So you want to see the world — and you'd like to get paid to do it. Why not? It's a global economy, and, despite the proliferation of gadgets that let us meet and greet virtually, business travel is still a part of many jobs.
Obviously, flight attendants, travel writers, roving reporters and cruise ship staff are going places, but so are people in many other professions — including some that you might not suspect.
 Photos by LEITA COWART/Special |
| Allison Laird, a manager with the mergers and acquisitions tax group at KPMG, packs her laptop for a business trip. She travels several times a month to meet with clients. |
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| Michael Hughes (left), president of MFH & Associates, gets a hand from D. Scott Smith of Nine West Footwear while unloading a bag of shoes onto an exhibit at Cobb Galleria. Hughes spends a lot of time on the road to assemble and dismantle exhibits at trade shows and to 'break bread' with clients. |
When Allison Laird decided to become an accountant, she didn't think of travel as part of the equation. As a manager with the mergers and acquisitions tax group at KPMG, a global financial-services company, she travels almost every week to see clients.
"I wanted to travel, to see different places, and I really enjoy it," said Laird, who has been to many states in the last four years. "Almost always when I travel, I experience something new — new cities, new experiences and new people."
Last year, KPMG's tax group sent 19 U.S. young professionals to 15 countries, and Laird was selected for a coveted three-month assignment in London.
"I was doing the same kind of work I do here, but from a U.K. tax perspective. We have member companies in the [United Kingdom], and learning their system helps us all work better together," she said. Her husband was able to take a leave of absence and join her for part of the time.
"I think travel can have a positive impact on your career. You gain exposure to a wider range of experiences and get to grow your network. My husband and I also occasionally take freebie trips with the [frequent-flier] miles," Laird said. "If you're job-hunting and want to travel, raise your hand and let potential employers know. Many are looking for that kind of person."
On whose terms?
First, be sure it's a job you want to do, however, because business travel is work, not play.
David Dempsey started his legal career with a national labor law practice.
"Labor lawyers keep a suitcase in their office and may be gone weeks on end if they're involved with union organizing," said Dempsey, who did that for two years. "Young people are always a little starry-eyed about a job with travel. It's not as glamorous as it sounds.
"You may be in Fargo, North Dakota, in winter or Cleveland, Ohio, in summer — and you may never leave the client's site or the airport hotel, because you're there to work."
Dempsey switched to a practice that didn't include travel and stayed there for many years. Now, as president and CEO of Neon Zebra, an Atlanta-based communications and presentation-skills consulting company, he's traveling again — but on his own terms.
Dempsey helps C-level executives (CEOs, CFOs, etc.) craft and deliver critical presentations. He recently returned from Las Vegas, where he helped a client produce a presentation to 7,000 people.
"I travel a couple of times a month, and I don't mind it, because I enjoy what I'm doing while I'm there, and the work is rewarding," he said.
Exhibition expeditions
Travel is an integral part of the job for Michael F. Hughes, president of MFH & Associates, an Atlanta-based company that designs and assembles trade show exhibits.
When he says that the trade show industry requires travel, he's not kidding.
"I remember a day when I had breakfast in Palm Springs, [Calif.], lunch in L.A., dinner in Atlanta and went to bed in Washington, D.C.," Hughes said.
He travels to meet clients and oversee the installation and dismantling of clients' exhibits at shows. Traveling is part of the service and increases business.
"Any time you're in front of a client is a plus. You're both away from home, you break bread together and you get to know each other," he said.
Having a go-with-the-flow attitude helps him manage the inevitable hassles of travel.
"The perks are that I get to learn a little about a lot of cities," he said. "If I can meet friends in that city for dinner, see my family in Chicago, take my wife with me or see a ballgame, then the trip becomes a mini-vacation."
'All about travel'
Planning vacations, business trips and memorable incentive/reward packages for companies is the work of Dorrie Green, president of Sprayberry Travel and of Vision-Makers in Marietta.
"If you've got the wanderlust, why not go into the business that is all about travel?" she said.
Contrary to public opinion, the industry is far from dead and gone, Green said. It's leaner and smarter, and "we're looking for new blood. We want to pass our expertise on to a younger generation."
With the increased use of the Internet for booking travel and the overall decrease in travel after Sept. 11, 2001, many agencies went out of business.
"The majority of the ones left are serious businesspeople who are in it for the long haul and understand that you have to keep changing with the market," Green said.
Between the two businesses, her 34 agents book business travel, plan honeymoons and dream vacations, and arrange destination reward trips for companies.
Agents travel to really know the destinations where they send people; some lead groups on trips.
"That job can mean nerve-wracking 15- to 20-hour days [to make sure all goes well], but there's nothing more fulfilling than to have people tell you that that was their best trip ever," Green said.
Most people are in it because they love travel and want to help people. They have to be adaptable.
"Change will happen," Green said, "but it's usually interesting, can be exciting and is never boring. One of our agents is going to China this summer, which has been a lifelong dream of hers.
"You work really hard, and sometimes you get to sample the wares."
Traveling salespeople
The sales and marketing sector always has been a high-travel profession. Even with e-commerce, most companies still need sales forces.
"Sales are made on trust, and it's very difficult to develop that without some kind of personal relationship. For major sales, you have to be able to touch someone," said Bruce Dreyfus, career coach, author and managing partner of Get That Next Job Inc.
As a vice president of sales and area manager, Dreyfus traveled 80 percent of the time for 15 years.
"You'd catch the shuttle at
4:30 [a.m.] in Boston to fly to San Francisco, work all day with a salesperson, have the obligatory dinner and get back to your hotel room at 10 [p.m.] or so," he said. "You'd been to San Francisco but never been to Fisherman's Wharf, because you were working."
The travel was often tedious and exhausting, but it also was an invaluable learning experience, he said.
"Did it make me a better manager and a stronger salesperson? Yes," Dreyfus said. "I got to see a uniquely different set of sales skills with each person I worked with, and meet clients from all over the country. I shared the best ideas with my team, and we all became stronger."
Is this the life for you?
When someone is applying for a job that involves travel, Dreyfus recommends that he or she ask a few important questions: How much and where? What will I be doing there? How long will I stay in an area?
"If you travel repeatedly to the same place, you can develop a routine and a comfort level. It becomes like home," Dreyfus said.
Also ask about expense accounts (some are meager) and how you'll communicate. Who pays for the computer, cellphone and other devices?
"You also need to think about how it will affect your family," Dreyfus said.
Know your fall-back position, in case you don't like the travel, Dempsey said.
Large corporations often make travel part of their management-training programs, knowing that it teaches work and life skills, said Steve Behm, senior vice president of Edelman, a global public-relations firm.
"The saying is to 'think globally and act locally.' It's hard to think globally unless you've seen part of the globe," he said.
A specialist in crisis communications, Behm never knows when or to where he'll be traveling. He recently was called to the explosion at the Imperial Sugar Co. refinery in Savannah, to make sure that all parties affected were getting accurate information.
"It's an adrenaline rush to get those calls, and [it's] very rewarding to be with clients when they really need you," Behm said. "One advantage of business travel [is that] you get to see the world on company time and may decide to go back somewhere on vacation."
As part of Edelman's Global Citizenship Program, Behm volunteered to go to Zambia and work with a nonprofit organization on women's education initiatives.
"It took me to a part of the world I wouldn't have gone and gave me a greater appreciation for it," Behm said. "Travel does broaden you."