Jobs (tried and tested) to work around the world – Part 1

4 February 2015 / No Comments

People often ask me how I have been able to travel so much and afford to live in different countries the way I have.

I always respond the same way: I worked there.

To travel is great but to go LIVE abroad is even greater. To wake up to newness, challenges, cultural differences, minute and big discoveries, every day. New smells, new light, new codes, new culture. It’s a motivational EXPLOSION.

So by looking back on the ways I was able to travel pre-kid and post-kid (because you CAN go live abroad when you have kids, no excuses) here are a few ideas of some jobs that enabled me and can therefore enable you, to leave the comfort of your local space for the comfort of newness and adventure.

1 – Teaching English Abroad

This is what enabled me to go live in a couple of countries and find work immediately. Do so I needed to have the TEFL diploma a (see link below) so I went to do a TEFL course in Madrid and the school that taught me how to become a teacher actually hired me after to teach students of English of all ages. It’s fun, varied, flexible work and very inspiring if you like to meet the locals and experience the culture of where you live. The TEFL is easy enough to get if you work hard enough at it and is basically recognized everywhere in the world if you want to teach English. Go here for more info: worldteflassociation.com

2 – Work on a yacht or be skipper.

This is something I did when I took time away from office life before I completely quit it later! I really wanted to work with boats and really wanted to work with people, so I worked on my sailing boat with a colleague for 3 years. We had a website whereby people could book where they wanted to go and when and we would take them there and it was amazing. I don’t think I have ever experienced so much wonder, delight and exhilaration in my life. Don’t get me wrong, it’s tiring, can be uncomfortable and maybe even stressful at times (due to close proximity with people or bad weather conditions) but all in all it’s an amazing job to have for a season or for years. I was based in Antibes in the South of France and ended up sailing all around Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Capri and the whole Southern coast of France and I will never, ever forget the views and people that I met along the way. If you don’t have a sailing boat at hand, here are some great website to go and see what jobs are available: http:

www.crewnetwork.com

www.workonboats.com

www.yacrew.com

3. Working for a hotel/sports holiday resort in the SUN or SNOW

This was after I got very physically tired from the sailing. It was an amazing opportunity. I literally walked in to the Club Med recruitment center for a communal recruitment day and came out after hours of interviews and team role plays with a job to go and spend the winter working in the Caribbean, teaching sailing at the Club Med in Guadeloupe! It helped I had skippered and taught sailing but these type of companies have work for everyone as they are so big. It’s a lot of work, some long hours at times but if you are sociable and enjoy meeting lots of different people, this is an extraordinary opportunity. So if you have experience or want to work in catering, a kids club, entertainment, music, gym, sailing, beaches or even skiing or chalet work, these are awesome companies to work for. Club Med was good for me as I speak fluent French but there are tour operators and resorts that need people all over the world!

Here are some links:

www.clubmedjobs.com

www.careers.thomascook.com/working-abroad/

www.sandals.com/employment/

4 – Working in Sales/Finance

While some sales jobs require you to stay behind a desk, others — like pharmaceutical, financial sales — require you to cover a territory, which involves lots of travel. Depending on the size of the company, that travel could involve simply driving to different cities in your geographic area, or it could involve flying to a different country every week. Thanks to the great company I worked for in the City of London, I travelled to New York, Zurich, Milan, Frankfurt, Madrid, Paris and many other places.

To find this type of job, the best thing is to look for multinationals, wherever you are based and call them up, write to them, mail them and do it relentlessly. There are job in sales in every type of industry to fit any motivated and hard working individual. I worked in Finance but there are so many sectors out there, Fashion, Sports, Food Products, Pharmaceuticals. Go for it and test them all. Then try.

In my next article ways on how to job yourself around the world with KIDS