tour leader Career Path | See the Career Paths People Really Take

trip leader

tour director

board member

project specialist

safety engineer

guide

journalist

principal

business owner

apprentice carpenter

tour guide

An Apprentice Carpenter is an entry-level position that provides hands-on experience in the carpentry trade. Apprentices are usually employed by a contractor or carpenter, and spend their time learning how to use tools, read plans, measure accurately, and construct various types of structures.In addition to practical training on the job site, apprentices must complete classroom instruction related to carpentry techniques and safety regulations. Apprentices may also be required to take courses in blueprint reading and mathematics. Upon completion of both on-the-job training and classroom instruction, apprentices typically become journeyman carpenters with full certifications as professional tradesmen.

A Board Member forms part of a governing body for an organization.  Their role is to act for the long-term interests of the organization, and meet regularly with other board members to oversee and direct business operations, set policies, approve business decisions, evaluate executive performances, and fulfill fiduciary duties.  Their responsibilities are knowing the organization's mission, programs, policies and needs, preparing for meetings by reviewing the agenda and supporting documentation, regularly attending board meetings and participating actively, keeping up with issues and trends that affect the organization, approving audit reports, budgets and business decisions, contributing to the development of policies and strategic plans, understanding the organization's financial affairs, and ensuring fiduciary responsibilities are met.

The Business Owner operates their own companies. Their role is creating a business plan, arranging finances, hiring staff, reviewing sales, and developing marketing strategies.  Their responsibilities are overseeing daily activities, identifying business opportunities, establishing prices of goods and services, maintaining a clean and orderly store, resolving customer complaints, and compiling and maintaining records and bookkeeping.

Do you like working with your hands and pushing yourself? Check out what it's like to be a Painter and Independent Contractor. See what it takes to be your own boss, and if this role suits your lifestyle and skill set.

<h2 dir="ltr">What I do:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">I'm an independent contractor and I work in construction. I do both residential and commercial painting and that leads into both interior and exterior repaints and new construction. I don't have any employees, it's just me sometimes I sub out work.&nbsp;</p>
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<h2 dir="ltr">Career Skills:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">You have to be healthy, you know, there's a lot of times when you're up on a ladder, you push yourself to your limits a lot, you can work out that there's a lot of roof work sometimes. That having a willingness to learn new things is huge if you're not learning something new every day, you're doing it wrong.&nbsp;</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Job Challenges:&nbsp;</h2>
<p dir="ltr">You really do push yourself to the limits a lot but I really like that challenge personally. That's one aspect that I really enjoy about my job is that I'm working with my hands and I'm physically pushing myself every day.&nbsp;</p>
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<h2 dir="ltr">Work Life Balance:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Sometimes my work to life balance is pretty sporadic. Most of the time there's not much life balance if you would. When you are working alone and you're on a kind of a larger project it comes time to get that done and you're going to work the weekends, you're going to work late, when you're outside, you're in the sun all day, you're going to come home tired and you're not going to want to do anything, at least for me that's that's the case.&nbsp;</p>
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<h2 dir="ltr">Tips for Starting Your Own Business:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Be determined, have goals and plans and work towards them every single day. Find good construction companies to get in with and they're gonna help you throughout your entire career.</p>

The Guide organizes and leads activities for customers that want to see and learn about interesting areas of the world.  Their role is to ensure the tour is well organized and follows a timetable that allows all the sights on the itinerary to be visited.  Their responsibilities are to confirm or book all meals and accommodations required, provide clients with a detailed program, and keep spending within a set budget.

In this video, you'll learn about the pros and cons of being a charter guide, the journey into the career, and practical tips for breaking into the industry. The guide shares personal experiences from Alaska's lucrative tourism market and offers insights into the financial opportunities and challenges in this competitive field.

<h2>Pros of Being a Guide</h2><p>I am a charter guide in Ketchikan, Alaska. I do not work in an office. I only happily work about half the year.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>Cons of Being a Guide</h2><p>Time away from home, time away from family. After COVID happened,&nbsp; it could be 100% on and then 0% off in one year. So it's a volatile, tourism is a volatile market.</p><p><br></p><h2>How I Got Into This Career</h2><p>I was a commercial fisherman to begin with. Commercial fishing is dying, it's hard to make money. I had to travel 3600 miles from North Carolina. I fished North Carolina, New York, Louisiana and here commercially and still didn't make it. I saw the tourism industry and the hundreds of thousands of people coming here. So it's a really lucrative place to take people. And as opposed to selling fish for money, whether we catch a fish out here or not, I'm gonna get paid.</p><p><br></p><h2>Tips to Get Into Guiding</h2><p>There's so much competition in the lower 48 states for the industry that they don't get paid much. They make very little money to do this&nbsp; there. So I actually recruit from Florida because its sort of like a puppy mill for Captains because it's a real competitive industry with low margins but here (in Alaska) the margins are good. So I would say put yourself in an area that you can make money in and like something where the tourism is just so high that you know all I gotta do is get six people a day out of we got 12,000 passengers in town. So put yourself in an area to succeed.</p><p><br></p><h2>Career Advice</h2><p>If everybody at the town that you're trying to become a charter guide at is driving the shittiest truck and complaining and poor, I wouldn't probably try to recreate the wheel there because they've been doing it already and are struggling to survive. So a it's a cutthroat industry, but if you can get out here where there's a lot of people trying to go fishing, you can definitely make it.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>Salary</h2><p>That guy right there is 30 years old, owns that house, he has three charter boats. He net last year $740,000 for his fishing. It's pretty good. He will be a millionaire by charter fishing. He's the only person I'll know that will be 40 with a million dollars in his back account from this industry though. So you know it's tough, but there are places to make it happen.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

Journalists are focused on gathering information for the purpose of informing a broader audience through different forms of media including print, digital, video, radio and others.  They are expected to be able to write content that will inform and influence public perception based on information they have collected and reported in an honest and balanced manner.

Do you like to tell stories? Do you like to draw?  Do you like to work from anywhere you want? This cartoonist shares what's it takes to create a graphic novel. 

<h2>My Career Path to a Published Author</h2><p>Hello, I am Nathan Hale. I am a New York Times bestselling author and author-illustrator of graphic novels for young readers.</p><p><br></p><p>I chose this job because I have always wanted a job that involved drawing and creating and telling stories. When I was in high school, I started drawing a lot and I kind of made a goal that I would only take jobs that involve art. I jumped from mural painting and houses, doing display work for museums, to paid illustration.&nbsp;I went to art school and I began drawing. An author friend asked if I wanted to get involved on a graphic novel project. I said yes, and that was 14 years ago and I'm still working in graphic novels.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>Graphic Novelist Job Requirements</h2><p>These books take up to a year to create. When you're creating a graphic novel, you're essentially drawing thousands of tiny compositions. So the main thing is time, time, and ability to draw and ability to write and explain things using the cartoon language. Not just words, but the ways cartoons work. If you are a cartoonist, you are going to spend about 10 hours a day drawing. I will sometimes draw up to 16 hours a day and that's every day. I don't get weekends, I don't get holidays. It is constantly drawing. BUT, you get to work wherever you want.</p><p><br></p><h2>How Much Does an Author Make?</h2><p>Early days, not much, and you only get paid twice a year. Your royalty's statement comes two times. You get paid to fall and you get paid in the spring. It took me until I had probably over 12 books out before I was making six figures. You gotta do it out of love and you got to put out a lot of books. Once you get a lot of books out though, the royalties continue to come in and it gets pretty comfortable. After a while, but it took a long time to get there.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>Writer Pros and Cons</h2><p>The pros are you are telling stories. You're essentially like a movie director that doesn't have to work with anybody. You're telling the whole story and that's a really fun feeling if you like that kind of thing. The cons are, it's all you get to do. You have to think about it all the time. You draw it all the time. You don't get much free time, you don't get a lot of hobbies. You're just drawing all the time. But if you like that kind of thing, it's great.</p>

The Principal oversees all operations of a school.  Their role is to establish a safe learning environment, set learning goals for students and teachers based on national curricula, and oversee progress for goals to be attained.  Their responsibilities are to manage school logistics and budgets, monitor and report on teacher performance, research new resources and techniques to improve the quality of teaching, interview and hire school personnel, review and implement school policies, provide guidance and counseling to teachers, handle emergencies and crises, organize events and assemblies, and attend conferences to gain knowledge on current educational trends.

Discover what it’s like to be an elementary school principal. Learn about the career path, daily responsibilities, required credentials, challenges, and rewards of education leadership.

<h2>Why I Became a Principal</h2><p>I serve as an elementary school principal. I picked this job because I wanted to make a difference in the systems that affect the lives of children. </p><h2><br></h2><h2>Principal Requirements</h2><p>This job requires prior teaching experience in the classroom, a valid teaching credential, and a valid administrative credential. It varies by state—the requirements and some states require you to have a master's degree.</p><h2><br></h2><h2>My Career Path</h2><p>I started my path in a non-teaching pathway. I then found teaching to be something I was very interested in. I taught in public schools, high-need schools, and then took on different educational leadership roles. I moved on to being a reading interventionist teacher, and then I pursued a special credential for literacy. I soon found myself as an English language curriculum developer, and I also worked with teachers as a coach to support them and to offer sitewide professional development.</p><p>From there, I worked on my administrative credential, and then I became a middle school assistant principal. After two years, I became an elementary school principal.</p><h2><br></h2><h2>What it’s Like</h2><p>The average day is predictable, but there are many issues to resolve—making sure that there are substitute teachers and that students are at school on time. There are many meetings in a day with staff, families, and community members.</p><p>Principals are responsible for staff development, and it looks like observations with feedback and staff meetings. Principals also need to work with human resources to support staff in times of personal challenges. Principals also meet with the PTA and families to discuss ways to spend site money. They also work with district leaders in collaboration and professional development.</p><p>Principals need to make sure that the grounds and buildings are in great maintenance and working order.</p><h2><br></h2><h2>Salary for a Principal </h2><p>Salary can range in this position. It depends on where you are—it can be from a hundred thousand a year to two hundred fifty thousand a year.</p><p><br></p><h2>Principal Pro and Cons</h2><p>The best part of the job is watching students feel welcome at school. It's amazing to see students grow and reach their goals. A con of the job is the unpredictability and the inability to make all staff, students, and family members happy with you. This job also requires much longer hours than just the average school day. You will find yourself working on weekends and definitely after hours.</p><h2><br></h2><h2>How to Get Started</h2><p>If you're interested in becoming a school principal, start off in teaching. Try teaching different grades, different school systems, and also different subject areas. Then, try moving on to an outside classroom position like a coach or a curriculum developer. As you try on and take on different educational leadership roles, you may find yourself interested in becoming a site administrator or principal.</p><p><br></p>

A Project Specialist creates project goals, monitors progress, and schedules meetings to ensure that the project is completed in time.  Their role is to create project schedules and maintain project budgets.  Their responsibilities are to record important decisions made in meetings, prepare progress reports, create progress presentations for senior management, and ensure that team members meet deadlines.

Calling all organization lovers and friends who do all the planning. Have you considered project management? See what its like to be in project management and tips on how to get into this role.

<h2>What it's like as in Project Management</h2><p>One of my favorite pros with Project Management is you get to work with a bunch of different people. Average day or week is really busy as a project manager because you are not only planning meetings with clients, but you're also planning all the internal communication in order to make sure meetings are successful. I found a lot of my time was spent not only doing research for the clients to make sure the project was a success, but also spending a lot of time creating that communication as well as that project management plan in order to show where we are, where we would be, what risks that we have, and again making the remainder of the entire schedule in order to get to get final completion day.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>Job Requirements</h2><p>The job requirements for a project manager is primarily just to be really organized and to also make sure that you are communicating really well, not only with the clients that you have, but also internally. Because really all we're doing is, I would say it's like event planning. We're making sure people are going, people are organized, and again at the end of the day we're having that fantastic wedding, but in this case it's completing the project. Things happen. Risks come up, issues come up, having a project that is 100% successful and goes according to schedule is honestly quite rare. So you have to be prepared to be aware of the unknown and know how to mitigate those risks in order to make sure that everyone's everyone, not only on the client side, but also for management, anyone else that you want to have working with the client.</p><p><br></p><h2>How to Become a Project Manager</h2><p>In order to become one is kind of just getting your foot in the door anywhere and showing that you're able to go see tasks as well as being demanded or asked from you and as long as you can show that organization and drive, that's a great way to continue to move your team up into the project manager. Having your project management professional certification isn't necessarily required for every job, but it definitely opens up a lot of doors so that you can start excelling faster.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

Safety engineers are responsible for keeping the workplace and the people working there free from danger, risk, or injury. Safety engineers develop safety programs to minimize losses due to injuries and property damage and implement those policies and norms at the workplace by by applying safety laws and regulations, and organizational and industry standards. They are also responsible for industrial hygiene and toxicology, designing hazard controls, fire protection, ergonomics, system and process safety, safety and health program management, accident investigation and analysis, product safety, construction safety, safety education, measuring safety performance, environmental safety and compliance with laws and regulations.

Explore the career journey of a safety specialist. From lab experience to workplace safety, this video highlights responsibilities, challenges, and rewards while offering valuable advice for aspiring safety professionals.

<h2>How I Became a Safety Specialist</h2><p>I have a bachelor's degree in chemistry. I have a master's degree in oceanography.</p><p>I worked 18 years in an oceanography chemistry lab, studying the ocean, sailing on ships all over the world.</p><p>Then, once I had a child and needed to settle down and be more stable, I entered the safety industry, and I'm currently a safety specialist for the University of California, San Diego. It's a great job. I love it, and I recommend it to anyone.</p><h2><br></h2><h2>Requirements</h2><p>As a safety specialist, I recommend that you get a degree in any sort of science background. Have any sort of science background.</p><h2><br></h2><h2>What a Day Looks Like as a Safety Specialist</h2><p>The average day or week is setting your own schedule, which is a nice feature of the job. I make appointments, and then I do inspections.</p><p>I have a checklist and iPad, and I walk into a location and use my checklist to make sure everyone is applying the rules and regulations and working safely.</p><h2><br></h2><h2>Pros and Cons of being a Safety Specialist</h2><p>The pros are setting your own schedule. It's very rewarding when people reach out to you and are asking how to become safer and how they can follow the rules and comply with regulations. That's very rewarding.</p><p>The cons are sometimes we have to issue demerits. You have to ding people for not following the rules and not being safe. That can be sometimes challenging, but overall, if you just follow your checklist and give people resources and ideas on how to do better, then everyone's happy.</p><h2><br></h2><h2>Career Advice</h2><p>As someone that's been a safety specialist for many years now, my advice would be: get a college degree, get your foot in the door early, and commit to the career path, and you will succeed in life. There's always a need for a safety person in every field.</p><p><br></p>

The Tour Director organizes and leads activities for customers that want to see and learn about interesting areas of the world.  Their role is to ensure the tour is well organized and follows a timetable that allows all the sights on the itinerary to be visited.  Their responsibilities are to confirm or book all meals and accommodations required, provide clients with a detailed program, and keep spending within a set budget.

A Tour Guide organizes and leads activities for customers that want to see and learn about interesting areas of the world.  Their role is to ensure the tour is well organized and follows a timetable that allows all the sights on the itinerary to be visited.  Their responsibilities are to confirm or book all meals and accommodations required, provide clients with a detailed program, and keep spending within a set budget.

A Tour Leader organizes activities for customers that want to see and learn about interesting areas of the world.  Their role is to ensure the tour is well organized and follows a timetable that allows all the sights on the itinerary to be visited.  Their responsibilities are to confirm or book all meals and accommodations required, provide clients with a detailed program, and keep spending within a set budget.

tour leader

The Trip Leader ensures a professionally executed travel experience for their clients.  Their role is to have extensive knowledge on the destination, lead the group through their program itinerary, and make all participants feel comfortable and tended to throughout their experience abroad.  Their responsibilities are to complete the program itinerary, ensure seamless execution of the program while addressing possible changes as they arise, provide excellent customer service and communication to participants and staff, and maintain a diplomatic temperament and empathetic nature.

Tour Leader Career Path