Deal-Making Careers

Recently I was speaking with a cousin who is contemplating a career change after working in the same industry for more than 30 years. I suggested to him that in choosing a new direction, he might want to leverage the enormous fund of knowledge and contacts he has acquired in his work. Why throw all that away?

This is the central idea of my book The Sequel, in which I look at various ways to make a mid-career occupational change without starting from scratch. One of the sequel careers that I discuss is brokering.

A lot of buying and selling goes on in every industry. People who have a lot of work experience in an industry usually are well informed about how these deals get made. They know who the main sellers are, what they have to offer, how much they’re likely to ask in payment, and what makes the difference between and good deal and a bad one. They also know about the buyers: where they come from, what they’re looking for, what they’re able to pay, and what makes the difference between a good customer and a bad one. Old industry hands may also know about arrangements besides price that are commonly involved in the deal, such as warrantees and common modes of delivery.

People with these kinds of knowledge may be able to make a career of bringing buyers and sellers together and earning a commission on the sales. That is what brokers do.

Brokers act as matchmakers. For example, a freight broker finds a business that needs to ship some kind of cargo and matches it with a carrier that can provide the appropriate kind of shipping service at an acceptable price. The freight broker never takes possession of the cargo and merely arranges the deal. The company producing the cargo appreciates the broker’s ability to quickly identify a reliable and low-priced shipper. The shipper appreciates the added business, which may result in more trucks plying their routes with full loads.

Brokers often advise and inform buyers to help them make a wise choice and understand the necessary paperwork. For example, a mortgage broker may counsel a borrower on how to correct a situation that harms the borrower’s credit rating or may explain the pros and cons of different loan arrangements. An energy broker may explain to a commercial client the benefits and risks of entering a contract with an electric company that locks in a specific rate for electric power for a year.

Some brokers facilitate the sale of a division within a business or even the entire business. Working with a broker in a confidential arrangement keeps news of the planned sale off the street so customers of the business do not lose confidence in it.

Brokers spend much of their time making decisions. The decisions need to be correct and can have a large impact. The pressure of time and competition can add to the stress of this work. Although brokers have a lot of independence, the context in which they make their decisions tends to be structured and even repetitious. Brokering provides the satisfaction of helping clients achieve their goals. This can be especially rewarding when people can live better lives by achieving goals such as a college degree or the purchase of a home.

Here are some occupations that act as brokers:

• Agents and Business Managers of Artists, Performers, and Athletes
• Cargo and Freight Agents
• Customs Brokers
• Energy Brokers
• Insurance Sales Agents
• Investment Underwriters
• Loan Officers
• Purchasing Agents and Buyers, Farm Products
• Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products
• Real Estate Brokers
• Sales Agents, Financial Services
• Securities and Commodities Traders

Besides knowledge of an industry, brokers often need to carry insurance to protect their clients from loss. Sometimes they are also required to be bonded, an additional expense when you set up a brokerage.

Knowledge of applicable laws is important in many industries, so it may be necessary for you to take one or more classes to become fully informed and, in many cases, prepare for a licensure exam. (A college degree is rarely necessary, although it can be helpful.) The license assures clients that you know the laws and may also indicate that you possess appropriate insurance. In some industries, a criminal background check is a common requirement. Because there is so much variation, you should check the requirements for your industry and state.

Transportation brokers need to register with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

In many industries, a common entry route is to work first as an agent on the staff of a brokerage. Agents usually are not required to carry the level of responsibility, including legal liability, that a broker carries. Licensing and insurance requirements tend to be much lower. Real estate brokers usually begin as sales agents. In fact, work experience in sales is a requirement for a real estate broker’s license, although in some states it is waived for those with a bachelor’s degree in real estate.

It’s easier to set up a brokerage business in some industries, such as the highly regulated insurance industry, than in others where a few major players dominate.

Career Paths of Veterans Show the Value of Real-World Information

Using historical data about career development—developing information based on the career experiences of real people—has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that these career experiences are real, so when large samples of people’s career experiences are compiled into lists that show the most probable career outcomes, the implicit advice is realistic. However, such lists (unless they are exhaustive) do not show all possible outcomes. The result is that such lists tend to discourage people from seeking less-probable career paths, which is not always a good idea. Sometimes the status quo needs to be shaken up rather than be reinforced, and people who seek unconventional career paths are often important for creating progress in society.

I was confronted with this two-edged sword when I developed information for my book 150 Best Jobs for the Military-to-Civilian Transition. I based the selection of occupations on the actual career experiences of recent veterans, as reported by the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for the years 2005–09. I identified a “recent veteran” as someone not presently in the armed forces who had been on active duty (not just having received Reserves or National Guard training) since September 2001. Therefore, these vets were in the early stages of their post-military careers, and the occupations they held were representative of this transition. The weighted sampled represented 1.5 million recent veterans: 1.3 million men and 200,000 women.

Of the 459 unique occupations that they held, 224 were held by more than 1,000 vets, and these were equivalent to 446 occupations in the Standard Occupational Taxonomy, for which the Department of Labor provides useful information.

It was interesting to find that vets averaged a 21 percent earnings advantage over nonvets in the same occupation, even though the median age of the vets (36) was significantly lower than that of the nonvets (42).

But the real-world data told a more discouraging story when I looked at the most popular occupations held by male and female vets. Many of the top 10 occupations held by the male vets showed an obvious connection to military training and experience:

1. Police Officers
2. Security Guards and Gaming Surveillance Officers
3. Driver/Sales Workers and Truck Drivers
4. Retail Salespersons
5. Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians
6. Bailiffs, Correctional Officers, and Jailers
7. Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
8. First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers
9. Stock Clerks and Order Fillers
10. First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

On the other hand, the list with the top 10 occupations held by the female vets amounts to a roster of “pink-collar” jobs:

1. Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
2. Customer Service Representatives
3. Human Resources Workers
4. Cashiers
5. Nursing, Psychiatric, and Home Health Aides
6. Office Clerks, General
7. Waiters and Waitresses
8. Stock Clerks and Order Fillers
9. First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers
10. Retail Salespersons

It’s hard to read this second list without concluding that military service does little to boost the career options of women. On the other hand, it’s important to recognize some of the career barriers that the female vets face. Employers may not be used to the idea of women in the military and therefore may overlook female vets’ military-acquired skills. Also, most recent female vets are of child-bearing age and may not be focused on (or have ready access to) a long-term career path. It’s significant that 13 percent of the female vets were working part-time, as opposed to 1 percent of the male vets. Most of the occupations in the second list use many part-time workers.

A more encouraging way to look at the experiences of female vets is to consider the occupations with the highest proportion of recent vets among the female workers:

1. Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians (19.5%)
2. Air Traffic Controllers/Airfield Operations Specialists (18.7%)
3. Avionics Technicians (18.1%)
4. Electrical and Electronics Installers and Repairers (11.3%)
5. Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers (8.0%)
6. Sailors and Marine Oilers/Ship Engineers (7.7%)
7. Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas (7.0%)
8. Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers (6.9%)
9. Logisticians (6.4%)
10. Atmospheric and Space Scientists (6.3%)

In other words, when you find a female aircraft mechanic, the odds are 1 in 5 that she is a recent vet. This list demonstrates that women can and do use their military training to enter careers that traditionally have been dominated by men. They may not do so in large numbers, but this kind of career movement is possible.

I’m glad that I compiled this last list, because it shows that one can use historical data about career experiences not only to show what is probable but also what is possible. Historical data, used in imaginative ways, does not have to reinforce the status quo.

Careers in Standards Enforcement

If you have worked in an industry for some time, you understand the difference between good work and hack work in your field. Perhaps you know harmful results that substandard business practices or products can produce. This knowledge can be the basis of your next job.

Some standards enforcers are essentially cops. They protect the public from illegal acts and harmful products such as hiring discrimination, air pollution, buildings that are firetraps, tainted food products, toxic paint on toys, and defective seatbelts. They conduct inspections, review records, perform tests, and take measurements that indicate compliance with the law or a violation. Like cops, they need to know the fine points of the laws that they are enforcing and the procedures for correcting or punishing those who violate those laws.

Some of these enforcers stay in one setting throughout the workday. For example, some equal opportunity representatives work in the human resources office of a large business and review the company’s hiring and promotion practices by checking records and interviewing staff. Other enforcement workers must travel between sites where they conduct inspections. Environmental compliance inspectors may take air or water samples at various locations; agricultural inspectors may visit several farms or food-processing plants in a workday.

Not all standards enforcers are responsible for upholding the law; some help a business to ensure the quality of its products or services. They make certain that your food will not make you sick, that your car will run properly, and that your pants will not split the first time you wear them. Management does not want to disappoint consumers, especially because news about schlock merchandise can spread quickly through social media and other channels. So quality-control workers sample the output and measure it against industry standards. When they find defects, they determine the cause. And they do more than just prevent substandard output. The current trend in management is to accomplish constant improvement of quality. So quality-control workers devise ways to exceed industry standards.

Maybe you’ve heard the joke about the guy whose job it is to sort potatoes into bags of small, medium, and large spuds. His complaint about the job: “Decisions, decisions!” What makes the joke funny is that the decisions the man must make, though unending, are really of very little consequence; great fortunes are not riding on his ability to make extremely precise judgments about potato size. In real-life jobs, however, enforcement of standards can sometimes have a very large impact. The impact can be beneficial, even life-saving. But it can also create conflict with the company or person whose output you judge as substandard. That’s one reason the decision-making aspect of the job can be stressful. Also, standards enforcers need to make their decisions within a structure of rules and procedures that sometimes can feel arbitrary and confining.

If you’re interested in doing this kind of work, relevant work experience may not be sufficient qualification; some law-enforcement jobs in this field require certification or licensure. Usually you must pass an exam that demonstrates your knowledge of the laws. You will face this requirement especially for jobs that relate to safety, such as construction and building inspectors. For some jobs, however, such as occupational health and safety specialists, licensing is uncommon and certification is voluntary. For these jobs, an appropriate education and work experience are more important.

People work in quality control at all levels, from the low-skilled potato sorters (who can easily be replaced by machines) to quality control systems managers and industrial engineers, who are highly skilled with using statistical techniques to create product-sampling schedules and to make sense of the data derived from them. These workers generally have at least a bachelor’s degree. Several organizations and universities offer graduate-level training that prepares you to pass a certification exam in quality control. Various kinds of science and engineering technicians, often with two-year degrees, support these workers.

There are formal and informal ways to move into standards enforcement. Think about who maintains the quality of output in your current job. Or consider who ensures the safety of your workplace or protects the environment in your community. Ask these people how they got their job and whether your experience in your work role would be helpful background to do this work.

If you’re aware of some aspect of quality control or safety that’s being neglected where you work (or at a similar workplace), maybe you can create a new job for yourself. Prepare a business plan for a program, with you in charge, that will address this need. Be sure to include estimates of the costs and, if possible, the payback to the company from increased sales or the smaller risk of a lawsuit. Then propose this plan to management. If you’re not knowledgeable enough to design and manage a quality control program, maybe you can convince management to bring in an appropriately qualified professional whom you can support as a technician.