jcoool98

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.

tcapp

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

dfrostnh

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.

seetheworld

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.

gail

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.

OO

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

girlonthego

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.

bill_boy

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

Apply as a cabin attendant with airline companies.

Seamus

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.

LadyOLeisure

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).

cfntmpn

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!

pbhomey

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

GoTravel

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.

rb_travelerxATyahoo

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.

jorr

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.

travelgirl_67

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!

GoTravel

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.

wsoxrebel

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...

travelgirl_67

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.

cb

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!