One of the most common questions people ask me at lucyinthewild is how I can afford to be meandering around the world seemingly at will. If you’re interested in how I manage my finances to make this happen check out my article Spend Less, Travel More- which will hopefully get you on track to spending more of your time climbing volcanoes and swimming with turtles and less trapped in an office.
This article is all about working overseas- which is a fantastic way of still being able to travel and explore without watching your bank balance steadily empty. I've added hyperlinks for any of the groups/companies I mention in the article- just click on the blue text to be taken to their website direct!
This article is all about working overseas- which is a fantastic way of still being able to travel and explore without watching your bank balance steadily empty. I've added hyperlinks for any of the groups/companies I mention in the article- just click on the blue text to be taken to their website direct!
My planning list for working in Japan Photos from the 2014/2015 summer season working as a kitesurfing instructor in Melbourne.
WHY WORK OVERSEAS?
I cannot speak highly enough of the opportunities that abound for working and living in a new country- embracing a new culture, perhaps a new language, creating a new home and network of friends across the world from where you started. Anyone who has lived overseas will tell you that the experience of living somewhere is vastly different (and more rewarding) than merely travelling through. When you live somewhere new you become part of the tapestry- and before you know it you’ll have a new home that will always welcome you back with open arms. Work anywhere usually comes with a ready-made group of friends for adventuring around with- maybe other foreigners who are as stoked to explore the region as you are, or maybe locals who can point you in the direction of the hippest places to hang out and the best coffee (always a key point with me). If you’re new to travelling alone this ready-made social network is a great resource- the first few times you travel alone it can be daunting, and knowing you’re going to join a group of like-minded people who will be able to support you and show you the ropes is a good way of easing yourself into it.
You can also use your work overseas to pimp up your resume. Future employers will value the independence and confidence required to uproot yourself from your comfort zone, and if you’re working in a non-English speaking country chances are you’ve gained valuable language skills. If internships and volunteer positions are going to aid you in reaching your career ends, search out for these positions in a different country- such experience will not only widen your horizons but really help you stand out from the crowd when it comes to recruitment. The more I get to know the world around me the more I realize how valuable experience is to employers- I’ve met many people who landed their dream job by accruing experience in a myriad of relevant fields, putting themselves out there and making sure they were open to new opportunities- not by spending years at university.
HOW?
Ok, so you’re keen to get out there- how do you go about it? There are many ways to getting work overseas, from organized gap-year type programs to volunteer opportunities where you’re not paid but all your expenses are covered.
The first thing to think about is your skills. Do you already have a job you could travel with ie. nurse, surf instructor etc? Have you been working in hospitality so long you could carry three fully-laden plates in your sleep? Are you a native English speaker, and therefore in high demand for teaching jobs?
The next thing to decide is what your main motivation is for working overseas. Are you hoping to save a wad of cash? Or are you happy as long as you can earn enough to live? Are you happy to be earning a reduced salary if you’re gaining valuable skills/experience in your chosen field? Your answer to these questions is going to go a long way in determining where you’ll be looking for work and what sort of work you’ll be looking for.
For myself, when I am looking for work overseas, it needs to fill one of two categories- either a job where I will be working flat out and probably have little to no time to myself but earning enough to then take several months holiday, or a job where I’ll come away with little saved but new skills (ie. driving in snow, advanced kiting techniques, furthering language ability) or new experiences (ie. living expenses paid on a beautiful tropical island, spending time with a family in rural Nepal). I find my year works best when I have a balance of these two sorts of employment- I try not to work more than 6 or 7 months in a year, so obviously need a few months of higher earnings to finance many months of wandering.
WHY WORK OVERSEAS?
I cannot speak highly enough of the opportunities that abound for working and living in a new country- embracing a new culture, perhaps a new language, creating a new home and network of friends across the world from where you started. Anyone who has lived overseas will tell you that the experience of living somewhere is vastly different (and more rewarding) than merely travelling through. When you live somewhere new you become part of the tapestry- and before you know it you’ll have a new home that will always welcome you back with open arms. Work anywhere usually comes with a ready-made group of friends for adventuring around with- maybe other foreigners who are as stoked to explore the region as you are, or maybe locals who can point you in the direction of the hippest places to hang out and the best coffee (always a key point with me). If you’re new to travelling alone this ready-made social network is a great resource- the first few times you travel alone it can be daunting, and knowing you’re going to join a group of like-minded people who will be able to support you and show you the ropes is a good way of easing yourself into it.
You can also use your work overseas to pimp up your resume. Future employers will value the independence and confidence required to uproot yourself from your comfort zone, and if you’re working in a non-English speaking country chances are you’ve gained valuable language skills. If internships and volunteer positions are going to aid you in reaching your career ends, search out for these positions in a different country- such experience will not only widen your horizons but really help you stand out from the crowd when it comes to recruitment. The more I get to know the world around me the more I realize how valuable experience is to employers- I’ve met many people who landed their dream job by accruing experience in a myriad of relevant fields, putting themselves out there and making sure they were open to new opportunities- not by spending years at university.
HOW?
Ok, so you’re keen to get out there- how do you go about it? There are many ways to getting work overseas, from organized gap-year type programs to volunteer opportunities where you’re not paid but all your expenses are covered.
The first thing to think about is your skills. Do you already have a job you could travel with ie. nurse, surf instructor etc? Have you been working in hospitality so long you could carry three fully-laden plates in your sleep? Are you a native English speaker, and therefore in high demand for teaching jobs?
The next thing to decide is what your main motivation is for working overseas. Are you hoping to save a wad of cash? Or are you happy as long as you can earn enough to live? Are you happy to be earning a reduced salary if you’re gaining valuable skills/experience in your chosen field? Your answer to these questions is going to go a long way in determining where you’ll be looking for work and what sort of work you’ll be looking for.
For myself, when I am looking for work overseas, it needs to fill one of two categories- either a job where I will be working flat out and probably have little to no time to myself but earning enough to then take several months holiday, or a job where I’ll come away with little saved but new skills (ie. driving in snow, advanced kiting techniques, furthering language ability) or new experiences (ie. living expenses paid on a beautiful tropical island, spending time with a family in rural Nepal). I find my year works best when I have a balance of these two sorts of employment- I try not to work more than 6 or 7 months in a year, so obviously need a few months of higher earnings to finance many months of wandering.
The boat I crewed for for a month around the Greek Islands. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
If the main aim of the game of finding work overseas is to save as much money as possible, your choice of destinations become somewhat limited. If you are from anywhere but Australia, that’s a really good option for you- a high minimum wage (though admittedly high living costs too) means that even full time waitressing work can see you raking in the dosh pretty quickly. If you have the sort of work that can be done as a freelancer (ie writing, translating, design) you’ve struck the holy grail for working overseas- if you work for an agency in your home country and continue to get paid those wages but move to somewhere with negligible living costs (ie. Nepal, where I was spending about $10 a day), you can save quite a lot very quickly. You can also use websites such as Freelancer to organise your own jobs. For max savings, you’ll also probably want to steer clear of bigger cities- living costs are often double or triple what you’ll find in the country, which makes saving a lot of money a lot less feasible. That being said, there are normally more jobs to be found in said cities, so there made need to be some compromise made there.
Working on boats is another good way of saving money- wages may not be super high but all your costs will be covered, and if you’re not partying too much on your time off you’ll find little to spend your savings on in the middle of the ocean. For this you’ll either need to start out volunteer crewing to gain necessary experience, or sign up for a short course on being a Steward/ess or Crew, or if you’re already a Divemaster or watersports instructor keep your eye out for super yachts looking to entertain their rich clientele. Check out Yotspot or Crewseekers to get started!
Teaching English can be quite lucrative as well, especially in Asian countries such as Japan or China. Pay will normally depend on your level of experience- if you’ve taught before, if you have a TEFL certificate (teaching English as a foreign language) or better yet a University Degree (of any discipline). There is still work to be found if you have none of these things, and after your first few jobs you’ll have the experience to make you an attractive candidate anywhere. EnglishFirst panders to my particular interests of China and Russia, and have positions for both qualified and non-qualified candidates, but there are heaps of options out there if you give it a Google! A really cool option for Japan is the JET Program- though you'll need a university degree in any discipline.
I’M IN IT FOR THE EXPERIENCE
My preferred way of deciding where to work is to find a new skill or experience that is calling to me and throw myself into it. I always try and find work where I’ll come away with at least enough saved to get me to my next location, and as long as you think carefully about what you spend while you’re there and plan well that is pretty much always possible.
If experiences are what you’re chasing, this opens up your overseas job opportunities to volunteering, WWOOFing, finding internships- the options are endless. While many volunteer organizations charge a fee to participate (like GVI, who have a whole range of awesome programs), your costs are normally all covered and you’ll come away with valuable new skills that may gain you paid employment at the end of it. There are also many options for volunteer positions where you pay nothing to participate but maybe have to cover your own accommodation etc. Hunt around- you never know what you’ll find! For example, check out this list of free volunteer opportunities in South America!
WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and WorkAway provide options for getting involved with local cultures- in return for working some hours of a day you’ll be fed and given accommodation. Both of these organizations have websites where farms/families post their profiles- from coffee farms in Indonesia to horse ranches in New Zealand, the opportunities to learn and live locally are boundless. I used WorkAway to spend a few weeks on a farm in Nepal with a local family- working for the mornings and exploring for the afternoons, enjoying delicious food and sleeping in an awesome loft with another volunteer. We paid a modest fee ($5/day) to assist with the cost of feeding us (they were a very poor family) but we gained so much more than that in new friends and Nepalese language lessons. If you are a water baby you could also think about finding volunteer crew positions on boats- I was able to sail around a good portion of the Greek Islands for free after finding a Greek-American family who needed another crewmember (and team member for the Great Red Wine Festival Bender of 2009). (I used Crewseekers to find this opportunity)
If the main aim of the game of finding work overseas is to save as much money as possible, your choice of destinations become somewhat limited. If you are from anywhere but Australia, that’s a really good option for you- a high minimum wage (though admittedly high living costs too) means that even full time waitressing work can see you raking in the dosh pretty quickly. If you have the sort of work that can be done as a freelancer (ie writing, translating, design) you’ve struck the holy grail for working overseas- if you work for an agency in your home country and continue to get paid those wages but move to somewhere with negligible living costs (ie. Nepal, where I was spending about $10 a day), you can save quite a lot very quickly. You can also use websites such as Freelancer to organise your own jobs. For max savings, you’ll also probably want to steer clear of bigger cities- living costs are often double or triple what you’ll find in the country, which makes saving a lot of money a lot less feasible. That being said, there are normally more jobs to be found in said cities, so there made need to be some compromise made there.
Working on boats is another good way of saving money- wages may not be super high but all your costs will be covered, and if you’re not partying too much on your time off you’ll find little to spend your savings on in the middle of the ocean. For this you’ll either need to start out volunteer crewing to gain necessary experience, or sign up for a short course on being a Steward/ess or Crew, or if you’re already a Divemaster or watersports instructor keep your eye out for super yachts looking to entertain their rich clientele. Check out Yotspot or Crewseekers to get started!
Teaching English can be quite lucrative as well, especially in Asian countries such as Japan or China. Pay will normally depend on your level of experience- if you’ve taught before, if you have a TEFL certificate (teaching English as a foreign language) or better yet a University Degree (of any discipline). There is still work to be found if you have none of these things, and after your first few jobs you’ll have the experience to make you an attractive candidate anywhere. EnglishFirst panders to my particular interests of China and Russia, and have positions for both qualified and non-qualified candidates, but there are heaps of options out there if you give it a Google! A really cool option for Japan is the JET Program- though you'll need a university degree in any discipline.
I’M IN IT FOR THE EXPERIENCE
My preferred way of deciding where to work is to find a new skill or experience that is calling to me and throw myself into it. I always try and find work where I’ll come away with at least enough saved to get me to my next location, and as long as you think carefully about what you spend while you’re there and plan well that is pretty much always possible.
If experiences are what you’re chasing, this opens up your overseas job opportunities to volunteering, WWOOFing, finding internships- the options are endless. While many volunteer organizations charge a fee to participate (like GVI, who have a whole range of awesome programs), your costs are normally all covered and you’ll come away with valuable new skills that may gain you paid employment at the end of it. There are also many options for volunteer positions where you pay nothing to participate but maybe have to cover your own accommodation etc. Hunt around- you never know what you’ll find! For example, check out this list of free volunteer opportunities in South America!
WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and WorkAway provide options for getting involved with local cultures- in return for working some hours of a day you’ll be fed and given accommodation. Both of these organizations have websites where farms/families post their profiles- from coffee farms in Indonesia to horse ranches in New Zealand, the opportunities to learn and live locally are boundless. I used WorkAway to spend a few weeks on a farm in Nepal with a local family- working for the mornings and exploring for the afternoons, enjoying delicious food and sleeping in an awesome loft with another volunteer. We paid a modest fee ($5/day) to assist with the cost of feeding us (they were a very poor family) but we gained so much more than that in new friends and Nepalese language lessons. If you are a water baby you could also think about finding volunteer crew positions on boats- I was able to sail around a good portion of the Greek Islands for free after finding a Greek-American family who needed another crewmember (and team member for the Great Red Wine Festival Bender of 2009). (I used Crewseekers to find this opportunity)
Photos from my homestay in Nepal, found through WorkAway. For stories and more pictures see my Nepal blog.
Working a winter season on the ski fields is a very popular choice amongst Australians and a great way to get your snow skills up to par and meet other snow bunnies while earning money and experiencing a new country. You probably won’t earn a ton of money working on the mountain, but most employers will at least heavily subsidize if not provide a lift pass, and if you land a job that is morning or afternoon shifts you’ll be able to get out onto the slopes everyday. Again, if you don’t fall into the trap of too much partying, you should be able to come away from a ski season with a whole bunch of new friends, enviable skills and goggle tan, and some savings on the side. Japan offers awesome snow and reasonable rates of pay, as well as a new culture and tasty food! Try Boobooski for a company that will organise pretty much everything for you, or check out The Kutchannel for a more do-it-yourself approach. If you want to organise a job before you leave, be sure to apply early- recruitment for jobs for a December start often finishes around July.
WHERE?
One you’ve decided what sort of work you want to be doing and where you’d like to go, your biggest hurdle is going to be the dreaded visa situation. Availability of working holiday visas depends on where you’re from, where you want to go and, more often that not, how old you are. The best place to go for information on this is the website of the embassy of the country you are hoping to go to. Some countries with stricter visas can be got past by having a job lined up before you go and then having that company apply on your behalf- again though, it all depends on the individual. My personal strategy is to get to all the places I want to work with age restrictions on their visas first up, and then save places with no restrictions until I’m over 30 and my choices become somewhat limited. If you go through a job agency they can normally help out with this, and if you decide to volunteer you may not need to worry about it at all.
Working a winter season on the ski fields is a very popular choice amongst Australians and a great way to get your snow skills up to par and meet other snow bunnies while earning money and experiencing a new country. You probably won’t earn a ton of money working on the mountain, but most employers will at least heavily subsidize if not provide a lift pass, and if you land a job that is morning or afternoon shifts you’ll be able to get out onto the slopes everyday. Again, if you don’t fall into the trap of too much partying, you should be able to come away from a ski season with a whole bunch of new friends, enviable skills and goggle tan, and some savings on the side. Japan offers awesome snow and reasonable rates of pay, as well as a new culture and tasty food! Try Boobooski for a company that will organise pretty much everything for you, or check out The Kutchannel for a more do-it-yourself approach. If you want to organise a job before you leave, be sure to apply early- recruitment for jobs for a December start often finishes around July.
WHERE?
One you’ve decided what sort of work you want to be doing and where you’d like to go, your biggest hurdle is going to be the dreaded visa situation. Availability of working holiday visas depends on where you’re from, where you want to go and, more often that not, how old you are. The best place to go for information on this is the website of the embassy of the country you are hoping to go to. Some countries with stricter visas can be got past by having a job lined up before you go and then having that company apply on your behalf- again though, it all depends on the individual. My personal strategy is to get to all the places I want to work with age restrictions on their visas first up, and then save places with no restrictions until I’m over 30 and my choices become somewhat limited. If you go through a job agency they can normally help out with this, and if you decide to volunteer you may not need to worry about it at all.