Employment Abroad

Getting some employment abroad is a brilliant way to extend your travels on a gap year. Employment abroad while you're travelling can literally mean the difference between spending a few months away or an entire year.

Apart from the obvious benefit of giving you some much needed money, employment abroad is also a great way to meet other people while you're away. Employment abroad is such a popular gap year option that there's a high chance there'll be other backpackers employed wherever you find work. Taking employment abroad is also a good way to meet local people on an everyday level, which really helps to give you a better understanding of life in that country.

There are all sorts of different options for employment abroad. Many people have an image of backpackers just being able to pick up the odd bit of bar work or fruit picking but, in reality, employment abroad can be extremely diverse. Employment abroad could be anything from working in an insurance office in Melbourne to teaching English in Japan. It's sometimes possible to pre-arrange employment abroad before you set off as well, which takes away the worry and uncertainty of job-hunting when you arrive in a new place.
 
If you're thinking about getting some employment abroad you need to have a good think about what sort of work you're suited to and where in the world you'd most like to live and work. New Zealand and Australia are popular destinations for employment abroad because if you're aged between 18 and 30 you can apply for a working holiday visa for either of these two countries. Australia and New Zealand are also highly convenient for employment abroad if you happen to be travelling on a round the world trip. Both countries are approximate halfway stopping points, making them ideally placed to take some employment abroad. You can stop for a while, experience Australia or New Zealand in-depth by living and working there and save some money to fund your travels for when you eventually move on again.

Most of Real Gap's employment opportunities in Africa are on a voluntary basis, assisting with either people-based or wildlife conservation projects. However, there is one programme which makes paid employment abroad in Africa a possibility - Real Gap's ‘Field Guide Training Course South Africa' programme. Travellers on this one-year course in South Africa train to become fully qualified field guides. Six months of the course are spent receiving practical instruction and six months are spent gaining work experience on a working lodge in South Africa. The idea is that by the end of the course you'll be able to identify and track most African wildlife and be fully qualified to gain paid employment abroad throughout Africa working as a certified field guide.

Employment abroad can be easier to find if you possess some specific skills or qualifications to make you more desirable to certain employers. It's not vital to have such a specific vocational skill on your CV, but it undoubtedly makes finding employment abroad easier in some situations

If you are looking for employment abroad you don't have to concentrate solely on English-speaking countries either, even if you don't speak a second language. Teaching English is a brilliant option for employment abroad all over the world. In some countries it's not even vital to have a TEFL certificate, as long as you are enthusiastic about teaching.

An excellent option if you fancy employment abroad over the student summer break is to work in the USA as part of the Student Summer Programme. With this scheme if you're a current full time student and are returning to college or university after the summer you're entitled to work in the USA over the summer break. One of the great things about this employment abroad programme is that you are given a guaranteed placement before you arrive, which eradicates any unnecessary job-hunting stress. There are a wide variety of jobs available and you can choose which part of the States you'd like to work in. You can spend the summer in employment abroad in the USA, earn some money (usually with accommodation provided) and then do some travelling before you return home.

Employment abroad, as the examples above illustrate, aren't necessarily just odds bits of menial work you pick up here and there when you're backpacking. On the contrary, if you do some proper research before you depart, and go prepared, there's no reason why you shouldn't find some really stimulating and rewarding employment abroad. The money on your employment abroad will mean you can travel for longer and you'll also have some new things to put on your CV when you get back.


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