With regard to becoming an "expert" at a think tank, start writing op-eds and other things like that. If you can independently establish your ability to get published often in the journalistic press, many think tanks will love you.

My final suggestion, instead of becoming a think tank "expert," go do something useful. Work for a government or company and actually get real experience, so you can provide advice grounded in real world experience. We don't need more pontificating talking heads who have never actually done policy work.

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You have persistence, that is good.

I did not notice there have been so many same posts till now... I could not post just now, so I tried many times... There was probably something wrong with the website... Sorry for that if it disturbs you.

I have heard that the competition for an entry-level job in think tanks is extremely heated. Also, the job choice for a PhD student who does not want to work in academia is quite limited. So I am feeling a bit stressed. Shall I give up my IA plan and do something more REALISTIC? I need your suggestion. Thanks.

Since you should presumably decide which field you will major in based on your actual scholarly interest, the only decision left is which minor to pair that minor with. So, if you want to do IR, you need to decide whether you want IR/CP, IR/AP or IR/Methods, or IR/theory

At that point you should ask yourself what will help you with your actual research most. If you want to expand your teaching options (in an effort to be eligible for more teaching positions), all the main fields are fine (CP,AP,IR and PT). PT maybe less so since there are few jobs. Methods would not help there.

If you want to improve your research, you should think about what will actually help there and be instrumental about it. It's not hard--for some PT will help a great deal (IR types doing IR theory), others will value methods. For some doing IPE or security, American or CP would be preferable, depending on their particular topics.

If you can't think this through logically you shouldn't be a social scientist, just FYI.

I completely disagree. Environmental politics will still be hot, China will still be hot, Middle East will likely still be hot, and so forth.

I am a second year PhD student, who is going to confirm the major and minor. My question is: which background (IR+CP, IR+Method, or CP+Method), generally, may be more helpful to get a job, regardless other conditions, such as publications, teaching experiences, etc?

The question sounds funny, since most PhD students have got a clear idea what areas they will focus on, even before their applications. However, considering the current job market, I think a more pragmatic rethinking of this question is necessary. Hence, I ask for any comments or discussions on this issue. I heard before that a Method minor may increase one's competence to get a job (as a, whether teaching oriented or researching oriented, faculty). Nevertheless, a friend who tries to find a job recently told me that maybe a IR+CP background is more useful now, considering there have been many methodologists yielded in the past five years.

So, to prevent that my friend's case is an outlier, I here ask you people's opinion and info about this question. Thank you.

However for a more specialized search you might have more look, especially if you really fit what they are looking for.