Working Holiday Ideas: Jobs You Can Do Overseas

This post may contain affiliate links. We may receive a small commission, if you make a purchase. Read Disclosure.

When you have the travel bug, but funds are presenting an issue, you might want to start looking for some working holiday ideas.

Working holidays are a chance for you to earn cash whilst combining travel adventures, and you can usually find working abroad experiences in any country – if you know where to look and what to look for.

When we first left to travel full time, I was working as a teacher. It took me to five countries and allowed me to save money to fund my travels before starting this blog.

Teaching is not the only working abroad job you can get though – you can become an au pair, a tour guide, or work behind bars. There are plenty of jobs you can do overseas, but if you’re which is right for you, keep reading for some inspiration!

Teaching Overseas

• Countries you can work in: Argentina, Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia), Taiwan, Malaysia, Malta, Japan, South Korea, UAE, Spain, Costa Rica, Mexico, China
• Minimum commitment time: usually 6 months to 1 year contracts
• Average pay: depending on the country and your experience, you can earn anywhere from $500 USD a month to $3000 USD a month
• Advantages: fulfilling career, transferable skills, character building, meet new people, learn about different cultures, you integrate into society
• Disadvantages: high stress, have to deal with angsty kids, schools tend to expect a lot from you, minimal time off during term times

Craig and I have lived in Dublin, Bangkok, Thailand, the USA, and many parts of Australia while I worked as a teacher.

We did it with very little money saved, but it allowed us to live and work in some very expensive countries to travel in (aside from Bangkok).

It’s the BEST way to live a life of travel and experience different cultures as you are forced to interact with the local community.

As I am a qualified primary school teacher, finding a teaching job wasn’t difficult and I was lucky to pick and choose where I wanted to work. Everywhere needs teachers, right?

Teaching English overseas can be very different to teaching back home.

You’re not paid as much as you would in the USA, UK, or Australia, but what you lack in pay you make up for in respect, less responsibility, and cultural immersion.

The best place to find teaching jobs abroad is to browse the job market on TES.com.

Global Work & Travel’s Teach Trips

Work and travel the easy way by taking part in a 3-4 week class-based TEFL or TESOL course where you’ll learn how to teach English to foreign students. You’ll be provided with accommodation, transfers and cultural activities and excursions throughout your course. Read more in this review.

EXCLUSIVE DEAL: Just for our readers: $100 off your trip (whatever your currency) You must use the code: YTRAVEL
Click here to learn more and use your discount code!

Hospitality Work (Bars, Restaurants, Hotels)

• Countries you can work in: Australia, New Zealand, Western Europe, Greece, Zanzibar
• Minimum commitment time: flexible
• Average pay: dependent on country
• Advantages: transferable skills, lots of jobs available to you, great to meet people
• Disadvantages: long hours, not the best pay, few breaks, can be stressful

I did some casual bar work at various bars around London when I first moved there without any money.

I worked for an agency so they placed me in various bars and functions that needed bar staff for the evening. It was advertised in TNT Magazine, and I had a short interview and then they phoned me each week with possible assignments.

Working in bars all over London helped have a diverse London experience and discover new places.

I also worked in bars in Dublin for the summer. It was rad! I worked at a small pub just off Grafton St for the lunch time shift.

In the evenings I worked as a waitress in the ever popular Oliver St John Gogarty’s in the busy Temple Bar District.

This was one of the funnest working holiday experiences I had. My friend and I were in the thick of the party scene. We quickly made good friends and enjoyed the craic immensely.

Bar jobs are usually advertised on indeed.com, or there may be flyers posted on bulletin boards in hostels.

Summer Camps

• Countries you can work in: USA and Canada
• Minimum commitment time: usually over the summer from May until August
• Average pay: usually around $15 USD per hour, but it varies depending on the state
• Advantages: you get to explore a new country, you can have an impact on young kids, it’s fun all day, it’s decent money
• Disadvantages: you spend a whole summer working, which is arguably the best season of the year to travel

Summer camps are a unique experience and are usually more popular in the USA and in some Western European countries.

During the school holidays, kids from across the country are sent off for a camping experience where they can take part in sports games, recreational activities, and more.

Being a camp counsellor means you are responsible for looking after the kids and keeping them entertained. It can be a lot of fun, and it means you can spend a lot of time outdoors.

If you think this sounds like fun, you can find summer camp jobs by looking at the websites of individual summer camps, or by browsing on job sites like Indeed.com.

Internships

• Countries you can work in: USA, Canada, UK, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Ireland, several European countries
• Minimum commitment time: 6-12 months
• Average pay: depending on industry
• Advantages: you get to learn new skills, possible job at the end of it,
• Disadvantages: internships are usually less well-paid than if you were to work as an official employee, they require full time commitment, so there may not be much time off, some internships can be high-stress

If you plan to further your career when you return home, why not make your work experience abroad an internship!

Internships are usually available for those looking to work in the finance or technology industries, and usually come with a full time pay and accommodation.

You can find internships via GradConnection.com, or by searching on Linkedin.

Farm Work

• Countries you can work in: Australia
• Minimum commitment time: usually 1 year commitment
• Average pay: $75,000-$85,000 AUS per year ($47,000-$54,000 USD)
• Advantages: high pay, often free food and accommodation included, meet new people
• Disadvantages: long hours, might be paid per piece i.e. a certain price for every 100 apples you pick, may be in a rural area, at. the mercy of the elements – the sun is strong, and the wildlife can be deadly.

We didn’t work on a traditional farm in Australia, but we had the exciting job of chipping barnacles off pearl shells at Kuri Bay, a remote location in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia.

We had to catch a sea plane to the farm and would stay on site for anything from 2-5 weeks, and worked every day from 4am to 3pm.

It was hard work, but was a travel experience in itself as the area was stunning – many tourists would spend $1,000 a day just to visit by boat.

After a 5 week swing, we’d walk out with almost $10,000 AUS in our pocket, plus accommodation and all meals were provided.

We found the job because my brother worked at Kuri Bay and put a good word in for us.

We still had to register at the employment agency Extraman, do the physical and medical tests and go on a waiting list.

Note, we get a lot of questions from people asking how they can get work here. Due to the GFC, the pearling industry in WA died. Kuri Bay no longer exists and it’s almost impossible to get work at any of the farms that have survived 🙁

However, you can find farm work in Australia via the BackpackerJobBoard.com.

Construction Work

• Countries you can work in: USA, Canada, Australia
• Minimum commitment time: 3-6 months
• Average pay: on average, construction workers can earn $45,000 per year
• Advantages: good pay
• Disadvantages: you need to be qualified and previous experience, it’s a full time job

Craig is a qualified Carpenter, and being a portable skill was fortunate to find work around the world.

Craig worked for 12 months in Dublin as a construction worker. For half the year, he worked with the maintenance team at the Westin Hotel in downtown Dublin near the Liffey River.

It was easy work indoors and in a great location. The other half of the year he worked just outside of Dublin building a new Intel plant.

He found the job through an agency called OneillandBrennan.com.

Ski Instructor

• Countries you can work in: France, Austria, Italy, Andorra, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Finland, Norway, Australia
• Minimum commitment time: a winter season
• Average pay: wages vary depending on destinations, but expect around $10-$60 USD per hour depending on skills, experience, and the country you work in
• Advantages: skiing every day, meet new people,
• Disadvantages: you are responsible for people’s safety, especially if they are beginners.

Oh how I wish this was my job! If you’re a proficient skiier, get qualified and become a ski instructor. There are ski resorts all over the world, and as long as you have an instructor qualification, you can find jobs quite easily.

The USA and Canada offers the best pay, especially if you work at high profile resorts such as Aspen in the USA or Whistler or Banff in Canada.

You do need a work permit though, so this may be easier for those who are already American citizens and looking for work in alternate states.

It’s great pay (depending on where in the world you work) and you only need to work the winter ski season which means you can travel throughout the summer and enjoy warm weather.

You can find ski instructor roles on ski-jobs.com.

Cruise Ship Worker

• Countries you can work in: everywhere!
• Minimum commitment time: usually a minimum of 1 year is required
• Average pay: around $32,000 USD per year, depending on the liner, previous experience, and the job you’re doing
• Advantages: you can visit a lot of places, you get to meet new and interesting people, you can learn new skills
• Disadvantages: some places you have to work and cannot leave the ship, seasickness, not a lot of time off, away from your family for a long time

Working on a cruise ship allows you to visit a lot of places in a short amount of time.

You are part of a close-knit community and will make a lot of friends, who will become like your family after a while.

There are many jobs you can do on a cruise ship, from being a photographer, dancer or performer, waiter, cleaner, or working in the kid’s club.

You can find cruise ship jobs on the aptly named site, allcruisejobs.com

Photographer

• Countries you can work in: anywhere, but you might find more opportunities in the United Kingdom, France, Australia and New Zealand
• Minimum commitment time: N/A
• Average pay: dependent on you
• Advantages: freedom to work for yourself, a great way to build a portfolio, meet new people, fulfilling career
• Disadvantages: you have to market yourself, you need to be good at what you do

If you have a knack for photography, then you can earn a bit of beer money on the side of travels by being a freelance photographer.

Talk to hotels, hostels, Airbnbs and restaurants and offer to take photos for their websites or social media.

You can usually get a small fee for your work, or at the least, an exchange in services such as a free stay, or free food.

Au Pair

• Countries you can work in: Australia, China, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Spain
• Minimum commitment time: usually a minimum of 1 year
• Average pay: dependent on the country, but it’s usually low. Expect around $500 USD a month, but you have all your expenses and accommodation paid for
• Advantages: can be very fulfilling, free accommodation + expenses, great way to learn about other cultures
• Disadvantages: you are fully responsible for children when the parents are away, not a lot of time to yourself

Being an Au Pair is not for everyone, but it’s a very fulfilling job for those who do decide to do it.

You can be an Au Pair in many parts of the world, and the job requires you to look after a child while the parents are at work. This includes helping them with homework, taking them to and picking them up from school, taking them to extra curricula activities, cooking for them, and keeping them entertained.

You are not a housekeeper though, and it’s common for families to take advantage and ask you to cook and clean for the whole family. Make sure you work through an agency so you don’t fall into this trap.

You can find Au Pair jobs all over the world on AuPair.com

Blogger

• Countries you can work in: anywhere!
• Minimum commitment time: full time for at least a year before earning anything
• Average pay: dependent on traffic
• Advantages: freedom to work when and where you like, be your own boss, you can write about anything you enjoy
• Disadvantages: it takes a lot of work to build and you won’t earn anything for at least the first year, it requires sustaining, it’s volatile as pay is dependent on traffic, when you make your hobby your business sometimes you can fall out of love with it

We now have Australia’s biggest travel blog and one of the world’s most popular, which has enabled us to enjoy a life of full time travel for over 11 years.

We’re so happy we found a weay to continue the life of travel we love, but without needing a boss or a work visa. It’s all on our terms now.

We earn money travel blogging via multiple streams – our eBook, freelance content creation, my weekly column at Kidspot, advertising, sponsored posts, and working on social media campaigns.

We also get a lot of our travel costs covered, which reduces our expenses. We don’t consider this as free travel, as we work for many hours producing content in exchange.

Starting a blog is not easy. It began with a dream, a lot of commitment, a lot of unpaid work, and studying.

We hit it hard with passion fueled intensity and put everything into it – we networked, we learned about marketing, we learned about SEO, we reached so far outside our comfort zone we walked into other stratospheres.

You don’t have to be a travel blogger, you can blog about anything you want.

But unless you want to dedicate every waking minute and then I’d suggest trying the above jobs and professions to help you travel the world instead. It’s not the free ride a lot of people think it is.

Service Roles [Sales and Marketing]

• Countries you can work in: Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, Western Europe
• Minimum commitment time: 6 months to a year
• Average pay: $30,000 – $57,000 USD per year
• Advantages: if you have a marketing role, it’s great pay.
• Disadvantages: sales jobs may be paid on commission, boring job and not very fulfilling (in my opinion)

Before I started teaching, I tried my hand at door knocking and selling various packages like Domino Pizza vouchers.

I’d start early afternoon and not return until around 9pm. I hated it and was ridiculously bad.

I lasted 3 weeks and I don’t recommend it. I also worked in a call centre selling envelopes for about 3 days until I worked out it was not for me.

Craig also worked for Delta Airlines in Raleigh as a ramp supervisor for 18 months. It was freezing in the winter, and hot in the summer.

Terrible money but interesting to learn about an airports operation, and we got free flights on standby, including a free flight home all the way to Sydney.

I leave this job last as it has been the most unenjoyable industry for us.

There are, however, a lot of jobs in sales and marketing roles and are reasonably easy to get work in.

I don’t think you really need to rock the interview to get the job. Turnover is pretty big 🙂

Final Thoughts

Working abroad is a great way to travel more and not have to worry about your finances on the road.

You can integrate into the local community and learn about new cultures deeply by working, living, traveling within it.

You don’t have to save up as much money before leaving home and you’ll travel more like the locals, which usually makes it cheaper.

The downsides are you’ll be earning local currency, which means you may have to pay exchange rate fees when sending money home, and you only have weekends off – but weekends always become adventures.

You form deeper friendships and connections with people, learn new career skills and processes, and you may get perks such as free accommodation, meals or even flights.

So, what are you waiting for?

More Working Abroad Tips

Need more inspiration about finding jobs abroad? Here are some other guides that may interest you…

• How to Teach English overseas
• The Best Work Opportunities in Australia
• 20 Ways to Work and Travel in Australia
• Guide to the Global Travel & Work platform
• Lessons Learned From My Experiences Teaching Overseas (5 Countries)
• 13 Things To Prepare Before Moving Abroad
• The Rise of Paycations: Tips for Balancing Work + Wanderlust