gfunkdave

A person with a bachelor's degree in poli sci tries to figure out what he's going to do.

If he wants to be a political scientist (understanding why countries vote in certain ways, what is important in elections, and the ins and outs of various kinds of governments), he gets a Ph.D. and becomes a professor.

OP: some consulting firms don't care what degree you have. They just want smart people who are analytical thinkers. McKinsey comes to mind. Depending on how good your college was, and how good your standardized test scores, you might look in to that. There are also other consulting firms (non strategy) that do things like economics consulting and globalization consulting. Consulting is a broad field; try firms that aren't IT shops.

mules

I guess it depends on what you call 'travel'. My relative is away from home a lot in very scenic locations. She is a wilderness guide.

divemtt

Air Marshall?
Travel writer?

Jimgotkp

If you're into the hospitality industry, you can consider being a consultant/researcher for hotels. Most of the professors I have right now are doing that and get to travel to places like Bali, Maldives, Hawaii, etc. for free. They got into the industry by being a "grunt" in the front lines then being promoted to managerial positions. From there they decided to become professors with some of them going for a Masters/PhD afters years in the industry. I doubt you want to be a front desk agent or a bellperson for a couple of years after graduating from college though.

Ancien Maestro

Commercial Real Estate procurer

cynicAAl

as my college career counselor told me, you are now uniquely qualified to live at home with your parents. Enjoy !

old_flying_nurse

Back in the day, I was a traveling nurse. As a Registered Nurse, I had my pick of places to work (in short staffed hospitals in the U.S.) I worked short-term assignments ( 8 weeks) in places such as Kentucky, California, Texas and Colorado. Could have gone to Alaska or Hawaii but that required a 12 week commitment. The shifts were a nightmare but the time off made up for it. Talk about partying!! You would need at least 2 years experience as an RN, and with the economy what it is these days, there is less of a need for these jobs. By the way, the hospital paid for the airfare and living expenses! Best of luck whatever you decide...

Ted S

So you've got a degree and a desire not to use any of your experience to find a job that you want. Got it.

As the 8 people before me have shown, there are many jobs out there which are both unique and travel, but getting one of them is a different story.

By counting out sales, deciding against more education, and not having any stated experience in working in the political field no matter what field you go down you will need to gain experience before you can reasonably expect to be on the road much. Putting people on jets on day one just isn't a common practice unless they've done whatever it is they are doing enough to be able to hit the ground running.

The potential exceptions, and I say potential because like your post asked for, they are not common and therefore not easy to get, would be interning with a government official / lobby group / marketing firm. These are fiercely sought after roles and 75% travel is unlikely but certainly possible if you were for example helping to manage a polling program.

Given your military background there are potential in-between opportunities with security related roles and more doors may open with political groups but you will have to hunt for the jobs rather than looking through listing boards.

There are many other options that are more plentiful, like going into advertising for an agency with significant client travel, or journalism on world affairs, but again those tend to make you work your way up for some time before you see a client, let alone fly out to one.

For the record, I've got a degree in Poli Sci as well [and another in the also impressive field of sociology]. Both have been highly useful to me in marketing but few people believe me without an explanation... it's not that it isn't a good degree, it's that on it's own the skills are getting the very basics of political systems and people -- and that's not something especially unique.

Of course one has to ask... why would you wait until you've completed the degree to figure out what to do with it?

Seoul7010

First of all, I would like to thank those of you who seriously replied to this post. I do appreciate the responses and some of the positions recommended were insightful and interesting. GfunkDave - Your leads are very helpful and I will look into these firms in the future; thank you.

And some were a waste of your time and mine. (e.g. Wchou's and Cynic's response {and to rebut that statement (by Cynic) as well as answer Peachfront's post, many political scientists work in the government relations field - either as Lobbyists, legislative coordinators/analysts [they track, propose and advocate legislation that is relevant to the company for whom they work], or as legislative aides for elected representatives...and, ergo, are not destined to live at home with their parents}).

Air marshal and travel writer are also very interesting career paths that I had not previously considered. And given my strong background in prose as well as my military background, these are viable options. So I thank you, Divemtt, for your response.

Some of the other responses (old Nurse and Maestro), though helpful (insofar as they elucidated me to opportunities I was not currently aware of), did not properly address the initial post and I suggest (with passive denotation) that you thoroughly read the initial post in the future so that, if you actually intend on offering valuable advice, you can answer the question accurately while taking into consideration any caveats that are presented.

To Mules and Kimgotkp, I appreciate your responses, but I have no interest in those fields. I understand you would have no way of knowing, but I have worked in the hospitality and tourism field and find it to be, in some ways, analogous to sales. And in regards to wilderness anything...I am just not an outdoors kind of guy. But again, thank you for your prompt and informed responses.

Ted S - Thank you for your response as well. It seems to be the most helpful to me and my particularly unique situation. I will first address the presumption that I have no political experience; I have worked for a state legislator in the lower house of New York state. However, it was, initially, an internship and after the internship ended I was offered a position in the Assemblyman's staff. But since I was still an undergrad (sophomore) I could not fully commit myself to his office and was forced to resign before the fall semester began. I know I did not reveal this information, but at the time it did not seem relevant (and it may not be) because the entire experience lasted only eight months. I also appreciate your candor in stating that travel positions would be hard to come by in an entry level context and I have found that to be true as well. To address your final statement - I had planned to go on to law school after I graduated, but since I was not accepted to a law school that was ranked in the top 25 I feel that attending law school (approx $100,000+ investment) seemed more like a gamble. And after graduating I returned to work and found that I was more reluctant to return to school and that I had developed and affinity for receiving a steady pay and not having to live paycheck to paycheck. I will continue to search and use some of the jobs you suggested to begin said search. Coincidentally, I did, however, just received a response to one of my "applications"; it is a job as a marketing consultant with 100% travel. And with this opportunity on the horizon, I was wondering if you, Ted S, could tell me more about what it is that you do, whether or not it is similar to my job offer and whether or not you enjoy it/find it to be fulfilling (given your background is similar to mine). Thanks in advance

Again, I thank you all for your time and prompt responses.

sparkchaser

Field Engineer

Nuclear Diver

A really good Project Manager or Project Scheduler

WillTravel4Food

I'd suggest looking into the Foreign Service. Your military experience as well as life experience and the degree offer a good basis for preparing to enter this field. Plus, your time in service with the military will count toward your retirement and leave accrual.

You would undergo an extensive OJT regimen. The end game will be assignment to an embassy or some other overseas diplomatic post.

You won't get rich, but you will gain the desired experiences. Good luck.

EDIT: Oh, and I actually met somebody once who worked for the Peace Corp. Three year commitment. Not all their jobs involve living in mud huts in civil war zones.

Gigantor

1. Hobo or vagabond
2. Serial killer

Both vocations usually require one to stay on the move.

SirJman

I have a BA in Poli Sci too. I'm currently finishing up my masters abroad (in Korea), and I still expect the job hunt to be rather difficult when I graduate next year.

I have next to no experience, other than schooling, inventive routings using ITA, and a expertise in FF programmes...I expect to be searching for quite a looooong time

Seoul7010

What school in S. Korea are you attending and what's your focus? It's interesting to me because I am an adopted Korean.

Ted S

Fantastic. If you go down any political route this is something you could leverage for a more senior internship or a role in a lobby firm / advocacy group / foreign service... 8 months isn't bad for a college internship by any stretch and certainly seems like it would be relevant.

Be careful of roles that sound too good to be true in marketing. There are many companies that love to use the term "marketing" to describe everything from selling to mlm. Not saying this is a bad offer, a title alone doesn't say much at all, but one does have to wonder who would hire someone to fly around the country 100% of the time and market without any prior experience [unless your retail sales was the basis... which makes sense?].

As for me, I'm a digital marketer... Lots of challenges, discussions and internal battling as my focus is bringing digital into a traditional company culture. Recently I stepped out of the corporate world to try my own startup, we will see where that goes.

I started working in the web in high school when it was first becoming commercial before Poli Sci & Soc so while I've always considered focusing in on that interest segment, I've never really worked it. I enjoy what I do, but have certainly found roles that I enjoy even more within it.

The travel in my roles has varied by position and is something I can increase or decrease by selecting the type of company I work for.