Employment

The three top overseas jobs that people want are; teaching English overseas (ESL), cruise ship jobs, and Au Pair jobs. However, there are more jobs overseas than you could imagine that are just as fun and require the exact same skill sets.  There are three main points to consider when conducting an employment search for jobs overseas.   First deciding what you want to do.  Second deciding where you want to live and work.  Third, once you have a job, taking care of all your responsibilities in the states before leaving.

Dreaming about employment overseas and actually doing it are two separate things.  Sometimes reality clashes with a dream and people can get frustrated; refer to the first chapter when I took a "dream" job working as a night manager at a bar only to end up working until 7:00 a.m.  Keep in mind that, although your primary goal is to set out upon an adventure, the employer's primary goal is to use you to make money.  Be prepared to work hard and then enjoy life.  I've seen a lot of situations when the person shows up for work and immediately starts partying all the time or doesn't show up on time or leaves before the scheduled work shift is complete.

With all of the warnings about dreaming and reality already covered, this is your life, so do something you have always wanted to do.  Think about whether your dream job is actually the job, the location, or the people that you want to be around.   If you've always wanted to bartend, why not do it in the Caribbean?  If you want to teach (ESL), think about the places you'd like to visit while you're teaching (because there's so many English as Second Language jobs you can find one anywhere in the world).  If you've always wanted to live on an Island, choose some places with good beaches, then pick a job on those particular Islands.  If you like hanging around adventurous people, become an adventure guide.  If you want to help people, find an Internship or volunteer position with refugees, women's rights groups, or orphanages.  Finding the right employment is easy.

Deciding where you want to live and work is vital to enjoying a job and life overseas.  If you are more of a "sun person", then look for jobs in Hawaii, Australia, the South Pacific, or the Caribbean.  If you are more of a "snow person", then look for jobs in Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, or Russia.  If the location doesn't really matter, then you are a "people person" and you should research different cultures before deciding where you'd like to live. 

Remember that, wherever, you are, you can use the city of employment as a home base to branch out and see different parts of the host country or the region.  If you like Asian culture, then find a job in that region and on the weekends or during vacation, go see the Great Wall, Mount Fuji, Buddhist temples, and Hong Kong.  If you like European culture, choose that region and visit Michelangelo's David, a vineyard in Tuscany, skiing in Switzerland, or Stonehenge.