Jobs that require TRAVEL--- (100k, business, education, benefit)

[M3 Mitch]

There are several kinds of road jobs. Probably the most extreme is trucking, where your job is to be on the road, and you are getting paid per mile driven. Then there are the jobs where you travel in a company car, or your own car and get mileage pay. If you are driving your own car on the job, you'll probably not make enough for the car to pay all the extra wear and tear, from what I hear.

Then there are jobs that involve some flying to meetings, or flying out to do work for a client. This is what I have had some experince at. This can be OK particularly if you are single. As previously posted, you get elite status at one or more airlines and hotels, you get to see the country.

Flying was more fun about 10 - 15 years ago than it is now. Back then it seemed like I could always get an upgrade to first class, particularly if I used my head and flew out a day early and/or stayed an extra personal day, so as to avoid the Platinum Horde who fly every Sunday and Friday. Anymore it's hard to get upgraded. A colleague flew 100K miles last year with an airline I won't name, and didn't get upgraded even once. And of course all the DHS nonsense, security in the absence of pocketknives, toothpaste, and shampoo.....don't get me started.

[caligurltotx]

Crew Chief, What about drivers for UPS or Fed EX? I thought they pulled in about $60,000 to $70,000 a yr. I am talking VETS that have been there for some yrs.

[Dd714]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

Flying was more fun about 10 - 15 years ago than it is now. Back then it seemed like I could always get an upgrade to first class, particularly if I used my head and flew out a day early and/or stayed an extra personal day, so as to avoid the Platinum Horde who fly every Sunday and Friday. Anymore it's hard to get upgraded. A colleague flew 100K miles last year with an airline I won't name, and didn't get upgraded even once. And of course all the DHS nonsense, security in the absence of pocketknives, toothpaste, and shampoo.....don't get me started.

Yeah I was just thinking that last night. Flying just plain sucks now, this is compared to 10 and 20 years ago. I used to enjoy flying - relaxing, and you get some perks as a frequent flyer. Now it's just stress - dirty airports and crowded airports, going through security, crowded plains, everyone bringing these giant suitcases that they are trying to shove into the overhead bins, flights always late or canceled, dirty planes, no food, grouchy flight attendants and bad service. It's like riding a bus now. I have medallion member frequent flyer status - sometimes I get upgrades, but frequent flyer points have been "devalued", you don't get nearly as much for your flying anymore. Takes longer to get free flights, less upgrades, and less seats available to use your frequent flights on.

[aus10]

My husband just celebrated his 30th year of traveling for a living. He does cross-country construction. He has been gone from "home" (when we had one) as little as a few weeks, to as much as 18 months. After the kid was raised and off to college, we decided to sell the house and we now travel full-time with the job. Home is wherever the contractor has work for us.

There are many pro's and con's to this lifestyle.

Pro's:
Better than average salary
Meeting lots of new and interesting people and friends
Getting to see A LOT of the US. (48 states and counting)
No homeowners taxes, insurance and responsibility....

Con's
No home, thus no "roots."
No home and living in an RV means less "stuff"
Being away from family and friends
Can have large amounts of down time between jobs

[Crew Chief]

Originally Posted by caligurltotx

Crew Chief, What about drivers for UPS or Fed EX? I thought they pulled in about $60,000 to $70,000 a yr. I am talking VETS that have been there for some yrs.

Hi Caligurltotx! UPS drivers make GREAT money! The thing is that you've gotta be REALLY good, have a perfect driving/customer service record to even be considered for employment there. They don't hire anyone straight out of truck driving school! Since they pay so well, they can hand-pick their drivers and there are a LOT more of us good ones out here than there are jobs at UPS!

As for Fed EX, most of their drivers are owner-operators or drivers that work for those owner-operators. I've talked to many Fed EX O/O's and drivers and they like working at Fed EX in most cases. And UPS is a union carrier, with it's protections and problems... But the best money is at UPS, from what I've heard. I guess I'm a little odd, but wearing brown shorts and pulling double trailers has never been my thing!

[mkfarnam]

FEMA is always looking for more workers

I have friend that work for FEMA(Federal Emergency Managment Agency) and Haliburton.
Both of them travel "internationally" on emergency basis", and are on call 24/7.
There have been times where my friend with FEMA has been called directly from one job to another 4-5 time back to back and was gone from home over 2 months.

[k350]

Originally Posted by missnew2nc

Hello good people---

I wanted to find out MORE information about travelling jobs. Has anyone had a travelling job and loved it or hated it?

How long does it take for a person to become "burned" out from travelling?

I was offered a job that pays OK, but it involves travel throughtout the US. Some months I might only travel 6 days a month and other months it might be more. If you work a job that requires travel what do you do on the days that you arent flying across the US?

I have had two and offered a third.

I was in the military and traveled all over, especially the last 3 years I was in.

I worked on boiler controls and I had to travel all over the southeast, got tired of that real quick and quit.

I was offered a job biulding water towers, it is a travel to a job site job where most if not everyone brings a little travel trailer and lives on the job site until the project is done.

[AlwaysBeachin]

I'll jump in with a nice long post since I travel 50% for my job. I'm an auditor in my mid 20s, not married but I do have a g/f; so marriage is soon around the corner. I'll tell you I loved it at first like most on here. It was exciting and you weren't stuck in a cube farm all day bored. It gets old fast though. I am lucky enough to not have to work until 10pm or midnight preparing for the next day like some; however, if I am working larger audit with other coworkers, I may be stuck working until 7 or 8 if the supervisor deems it's necessary. Personally, I never work past 5 if I go alone to a site (if you're organized and plan ahead, there's no reason you should have to work past 5 with my job). Here are some pros and cons of the job:

Pros:

1. Frequent flier status and hotel status quickly; nice rewards, perks, etc. and the ability to vacation on your own virtually free of charge when you want
2. You get to see the country/world and eat at a variety of really good restaurants on the company.
3. Travel jobs tend to pay more...why? because no one else wants to do it (see cons below)
4. Telecommuting. Working from home when not on the road is great. You can work in your underwear at your leisure with the tv on. You don't deal with the boring gray office walls, the stiff rules, the kindergarten level politics that go on. (I used to think when I became an adult that the "grown up" world was professional and people acted decently. Wrong--corporate America is adult kindergarten. You have the bullies, the liars, backstabbers, tattletales, gossipers, and people who will knock you down to get to the top.

Cons:

1. Flying does plain suck nowadays. Out of the countless trips I've been on this year, I think 2 were on time. Life in the airport sucks, even if you have the cool airport lounge privileges like I do. The clubs are jam packed on Mondays and Fridays so it's as bad as sitting at the gate. Forget getting home on time Friday night to enjoy your weekend. Plan on being delayed or canceled every single Friday. Oh yeah wake up at 4am to take a 6am flight out on Monday morning, get to the office and then work all day. That's fun too.

2. Hotel rooms are lonely but they're your only refuge. If you're like me and you've worked all day, especially if you're on a trip with co-workers, you may not always be in a social mood. You just want to go back to your hotel, read the forums (he he) or watch tv and be left alone. You feel obligated when your coworkers or boss wants to go eat dinner or if you get invited by someone at the local office to attend some evening event after work. There goes your peace and quiet time alone (a BIG pet peeve if I don't get some "me" time in). My preference is to go straight to the hotel, order delivery (usually unhealthy...see other post about gaining weight when traveling), shower, and relax before bed.

3. Your home life suffers. Because with Con #1, air travel is just not worth it anymore. Forget enjoying a Friday night. If you even make it home on Friday, consider yourself lucky, even if it's a midnight arrival due to delays, flight cancellations, etc. If you travel the following week you have Saturday at home to enjoy. Usually you have home errands to take care of, so you can't always rest that day. Sunday is wash and pack and get ready for the following week. Get to bed early so you can get up at 4am to take that 6am flight out Monday..remember? Oh yeah, miss out on family events, dinners, etc. because your fate lies in the hands of the airlines.

5. You may complain about the town where you live but after traveling, you love home so much, it wouldn't bother you if you didn't leave your hometown for a couple of years.

6. If your company does not give you a corporate card and instead makes you pay your travel expenses and get reimbursed, you get to play money management and rack up a few grand on your credit card and get the inconvenience of having to get an expense check, deposit it, then pay your bills. It sucks when the office doesn't reimburse you timely and you've got 2-3 trips on your personal credit card. It gets annoying.

7. Like another poster said, you must plan your own vacation around your business trips--a big inconvenience.

8. While those frequent flier and hotel perks are nice as mentioned in the Pros above, honestly, the last thing you want to do when your home is get back on a plane and go somewhere else. Hawaii and the Caribbean sound nice, but you cringe when thinking about getting on another plane. You prefer to just stay at home and either do nothing or work on your personal hobbies. Your significant other won't understand because he/she most likely doesn't travel and is eager to go someplace different so that can be an issue.

9. In regard to those great frequent flier and hotel perks again in the Pros section--because air travel has become mass chaos and the economy is in the toilet, there are so many restrictions on points and air fare awards that you end up using double the points to fly on leisure travel because the lower "saver" awards are never available.

10. You eat out so much you can't stand it anymore. A home cooked meal is a blessing.

I'm sure there are others, and many have been mentioned before. Think long and hard before you want to do that. Like someone said, you may be stuck as a road warrior. These jobs pay more and if you start out young making more money, it will be hard for you to find a job off the road without taking a pay cut. Everyone knows once you make a certain amount, you adjust your lifestyle accordingly. Think about it before you do that. Some thrive on travel, it eats others alive. Some thrive on it in the beginning and burn out fast. Once you burn out, it can be hell to get on a plane on those Mondays. Think about what's really important to you. I have found that having my job really makes me want to focus more on my family, personal life and hobbies. I realize that I'm throwing my life away to corporate America for a paycheck while not getting to see and be around my loved ones. I have limited time to work on hobbies and feel guilty at times when I do because I feel like I should spend more time with my g/f. It's hard to divide your time evenly.

I know this post is a novel but from someone who got the travel itch, landed a job, worked the job, then had a change of perspective, it might help others out there who really are unsure if they want to do this. And yes...as much as I love travel, I am sick of it. I am uncertain what I want out of my future, but it doesn't involve life in a cube. I think I'd be ok with 25% travel maximum. That's enough to keep from being bored yet spare your home/family life from suffering.

[Rumble]

I think it depends on the type of travel, but from personal experience as a field auditor with 50% (every other week away from home) travel, DOMESTIC business travel is highly overrated and quickly tiresome for most professions.

I believe that the flaw most prospective job seekers make is that they believe they will have all kinds of opportunities to see exciting new places...

WRONG!

That is leisure travel, NOT business travel (which is what you will be doing). In addition to your normal duties (45-50 hours a week), you have to take into account the HOURS you will also have to spend:

A. Preparing expense reports
B. Scheduling
C. Packing
D. Doing laundry / Ironing
C. Researching your next destination / meeting / location
E. The headaches of reorganizing your entire life over all of the above.

All of these add an additional 3-4 hours a week on top of your normal workload. Unless you are being WELL compensated... DON'T DO IT!

[AlwaysBeachin]

Originally Posted by Rumble

I think it depends on the type of travel, but from personal experience as a field auditor with 50% (every other week away from home) travel, DOMESTIC business travel is highly overrated and quickly tiresome for most professions.

I believe that the flaw most prospective job seekers make is that they believe they will have all kinds of opportunities to see exciting new places...

WRONG!

That is leisure travel, NOT business travel (which is what you will be doing). In addition to your normal duties (45-50 hours a week), you have to take into account the HOURS you will also have to spend:

A. Preparing expense reports
B. Scheduling
C. Packing
D. Doing laundry / Ironing
C. Researching your next destination / meeting / location
E. The headaches of reorganizing your entire life over all of the above.

All of these add an additional 3-4 hours a week on top of your normal workload. Unless you are being WELL compensated... DON'T DO IT!

I agree. I do the same thing as Rumble. My schedule is 50%, being on the road every other week. Lately it has turned into 3-4 weeks in a row and may continue. I'm NOT happy either.