jobs requiring travel
 

am a college senior looking for a job for after I graduate. I want to do something that reqires travel. If possible, I would like something in the travel or outdoor industry. Please let me know of careers you might know of. Thanks.

See if your guidance counselor has any ideas. Loads of companies have jobs that require travel.

A friend's son is apply for a chef's job with a cruise line but he's a graduate of Johnson and Wales. Another friend's husband travels for work all the time... but usually doesn't get much free time in the country he is visiting. On the plus side he gets loads of frequent flyer miles. A civil engineer we know gets some fishing time and a lot of outdoor time in the state where he lives. A friend's son and his wife bought a fifth wheel and take short term nursing assignments throughout the US. They spend a few months in each area. Good luck in your search.

Gee, what are you educated or trained to do? As a college senior, by now you should have some sort of focus. Visit your career center. Speak to your professors. Geesh - attend job fairs at your college.

I could tell you right now, you can travel the world as an auditor, but unless you are receiving a degree in accounting, that will not happen.
Something like that requires a little planning.

Talk to someone in the career center. Good luck.

Most jobs that require travel are not in "travel industry" but in fields such as mentioned above. Jobs such as sales, accounting, consulting, etc. often require travel - but one must first establish some knowledge and experience in that field. Traveling nurses take assignments from 6 weeks up - but again, not usually for new graduates. It just makes sense - everyone needs some orientation, job training beyond formal college education no matter what job they do - and it is much more practical for an amployer to do that when the employee stays put someplace for a period of time.

So if this is a medium-term rather than immediate goal, I would look for compaies in your field of study that are larger national or international companies.

As the spouse of someone who travels for business, I am assuming you realize that travel for fun is far different than travel for work. My husband gets to see very little of the places to which he travels - unless you count the downtown business areas of cities or the meeting room at a Hilton travel. Those traveling for longer assignments staying over weekends obviously get to experience more.

As far as the outdoor industry, I might look at National Park Service - but I imagine this would be more relocation than travel.

I am not trying in any way to be discouraging - if I had anything to do over in my life I would have tried more different things when I was your age - just go into it with your eyes open.

Meanwhile, while you still have health insurance, update your immunizations and take care of any nagging health issues. And make sure you have a passport.

Meeting planners scope out the sites under consideration for their meetings. Their accommodations are normally comped to boot.

Sales is a job that often requires travel. It is also a career that will offer some incentive trips for big producers. Now, it is often difficult to get the territories that are highly desirable to travel to!
Staying in a Hampton Inn week after week in the middle of nowhere is traveling for a job, but most likely not the kind of traveling you want!! In order to get the top areas, it could be highly competitive and could mean years of being a non traveler working under the people in the top area.
Good luck.

The most obvious one might not have been suggested to you, yet.

Apply as a cabin attendant with airline companies.

OO took the words right out of my mouth - I know several meeting planners who travel regularly as part of their job. With some large firms there are staff who just do site scouting, not the actual meeting management, which means you are doing a lot of "familiarization" trips. This entails a property showing off their services in hopes that it will encourage you to sell them to your clients, and they genreally treat you quite well. Be forewarned that salaries are not that great, especially starting out. Also, this is a job, and one does not generally have the ability to take a few extra days at each trip for personal touring. If you get into the actual meeting management part of the business, you may stay on property for the duration of the meeting, but again it is work and the amount of free time is typically quite limited.

Check out Marriott -- my daughter worked for them while in college and seriously considered them after graduation. They will assign you to one place for your initial training stints, but you can transfer around after a certain point. Understand that the "hospitality industry" requires people who can remain calm under stress in dealing with the general public, as well as exhibit leadership and management skills in order to succeed and progress up to more lucrative positions. They have great employee travel benefits (and properties all over the world).

Where are you located? I am an Event Planner and CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) ~ have been for 15 years. I started working in-house for the headquarters of an Insurance Company for 5 years, then worked for a Meeting & Events company, and now work independently.

I have my own clients and also contract with several companies out East that conduct meetings nationwide.

As for the pay - you might start out (with experience) around 35K. My last in-house corporate position as a Director paid in excess of 65K - not bad considering I also traveled all over the country on someone elses dime.

Work can be extremely chaotic but very rewarding. You MUST be disciplined, detail oriented, service oriented and have the ability to think on your feet and be graceful under pressure (and your client breathing down your neck if someone is not going well).

The reason I ask where you live is because there are tons of opportunities right now in the Eastern part of the country. One of the largest employer of meeting planners is the pharmaceutical industry - which are mostly located out east.

I work with a very successful M&E company that offers internships. You really have to network in this business to get jobs if you want to be independent. If you are more interested in working in-house you can start as an asistant - which are also offered right now. Go to monster.com and look up meeting planner or events - it will give you an idea of whats out there.

As an FYI - once you gain a position where you are responsible for a group, you generally get alot of freedom to take additonal time before and after the event to check out the area and have some independent time. Most bosses out there undersand that meeting planners work gobs of hours, including weekends and it's not heard of to spend time before and after the event to reap some of your hard work. I have been in every state of the country, and a lot of areas in Mexico, and Cananda and can say that I have been able to actively participate in the areas. I have brought my husband on several trips (I pay for the plane ticket - he bunks with me in my room).

Also - www.mpiweb.org also has a job board and a very informative website. There is an MPI association in just about every major city in the country and it is one of the best ways to get your feet in the door and get info to see if this is something that you would be interested in doing.

Good Luck!

If you get a BS or BA, you can teach English in many parts of the world. It's quite easy!

Hotel Group Sales (Sales Manager). All they do is travel.

Fantastic travel perks and starting pay is decent. Entry level is usually low to mid 40s with the larger chains (Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Sheraton, etc.)

Get your foot in the front door now before you graduate. Hotels like to hire from within.

Want to travel & get paid? Join the military.

Keep in mind that business travel and leisure travel are two different creatures. I love leisure travel, I detest business travel, where employers often make you leave town on the 5:50am and return on the 8:20pm so that you get a full day of billable time with the client yet no extra nights of hotel charges must be incurred. Yes, some employers are better than others, but look into this very closely.

You might get what you wish for.

The better you are as a people person the more your company will fly you around to represent their company. Develop your skills with communication and "selling people". Companies will always fly out the person with the best ability to communicate their ideas to someone instead of someone who is not as good at that as you.

I'm with rb_travelerxATyahoo re: business travel. I love traveling for pleasure but don't always enjoy traveling for business. One of the most important things you need to decide upon is just how much of the time you are willing to travel.

During my tenure with Marriott, I spent 3 of the years traveling the country 85-90% of the time opening new hotels. I would spend 3 days at one hotel and then off to the next...may sound glamorous to some but trust me it wasn't. One day you would be in 30 degree weather with snow up to your eyes and the next in Miami swealtering in your business suit while everyone around you was in a bather.

That much travel begins to take its toll on you in many ways. It's pretty hard to develop relationships (platonic and romantic) when you are only in town 1 day every 3 weeks and when you are home all you want to do is sleep, pay bills and sleep.

Granted the perks are great...lots of FF miles build up...but with all that traveling for work, you never have time for vacation. After leaving the corporate job of traveling the country, I went to work at a property again and that GM didn't believe in vacation for herself or her mgt staff so when I left Marriott 3 years later, I had 100,000+ FF miles and 8 weeks of unused vacation!

Working in the hospitality industry is fabulous if you're doing it because you genuinely love to work with and serve people. It is a fascinating industry with so many different areas of interest. There are definite perks of discount room rates but the pay is not as grand as some would think.

With about 7 months until you graduate, you do have a lot to think about regarding your future career. I do agree with other posters that your first stop should most definitely be the career services department at your college and if it is not too late, get an internship in the Spring.

Best Wishes!

Agree with travelgirl and rb that business travel is a whole different animal than leisure travel.

After being a road warrior for almost six years, it is next to impossible to get me on an airplane these days.

Not because I'm afraid to fly, quite the opposite. It is because of my hatred of the hassle from flying for work.

What a strange bird to be in the travel industry - "GM didn't believe in vacation for herself"

You would think hotel companies would want their executive team to travel to better understand customer needs.

I'm also surprised the local policy didn't raise red flags with corporate. From an audit perspective, most embezzlers never take vacation...

Yes wsoxrebel it was rather strange her not taking vacations being in the hospitality biz. I know there's no worries about embezzelment as I've know the woman for 13 years and she is so by the book it's frightening...she's just one of those women that beleives that if you're going to make it in a "man's world" (as the old saying goes) you have to work 5 times as hard and long as a man. I personally felt it set the wrong example for our younger staff as they would perceive in order to be successful within Marriott you had to work 60+ hours a week and not have a life.

The reason the policy didn't raise any flags with corporate was that the hotel was VERY successful and as is generally the case, if a team is successful, mgt doesn't pay much attention to the smaller details. As long as $$$ is flowing in and guests aren't complaining...Mgt is happy.

cfntmpn-
I don't want to hijack this thread, but would you mind telling me what your background is? This is what my daughter would like to do, and wonder if she's doing the right things. She's a junior in college, majoring in communications (public relations), minoring in business & spanish. She's at Texas A&M right now & is considering getting an MBA in business after her undergraduate degree. She's hoping to do an internship this summer & perhaps studying abroad. She wonders if it wouldn't be smarter to work for a while before her MBA, just so she has some experience. Any words of wisdom you could send my way would be much appreciated!

I have a degree in Journalism (they called it that in my day) and I worked for many years in PR and I traveled a lot. My degree had an emphasis on PR so that helped. My daughter now has a degree in Communications and she is in PR for a large very pretigious hotel chain and she travels a lot to their various properties. It is hard work and long hours but she is young and energetic and loves it. I would try to get into some PR type job (even if for very little pay) before graduating from college as you definitely have some experience and an in when you graduate. The Journalism School at my University helped us find jobs in our field while in college and it was very beneficial. Good Luck!!

Ask not what your country can do for you.

Ask what you can do for your country.

Go Army and make your parents proud.

travelgirl--the Marriott GM's habits sound very familiar, but all the GMs I know (in major hotels) work the same hours...it's a 60 hour a week job at least. My DH is GM of a 650 room hotel. M-F he is at his desk by 7 and doesn't leave before 6:45 in the evening, and only that early because he has a 1/2 hr drive home now. He goes in for 3 hours more on Saturday when, as he puts it, the phones are quiet and he can get a lot done. His last hotel, 430 rooms, where we lived in, it was 7-7:15 M-F and a half day Saturday as well. He has 5 or 6 weeks vacation and I doubt he takes 3, simply because there is "never a good time" to get away. Leaving for 3 weeks at one time? Never!! And while he doesn't feel his staff has to do the same, if they have a major function in their dept, they probably should plan their vacation so they will not be away then!!

He <i>loves</i> what he does, really loves it, and what more can you ask for in a job!! It is never dull, fabulous tales come from his days at work as you might imagine, every day is different and a challenge, plus the pay is outstanding by this level...with some pretty nice perks...cars and all expenses associated with them, including gas, maintenance and ins, free rooms at any hotels stateside and often abroad as well and if not free there, then heavily discounted. We do travel, but never for long blocks of time. Even then he's not far away mentally--voice mail is checked daily as long as we are in the country! At the same time the job was demanding, he always made time for the kids--Indian Guide and Indian Princess with them, and I doubt he ever missed a soccer game. He's high energy...ready to go even when he gets home from a long day so I don't feel any of us have suffered because of his hours. It's really been a terrific career from all our perspectives. I have always felt it didn't much matter what he did...he could be a trash collector and he'd still be working the hours he does. There are people who do that no matter the job, but this one does make demands on time. If you have a big client in the hotel, and that client has a function, you are going to have your presence felt.

His company loves moving their GMs around, more so than Marriott. We can expect to move every 4 years but it was less so getting to this level, and during the economic down turn, there was no movement at all. With few hotels opening and some closing, there was no domino effect to send us off to new digs (happily). If I could change one aspect of his job, it would be the moves. Although exciting at one point in our lives, I no longer am keen on picking up and re-establishing myself all over again, making new friends, finding my way around a new city etc. That has gotten old along with me. :)

It does take a special person to be successful...I could <i>never</i> in the wide world do it...oh the things I would say!! LOL

cb-
I doubled my major at Purdue with Marketing and Public Relations. Little did I know until my last semester of my Senior Year that Purdue actually has a hospitality degree! There are a few schools around that have degrees in Meeting Planning - I know of one in PA.

All that I can tell you about my background is that I always loved projects - even in college i used to wonder what kind of job can I get that I can sit down and do &quot;projects&quot; all the time. Well, this fits the bill.

I can't offer any advice about a Masters vs. going out into the &quot;real world&quot; and getting a job - but, I can offer a few things regarding getting your foot into the door of event planning.

#1 - www.mpiweb.org - I can't stress how great this organization is, and the website. They have chapters all over the country in just about every city. You can go to meetings, hear others talk about their jobs and how they got started, work their booths during events to get exposure with experienced people in the industry. They also have a job board - it's kind of trickey to find - look at the bottom left hand corner of the web page.

#2 go to monster.com or hotjobs.com and enter &quot;meeting planner&quot; or &quot;events&quot; in the search line. Don't pick a geographic location - this way you will see all of the jobs out there. I recommend doing this because then you can see all of the different jobs out there, including asst's, etc...

#3 Contact the local Convention &amp; Visitors Bureau - they hire people all of the time for conventions and events going on that need on-site assistance. This is not going to pay alot but it will give you some exposure and experience.

#4 Be a &quot;go getter&quot; - I can't tell you how many people that I work with when I freelance that stick to the walls and take direction only. Of course, as a &quot;newbie&quot; you can't offer alot of advice, but always stand up and ask &quot;what can I do next&quot; and ALWAYS ask how to do something if you don't know how or haven't been given specific instruction. (good) Meeting Planners know exactly how they want things done - if they are in charge of the group they have done alot of work to figure out how things are going to be done - don't assume you know.

Being bi-lingual is excellent! It opens up oppty's to travel throughout the world with groups. I have had to refuse jobs because I am not - one of my biggest regrets.

Hope all of this helps.

If you want loads of International travel then look for multinational organizations such as oil or consumer products companies. As you gain experience you can travel a great deal and perhaps have an expatriate assignment. But I'll echo the others in the fact that you need to first develop some skills and expertise in your chosen field before you'll be paid to take that experience elsewhere.

cfn, from a Director of Sales &amp; Marketing perspective from a couple of hotels, MPI is only a great thing if you are a planner and not a supplier. I've belonged to MPI-VA, GaMPI, MPI-CC and tried to join the NYC branch due to it being my specific territory for a while. The common denominator in all is that planners look at suppliers like the necessary evil.

I've also been a member of several southeastern association executive associations (GSAE, SCSAE, VSAE, ASAE/National etc) and while it was a little better, still the planners get a little abused (the planners will pay for it!).

Also, one of my girlfriends got her MM in Meeting Planning (is that the correct? Not CMP as she has that) from I think the University of Missouri? She was one of the first 200 people to obtain this.

OO-hotel business is great isn't it? I think the perks and the fact that it is different every single day makes up for the downsides.

I think the advice to visit your school's career center is something worth noting.

They can match your interests up far better to your grades and educational focus than those of us only know half the story.

10 years ago, the obvious choice would have been the airline industry. But, now not so much.

BTW, if you're really intent on enjoying the travel business, make sure you understand the differentiation between that and traveling for business. Getting into another field where you will travel is a very, very different thing.

Trust me, as exciting as business travel sounds, anyone who has done it can tell you the unpleasant realities.

One of the most unpleasant aspects for me is the absolute disgust I felt for the leisure travelers while flying!

How stupid is that?

Here I am promoting sales for a resort hotels and I can't stand the leisure traveler.

cb,
Didn't notice the MBA question you had until now. There is no answer that fits everyone.

But, having work experience and an MBA in most cases makes one more valueable than simply an MBA with only internships. But, again depends on the person and their area of interest.

If your daughter's intention is to get into a top 20 business school and then head into a top consulting or Wall Street firm, 99% of the time they'd like to see 3 years, at least, or real world experience unless you are a certified genius.

Truck driver. Lots of travel.

cfntmpn-
Thank you so much for your reply. I have cut &amp; pasted and sent your response to my daughter. I know that she will appreciate it also! Thanks again....

cfn, out of curiosity, does anyone become a meeting planner who hasn't first cut their teeth on the supply side of things?

I think anyone straight out of college will have a very tough time going into the planning business because almost all of the planning jobs are commission only.

My best friend who is a CMP and a DOS&amp;M for a huge resort in the southeast is trying to jump sides now and get into the planning side of things.

With a Bachelor of Art in Hospitality Mngt, a CMP, and 15 years in the hotel business, she isn't getting anywhere.

Any jobs she is getting offered (Helms Briscoe and several others) are strictly commission posititions.

Heifer Project International, a nonprofit organization with main headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas but offices EVERYWHERE. My friend, who has a MBA, works in their corporate partnership department, and travels extensively. She just got back from Ireland and Amsterdam. She had several days in each location to be a tourist as well as her work duties. They have a website with career opportunities on it.

GoT I'm up there with your friend. After spending many years with Marriott I did get fortunate and make the jump to event planning for non-profits in LA and Boston. Since moving back home to Charleston, I've tried to move over to the corporate side and with my degree and experience all I hear is &quot;you're too qualified&quot;. As great of a city as Charleston is, the corporate event side is slim pickings...we need more conventions in this town to increase the job market for planners. I've had the same offers from HB and the like but am not big on commission work. I will say I have been fortunate to have landed some great contracts with Family Circle, Davis Cup, World Cup @ Kiawah and some other major sporting and entertainment events that have occurred but a corp event job is my goal.

If I wanted to be a wedding planner, I'd have no problem getting a job...but after working with brides on a limited basis in the hotels, NO WAY do I want to work with them as my full-time job...YIKES!!

Best wishes to your friend...I feel her pain.

travelgirl, that was what I was wondering with cfn. It just simply doesn't seem to be that easy getting the great planning jobs.

cb, the jobs with the CVBs are usually entry level. If your daughter needs a job that pays, she'll have to go on the hotel side first.

Meeting planning jobs (the good ones) don't go to those with out a lot of experience. You can't get experience without experience.

I'm sure we know many of the same people since I'm in the Charleston area!

I do miss the hotel biz but I got so tired of traveling I got out.

I'm now in marketing for a golf course group and I'll be back on the road in February! Oh no!

Go Travel,
A job that pays is certainly on top of her father's and my list!!! She's also in a sorority, so it seems like the $$'s are constantly flowing, and not in our direction! She's really too involved in school right now to think about paying jobs, but we like to keep reminding her that now is the time to start looking and researching. She does attend the college's career days, so at least that's something. Ohhhh, just the thought of her making money makes me smile.........

The easiest way to get into cfn's line of work is to start in hotel sales.

That is where most hotel sales people hope to end up.

I have never had a commission job. I don't even understand how that would work. And I have NEVER planned weddings (my own was enough drama, thank you)
And I have NEVER worked for a hotel or the supply side of meetings.

Of course you have to have experience to get jobs planning in the corporate world - but there are alot out there. Especially out East (NJ is full of them).

My current billable hours are $60/per and I have three companies that I contract with, average 14 days a month.

I also have two clients who sign an annual contract for my services - I organize all of their events for the year. Each contract is approximately $30-35K each, plus expenses of course.

I should mention that one of my specialties is writing script and producing shows for National Conventions. I gained both of my clients by references who worked corporate with me on other shows. I manage and direct the show in addition to the other &quot;usual&quot; meeting planner responsibilites - hotel contract negotiations, Food &amp; Beverage, overnight room management, vendor &amp; sponsorship management, staffing, registration, a/v, etc....

I can see how starting with a hotel would be a great foot-in-the-door way to gain experience, but I have never worked in one. I have often thought that being a CSM (convention services manager) would be a great job for someone who is interested in planning.

Go-Travel:
&quot;With a Bachelor of Art in Hospitality Mngt, a CMP, and 15 years in the hotel business, she isn't getting anywhere&quot;

These are exactly my credentials - BA/BS PR/Mktg from Purdue, CMP, 15 years in Corporate Meetings &amp; Events (well, not exactly - I have always worked corporate, not hotel).

Has she looked on monster or hotjobs? There are ALOT of jobs out there! I will say that I am very aggresive and resourceful looking for jobs and you really have to network. I have acquired contracts with 3 different companies from references from other meeting planners that i have met on other jobs.

I will say that I have been lucky enough to have kept relationships with every single boss I have ever had in my corporate experience and I constantly keep in contact with them and email them for references and ask them if they know of anyone who needs help.

I am not too proud to work. I will do day jobs that others might think are &quot;below them&quot;, but once people see my professionalism and witness my experience it doesn't take long until they offer me bigger jobs at bigger rates.

Sorry if I sound like I'm &quot;tooting my own horn&quot; but I really love my work and recommend it to young people who are out there looking for a great job.

cfntmpn, I'm like you in not being too proud to do any job. I'm actually right now on a contract with an entertainment mgt company doing a good deal of office work in preparation for one of the artist's album release and tour. Some times I feel like I'm doing grunt work but I remind myself, it's helping pay the bills plus I'm learning a lot about the behind the scenes of the music industry. Every job teaches us something if we're open to it.

So as not to hyjack this thread, any chance I could get your email as I have a few biz questions for you? Or if you'd prefer to email me at [email protected], I'd really appreciate it.

I didn't read every single response to this thread so I hope noone has already said this but have you looked into working for a tour company? They take travelers all over the world on escorted tours. The biggest companies that come to mind are Globus &amp; Tauck.