Positive interaction careers?

July 3, 2009 9:14 PM

Although I've always considered myself somewhat misanthropic, I've been finding more and more that I'm stimulated by higher-level or professional interaction with others. What professions might give that stimulus, that aren't predominately negative (i.e. inbound customer service calls, police work, or criminal defense lawyering)?
posted by Picklegnome to human relations (20 comments total)

Teaching.
posted by bensherman at 9:38 PM on July 3

CPA
posted by MediaMer at 9:46 PM on July 3

Some aspects of consulting might be satisfying to you.

However, I'll warn you that "consulting" is a word that gets (IMO) miused and stretched to cover a lot of things that I wouldn't consider actual consulting — especially de facto temp work done by staff augmentation (aka "body shop") firms.

I have done both the staff augmentation thing and actual consulting, where people are literally hiring you in order to ask for your opinions and professional advice on something, and the rewarding professional interaction has occurred mostly in the latter. (I've had rewarding personal interaction and met a lot of great people in both; I'm not trashing staff aug work. For some people it's a great match.) But getting people to hire you for your professional advice typically requires some substantial experience. Depending on where you are in your career it might be more of a long-term goal than something you can make an immediate transfer into.

The bright side is that if you do have substantial expertise in some area, you can consult on just about anything. There are HR consultants, IT consultants, business process consultants, management consultants, financial consultants…you name it, there are probably consultants who specialize in it. (And there will be consultants who specialize in how it relates to the Federal government, state governments, local governments, private industry, nonprofits, NGOs, academia…)

If you have significant expertise in something and don't want to waste it, but want a change in your working environment, it might be something to consider.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:02 PM on July 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

Sherpa.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:02 PM on July 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

reference librarian or museum guide
posted by Eumachia L F at 10:10 PM on July 3

Get hired by a think-tank.
posted by amyms at 11:11 PM on July 3

Seconding Kadin's recommendation. For two years now I have been working with consultants who are writing a software package for my company. The design sessions have definitely been the highlight for me, because we can discuss the requirements and come to a mutual understanding. Not all of them are software guys, either - some of them are experts in the particular area I work in, so they are providing their expertise to the project.
posted by cabingirl at 11:56 PM on July 3

Any of the health care professions (doc, dentist, nurse, physical therapist, etc.).
posted by exogenous at 4:00 AM on July 4

Floral clerk.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:05 AM on July 4

Wholesale Fish and Shellfish.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 6:41 AM on July 4

Seconding reference librarian.
posted by intermod at 6:44 AM on July 4

Retail sales. Seriously. I'm about as introverted as you get, but I also seem to do well at high-level professional interactions. I killed at sales.
posted by elfgirl at 6:52 AM on July 4

Reference librarian recs should be balanced against your capacity for dealing with difficult and/or clueless people*. If you get frustrated with these types easily, then I don't recommend it.
posted by elfgirl at 7:03 AM on July 4

Academic librarian. But to work at a research university you'll probably want at least another masters in addition to a library science masters.
posted by mareli at 7:31 AM on July 4

I enjoy tutoring. It's like teaching, but in a more controlled environment, with a more motivated student, and with a very flexible schedule. It's hard to make it into a full-time gig, which could be a plus or a minus, but very easy to start up.
posted by molybdenumblue at 9:02 AM on July 4

I'm a Myers-Briggs INTJ. Love dealing with complex data and strategic stuff, hate using my "people skills". Yet I'm also a kick-ass credit analyst, even though that involves talking to about 80 people per day. The "empathy" I'm required to show customers doesn't involve any emotional engagement with them and contact with any individual customer is usually <4>
So perhaps something like fraud analysis would be perfect for you - it requires a lot of professional interaction with other people and much of that is with people who know their stuff and who are extremely competent and efficient.

Some idea of your hard and soft skills and your communication style would be helpful. Some kind of negotiating role might be a a good fit if it's one where you'd be required to deal with a number of high-level stake-holders (my dream job is with our child support agency precisely because problem-solving there requires fitting together the complex needs of multiple stake-holders).
posted by Lolie at 10:00 AM on July 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

Workplace trainer and assessor is another role in which you're dealing with upper-level professionals a lot.
posted by Lolie at 10:01 AM on July 4

It may not meet the higher-level part of the question as well as you like, but giving tours can be a lot of fun. I'm usually fairly withdrawn, but I really get a kick out of giving (in my case, campus) tours once a week. One of the nice parts is that if any particular group has a particularly bothersome member, you know you'll be done with them within some set amount of time defined by your route.
posted by jdherg at 1:49 PM on July 4

You could be a prosecutor. That's not quite the same thing as criminal defense lawyering. If you're assigned to the trial division, you'll have a chance to work with a lot of professionals while preparing for trials.

Then there's also the underwriting/membership directors for local NPR stations and the executives involved in non-profits. That's getting in touch with wealthy people and community leaders to do good work in the community. United Way does that.
posted by abdulf at 9:38 PM on July 4

Anesthesiologist? Or perhaps another health or medical profession. INTJ here.
posted by objdoc at 4:46 AM on July 5