How Do I Land a Travel-Related Job?

01.04.07 | 7:28 AM ET

Dear Rolf,

I’ve planned a three-month trip to Europe, but I’d really prefer to go for a whole year. How do I get involved in travel so ultimately I can do travel-related things as a job?

—Chris, Australia

Dear Chris,

The short answer is simply to keep your eyes and options open as you travel. Ask around about jobs, be curious and befriend people wherever you go. Do this long enough on the road, and you’ll eventually stumble across work opportunities—from working a hostel desk, to teaching English, to leading dive trips.

Some of these jobs will be short-term and others will be longer-term—but the secret is to be creative and persistent enough to find the kind of work you enjoy doing. After all, most travel-related jobs don’t pay much, so if you don’t enjoy your overseas work, it makes more sense to just work at home and save up a nest egg for your travels.

In many cases, scoring a travel-related job in the long-term might require a bit of training. Thus, if your travels inspire you to teach, you might need to go home for certification training. If your travels inspire you to get involved in international aid and development, you might go back and get a degree in that field. If you decide you want to start your own eco-tour company, you might want to get some business and management training. The beauty of travel is that it exposes you to a wealth of different lifestyles and life experiences—both good and bad—and learning from these experiences will give you a better idea of what you want to pursue as a job.

For leads on travel-related and overseas jobs, check out an issue of Transitions Abroad (which also has a work resource directory online), or surf to OverseasJobs.com or OverseasDigest.com.

Send your questions to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). If you want to see if Rolf has already answered your questions, see the Ask Rolf archive.

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