What’s an alternative career for an event planner?
To help you identify alternative careers for event planners, we asked career coaches and recruiters this question for their best recommendations. From Activities Director to Catering Manager to Virtual Event Consultant, there are several careers that are recommended as good alternatives to a career in event planning.
Here are seven alternative careers for event planners:
- Activities Director
- Meeting Planner
- Travel Agent and Tourism Organizer
- Catering Manager
- Virtual Personal Assistant
- Project Manager
- Virtual Event Consultant
Activities Director
For an event planner, an activities director is the best career, whose national average salary is approx $36,291 per year. The activities director’s primary duties are to work in various environments to plan, host programs, and supervise events for groups of people.
Residential living facilities, summer camps, colleges, and other institutions to count on activities directors to think of ideas for engaging events for interested parties.
The activities directors meet with community groups and local businesses to find free or budget-friendly events and activities. They advertise events, estimate the number of attendees, organize events, prepare supplies, and gather feedback.
Shivanshi Srivastava, PaydayLoansUK
Meeting Planner
Meeting planner is a fantastic alternate career route for event planners. Some folks consider the position to be under the umbrella of event planning, while others consider the role an entirely separate profession. Meeting planners deal primarily with designing and organizing meetings and corporate events. Some planners work in-house for a particular organization, while others freelance. Since corporations are concerned with brand and there is a great need for smooth events in the business world, the work tends to be plentiful and well-compensated.
Tasia Duske, Museum Hack
Travel Agent and Tour Organizer
Tourism is a great alternative career for an event planner. Event planners are often responsible for the logistics of an event, which can include transportation, lodging, and entertainment options. You could help plan events like tours or conferences in the tourism industry.
Event planners are also good at managing budgets and keeping track of finances. This skill set is important in tourism as well.
That also involves organizing large groups of people together and facilitating them, so I think tourism would be an excellent alternative career option for event planners.
Shaun Connell, Connell Media
Catering Manager
Those in charge of catering are in charge of supplying food and drink to event participants. Custom menus are created and vast quantities of food are prepared and served at the same time by these professionals. In order to set up the tables and service equipment, caterer managers hire and train bartenders, waiters, chefs, and other assistance. Catering managers guarantee that they can serve food at the correct temperature, maintain hygiene requirements, and prepare enough food to meet the needs of all attendees based on the event’s schedule.
Ayman Zaidi, GreatPeopleSearch
Virtual Personal Assistant
Become a virtual personal assistant. Your outstanding organizational, time management, and multitasking skills gained in the event planning industry are precious in this career. What’s more, this job is not only well-paying and exciting, but also in demand.
With more and more people overwhelmed with work, someone who can take care of all the logistics, answer some emails, or publish posts on social media channels for them is a true blessing.
The job market has gone virtual to a great extent, which is why you can fulfill your personal assistant’s duties remotely and decide to work for as many clients as you want and can handle.
Agata Szczepanek, MyPerfectResume
Project Manager
An event planner has the skills and understanding to take on any project management role, particularly those in marketing, where deadlines are common and planning is directed with a clear end goal in mind. They would also make great operations and business managers, able to coordinate across teams and organize complex business processes and projects.
Charlie Rogers, Mastery In Your 20s
Virtual Event Consultant
As an event planner, you are crucial in ensuring everything at an event goes to plan. If you are looking for an alternative career that would still offer the same level of satisfaction and allow you to make important decisions. In that case, you may consider being a virtual events consultant. The pandemic and the shift to remote work mean virtual events are inevitable for many businesses and organizations. However, hosting a virtual event is no walk in the park; thus, demand for virtual event consultants is skyrocketing as they become more pivotal for success.
Mehtab Ahmed, LoansJury
