| Imagine getting paid to drive some of the world's | | | | can work their way into test-driver jobs from |
| greatest cars -- Mercedes, Corvette, Porsche, | | | | widely varying experience and education. For |
| Viper, and others. Sounds great? Now picture | | | | example, one of my colleagues was working in a |
| doing that on luxurious all-expense-paid trips to | | | | retail bookstore before becoming a test driver. He |
| exotic locations, where you hang out with some | | | | got into an automotive publication by taking a |
| of the biggest names in the auto industry. | | | | relatively easy job in a publisher's photo library. |
| That's everyday life for car-magazine test drivers. | | | | The photo library worked with the company's |
| Hard to believe? You're not the only person who | | | | automotive division a lot, so he was in a prime |
| thinks so. I've worked as a car-magazine test | | | | position when a job opened up there. |
| driver since 1999 and I still get looks of | | | | Now he hangs out at racetracks, drives Jaguars |
| astonishment when I tell people what I do for a | | | | and Corvettes, and goes on press trips to Hawaii |
| living. Getting a job like this seems like it would be | | | | and Palm Springs. |
| as hard as winning the lottery. But the truth is, | | | | His story is fairly typical. Plenty of people -- men |
| you don't have to be working for big, glossy | | | | and women alike -- get into the profession in |
| sports-car magazines to enjoy a great job as a | | | | similar sorts of ways. And you might be surprised |
| test driver. There are countless other publications | | | | at how quickly things can move along toward |
| that use test drivers. And you don't need | | | | getting such a job if you put your mind to it. |
| extraordinary luck or rare talent to get into this | | | | Although every person's career progresses at a |
| profession. | | | | different pace, three to five years is a pretty |
| Granted, it's not as easy as applying to get a | | | | normal time for breaking into becoming a test |
| part-time job at the mall, or even like going after | | | | driver. Not bad for a job that routinely puts you |
| a typical office job. But it's also not a frustrating, | | | | behind the wheel of $60,000 cars for a week at |
| one-in-a-million chance like trying to become a | | | | a time. |
| rock star or a Hollywood actor either. Far from it. | | | | For anyone who loves cars, being a test driver is |
| There isn't a pre-specified way to become a | | | | like a fairy tale mixed with a weekend in Vegas -- |
| car-magazine test driver as there is for, say, | | | | you can't help but be amazed by some of the |
| becoming a doctor or lawyer. So you have to | | | | things you get to do. It takes more effort to get |
| pretty much find your own path into the field. | | | | these jobs than it does to break into other, more |
| That may sound intimidating, but it's actually | | | | mundane fields. But it's well worth it. |
| another one of the profession's upsides -- people | | | | |