More youths than ever are fleeing their idyllic home lives for the clamor and glamour of the traveling circus. Before you sneak beneath the flaps of the big top, consider how your skills might be put to use in the world of the circus:

• Do you enjoy picking up chairs and brandishing a whip? The ideal circus career for you is: Setting up chairs for the audience. Once the chairs are all set up, you can whip the audience into a frenzy with a preshow skit about turning off your cell phone.
  

• Do you enjoy high-flying danger? The ideal circus career for you is: Flag placer. Picture the perfect circus tent—what do you see at the top? That's right, a tiny flag, placed there by an able-bodied volunteer who is unafraid to scale the tent in order to get the tiny wind-flapping pennant just right. You're helping!
  

• Do you enjoy cramming yourself into a tiny car? The ideal circus career for you is: Any. Most circus employees travel under incredibly cramped conditions, often sharing the car with cumbersome passengers whose defining traits are that they are "strongmen," "fat ladies," or "elephants."