and aluminum industries, most of the cases have to do with that
Cons
- as with all federal jobs right now, there have been lots of radical changes in policies (ie. 5-day in person work week) (note: E&C is revenue generating and the result of the work is targetted tariffs that "protect Ameican businesses," so every administration especially this one likes it, meaning no cuts here) - understaffed and casework is increasing, so it's stressful because there are lots of competing deadlines and cases require so much effort - the work itself IMO can be really tedious - the training is trash, you do a training course in the beginning but that is just teaching you what the point of AD/CVD work is and what are the deliverables in a case not how actually to do anything (it feels like you're being set up to fail lowkey but everyone was in the same boat once and talks about the steep learning curve, so you just have to reach out for help constantly)