I’m really interested in working in an office environment, working with people, making presentations, traveling around the US/globe with a white collar attire, using computers and advanced technology to facilitate work as well as stationary objects (printers, staplers, etc.), all while having a lucrative job.
I’ve been thinking about finance, but I’m not so sure about other opportunities that are relevant to my preferences. Can anyone shed light on which industry or specific career best suits these preferences?
This sounds like a joke post. You want to use stationary objects like printers and staplers? You can do that with an hourly job at your local FedEx office.
Serious answer: Look at the big multinational services firms like Accenture, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young. They perform services in the broad category of business/technology consulting. Travel? Yup. Making presentations? You betcha. Working in teams? Always. These firms are used to hiring lots of new college grads and so they are generally pretty good at assimilating new hires and teaching them how to succeed–and they hire lots of grads with liberal arts degrees or other things not directly related to computers or accounting. Plus, they do a lot of different things so there’s almost certain to be a service line or practice doing something you find interesting.
There are probably hundreds of jobs that fit this description. Probably even more if you remove the traveling part, although it depends on how much you want to travel. I don’t know a single person who doesn’t use a stapler or PowerPoint, so there is that.
I don’t get the sense that people in finance travel a lot, but you might be interested in management or strategy consulting. There are the big firms like Bain, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company and Deloitte, and there are also smaller boutique firms. The consultants at the bigger firms travel all the time - they tend to be at their client sites Monday through Thursday and fly home on Thursday evening or Friday morning to spend the weekend with their family. Usually new analysts work domestically for the first 3-5 years, but after that they have more international opportunities. Consultants at smaller firms may travel less often. They are also paid very well; BA-level analysts at the biggest top firms can make $75,000 total compensation (around $50K base) and advanced degree candidates (MBAs, PhDs, JDs, MDs) can make $175,000+ total comp (usually around $140K base pay, but benefits and bonuses add on top).
Sales and marketing is another job where you might travel pretty often depending on what kind of job it is. College admissions counselors also travel very often during the summer and fall, although they tend to stay closer to the campus during the winter and spring to help make decisions. Consular officials and others in the foreign service may not travel very often but they do often work abroad for long stretches of time (e.g., you might not travel every week or month, but you may be stationed to work in Bangladesh or Mali or Switzerland for months at a time). Others who do international development work may travel pretty often, although they may not get paid very much.
As an engineer working for a multi-national company, I do all of that, including the white collar attire in a shiny skyscraper and the global travel & lucrative part. I’ve been living/working overseas in different countries for the last dozen years.
Powerpoint is my middle name…