Dominic14

it sounds like consulting is the way forward, although i dont know how difficult it is to get into as a first job after university.

Dominic14

Fait point, although i thought it might be interesting to see other countries, meet people for business. You might get to see faces and places that you would not normally encounter on a holiday.

origin

Consulting is really they way forward. However, if you like finance and have a good degree you could be a 'lovely' Auditor. But you need a good degree and will have to do many more exams. Once you are qualified then a nice international company then travel thier different offices. You might also get away with banking, thecity type not high street. But they usually only fly you to HKG / JFK.

You will find what ever you choose someone has a nicer career / benefits.

But I would have thought that the career choice is what you enjoy. If you want an international life you need to work longer and harder. If you deem flying for the company to be worth the benefits. There are many on here who travel for leisure, they dont have boring meetings at the end.

Dominic14

I have been considering finance as well. I have graduated with 1st class honours, top of my class and completed some work experience with F&C investments. Trouble is that my a-Level grades were not great and nearly every company requires A's and B's even though I have a 1st class honours.

Long Hours dont faze me and I would like something that is fast paced and challenging. Obviously my career choice would not just be about benefits. I was purely curious as to all the different careers involving business travel and how people managed to get into those careers.

LTN Phobia

Conferences! They are great for going to somewhat 'unusual' places that you do not always think of visiting, and for meeting people in the same industry (and often different industries as well - I often meet people from nuclear, oil, marine etc even though they are not my industry). Not all 'personal' and 'semi-personal' travel needs to be a holiday travel

Besides, holiday travel can be an adventure holiday. I don't think most finance/audit/banking/consulting type of jobs will normally take you to the deepest Amazon forest, or the top of K2, but you can on your personal travel


You also need to realise that when you travel on business, you often get no free time at all. In the worst case, you get there in the morning, attend a meeting, and fly back in the evening. You are not paid to be at the destination to have free time, so you often see nothing and it's time to fly back. Some companies have tightened up on travel policies a lot and only upper level people can fly anything other than economy class too, which adds to the nuisance of travelling. Don't get me wrong, you sometimes get to have a bit of time off at the destination, but as a rule, often not a lot, or you're too tired to do much anyway.

origin

For you personally you need to go to a smaller firm then. They wont look at the UCAS points as such. They will more interested in you and what you give to them. The big companies will have many many people trying to join.

As for me. I am in senior management, I travel to our companies offices around the world. But usually just HKG and a little bit of Europe. They do try to send me to Dublin, but I am not going by rowing boat for anybody.

Dominic14

You would have thought so but this doesnt seem to be the case. I have tried hundreds of companies and they much prefer to have somebody with 300 UCAS points and a 2:2 then somebody with a 1st. The general feeback seems to be to redo my a-levels. I have been hesitant as I have offers for PHD, Masters and MBA on the table from highly regarded universities. Even so, employers dont seem willing to change their standard HR policies and have said it would be easier to gain employment by retaking my a-levels than to get a masters.

johan rebel

You would be surprised. I know an accountant who once decided the fastest and easiest way to get home from (then) North Vietnam was a Mekong river boat. I first met this guy in Mozambique during the civil war, where he was happily accounting away.

Johan

Dominic14

wow. I guess everybody needs an accountant.

Shona

Aviation loss adjusting-some of the surveyor guys (very few women) working in that field make the "Up in the Air" character appear quite suburban/mildly agrophobic.

They arrive at work in the morning not knowing where in the world they will be that evening,either up a mountain in Alaska or some swamp in Africa-but also required to go to many urban centers as well to follow through.

(Interesting conversations when they get together at the pub of the Pete and Dud variety such as "where was the worst place you ever got to?")


Come holiday-time-these types are more than happy generally (rather Marty Feldman like) to stay in the UK-often in a caravan/cottage and as such they take very little notice of mileage points. ( The corporate travel agent would probably buy them a ticket anyway if asked nicely!).

They do tend to choose carriers -if they have any choice-on rather more fundamental safety grounds-as they more than anyone are playing with statistics and have insider knowledge.

Swanhunter

That is very sound advice.

There is a real personal cost to substantial business travel (especially the long haul stuff). You miss family events, friends birthdays and it manages to reshape a lot of your life. Go into it with eyes wide open and don't get seduced by the lure of somewhere foreign and lots of shiny cards. I did and have paid a price.

Padmeister

I to like Domonic14 love the idea of long haul business travel, i am currently a computer engineer and have been for several years but i also incorporate face to face sales in my job role, I would love to become an IT Consultant and travel the world i am just trying to learn and work out how to get in to it and where to start!, a once a month longhaul business trip in club world sounds good to me

But like alot of people on here sometimes your dreams of travelling the world in style never quite turn out to be as cushty as it all seems and in reality it could be tiresome and not quite as amazing as it seems in your mind!

But i would love to give it a go!

LTN Phobia

Absolutely. Things are not as rosy as they might appear to be. It has cost too many of our friends their marriage, personal relationships, and health etc.

rupert_s

Just a warning, in joining a consulting firm you are more likely to end up in business park in the middle of England rather than travelling to Rio in J!

IAMORGAN

I think there's been some really sensible advice on here. I think the KEY is that you do a job you ENJOY. Seriously -ok so you want to travel, but you're putting the cart before the horse. What you need to do is think about what type of area you'd like to work in (travel can be A criteria), look at what your skills and qualifications are, and then match these to a career. I think the reality these days is that there are very few jobs where you can go in as a graduate and be sent in J the next week on a one month RTW trip

As for HR departments worrying about A-Levels, the problem is that they have SO many applications these days that they really can afford to be picky. My background is law, and I know a number of recruiters who will literally filter off applications based on UCAS points, then the degree classification etc. I think it's a SHOCKINGLY BAD way of doing business -they don't do that in the HR teams that I have any say over. Yes, it takes a bit longer, but you can have a candidate with fantastic communication skills and a personality totally matched to the job who would otherwise slip through the net at the expense of the 4A + i degree (+ obviously president of the so and so society at uni and who has single handedly eradicated poverty in Africa)...HR people live in a bubble sometimes.

I obviously don't know you/what degree you've done/what extracurricular things you've been involved with etc, but it seems to me that a candidate with a 1st class UG degree, solid work experience in a related area should at least be invited to interview. You can weed people out much more easily in a face to face setting (and no, you don't have to be scary in an interview or ask really random questions like "what is your favourite colour?") Have another look at your CV and how everything is presented. These days, I think most applications are done through online forms to prevent copying and pasting. Without being offensive or trying to presume too much, I'd just say that you indicate you have applied to loads of companies -maybe that's the problem. It is, IME, much better to spend a few DAYS on an application; really researching the company, looking at what the role involves and asking yourself 'do I want to work here?' etc. If you find yourself thinking "I'll send this application in, but I'm not really sure what I'd be doing/why I want this', then the HR person on the other end is going to think "hmm..." Of course, you may be able to send of hundreds of excellent applications, but my experience really does tell me that you will be more successful if you stop, take a breath, think about what you want (and be realistic) and then apply. I also know that sometimes graduates are given contradictory information (i.e. there aren't many jobs so you need to take what you're given vs you should only target a few companies...) but sometimes less is more.

Also, how many UCAS points DO you have? Ok you've got a good degree in something, but certainly for consulting, you need to have effective communication skills etc. (Please don't use my posts as a guide for good written communication -most of them are done through an iphone in the back of a taxi or a lounge etc )

Finally, in spite of what I've said above, don't lose hope. It is tough out there at the moment -keep trying and you will get accepted. I know a person who is 21, just graduated with a 1st who has jiust been accepted into a large magic circle law firm, but Tesco turned down -after sending him to an assessment centre -his application for a PT job in store. This is what I mean by target the right firms -you might be a great lawyer, but not be cut out in retail.