One way of doing this is to spend time as a research assistant for professors. At the graduate level, students either decide to pursue their Ph.D. or to leave academia to work at museums, travel abroad or enter a non-research related field. Cutting-edge anthropological fields of study deal with economics, such as emerging markets and race and gender studies. Some large corporations hire anthroplogists to study their corporate structure. Teaching positions are very limited, so anthropologists specializing in newer and less-researched areas may have a better chance at being appointed to fledgling departments.
Research assistants read and summarize articles, grade papers, and transcribe interviews.
After graduate school, many anthropology students travel or to join the Peace Corps to gain practical experience with cultural observation. After acquiring a Ph.D., most anthropologists seek out professorships at universities, where they derive their primary income from teaching and grants. The most renowned anthropologists are often asked to advise government agencies and companies on domestic and foreign endeavors. For successful anthropologists, pay after 10 years on the job is not astronomical, but is definitely comfortable.