How to find your first job abroad ?

Are your guts telling you to go experience the world ? Do you feel like you are called by adventure, that you need to explore, meet different people, taste new things or see something that you have never seen before ? A lot of people are fine with having a stable job that allows them to go on holidays more or less regularly but some people need a little bit more than that. If you are thinking about working abroad but don’t know where to start or if this life is for you I will try to bring some answers here.


First of all I want to say that pretty much EVERYBODY can do it, I’ve been working in different parts of the world for the last 9 years now and I’ve worked with absolutely all kinds of people : the 18 year old on a break after graduation, the introvert, the extrovert, the 40 year old that quit his stable job, the experienced traveler, the extremely shy one, the couple, the overconfident, the one with crippling anxiety, the one who can barely speak english…


The only thing that all those people had in common is that at one point they just decided to take the leap. A little bit of self-confidence and trust in yourself is all you need to start a new life. Now I realize it’s easier said than done so I’ll give you here some tips to hopefuly help you make the jump.

 

Finding the confidence

I think this is the main issue preventing people to live the life they really want to live. They think that you need to be special in order to live a special life and I can tell you right now, THIS IS NOT THE CASE. The world is full of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.


I’ve always seen this pretty simply, I know I’m no genius, I’m not particularly smart, I’m not talented at all and I’ve never been a very practical person but when I started working and being around professionals I quickly realized that those people were exactly like me! Everybody’s kind of lost in their life, everybody’s just pretending to know what they’re doing and everybody’s just trying to navigate things the best they can.


So I guess my first tip for building self-confidence is just to look at the people around you and ask yourself “Is this person really better than me?”. Do you REALLY think the people around you are smarter and more talented than you? The answer is probably no, they might have some skills that you don’t have or know some things that you don’t know but the contrary is also true and if your brain is more or less functional you can also learn the skills that they learned and the things that they know, so don’t put yourself down and be certain that YOU CAN DO the things that other people do.

 

Identify your strenghts

A tiny introspection is needed for this part. You have to ask yourself if there are any areas where you are already better than most people and it doesn’t need to be a crazy skill, maybe you’re very comfortable with strangers, maybe you enjoy cooking, maybe you like being the life of the party, maybe you can ride horses or motorcycles, maybe you are good at training your dog, maybe you are comfortable in the water, maybe you’re a computer nerd or you like photography or editing videos… 


For me it was languages, I’m French and I’ve always been pretty good in english at school but after spending a few months abroad I really became fluent in english and that became kind of my super power to try and find my first job. But what if you have NOTHING going on you might ask, if you think you have absolutely no skills at all let’s see what you can do about it.

 

Get your first skills

Here again you will have to ask yourself some questions : what do you like, what attracts you, what do you think you might enjoy doing? Choose an area that you would like to explore and it’s ok if it’s not the area you will work in for all your life! We have time to explore, to figure out what works and doesn’t work for us, you can reinvent yourself at any age and it’s never a waste of time to just try something.


So my main tip when you have no skills, no diplomas and no experience is to VOLUNTEER. If getting a job is just a step too high for you, volunteering is a great way to get a foot into the professional world. Research if there are any programs in your country for volunteering, research the companies/NGOs/institutions around you that could use volunteers if you want to stay where you live, apply to Workaway, HelpX or other volunteering websites if you are ready to move somewhere. 


Workaway is my favourite volunteering platform for learning while traveling for cheap, I’ve spent 7 months in South America to learn Spanish and during this time I’ve paid only 2 nights of accommodations because I was just jumping from volunteering to volunteering (hostel work is great for meeting people, learning reception work and learning the language).

 

Target your job

Alright now it’s time to look for work. First of all if you want to work abroad you have to check the conditions to work in the country you are targetting (visas, working permits etc…) to see what’s possible regarding your nationality. Personally I don’t target my destinations too precisely, I target the type of job first and then the destination reveals itself.


1) Use the employment platforms of the country: every country has national platforms for their job offers, the good thing is that you can use filters, you can look for job offers written in English in a non-English speaking country and you can use keywords or search specific industries. Research, research and keep researching using the tools to your advantage and look for offers that look appealing to you and seem to be in your range of competencies.


2) Don’t wait for job offers! You actually don’t need to wait for a company to publish a job offer to contact them about jobs, specially in the tourism industry. Companies are kind of always looking to hire someone, maybe they were just thinking about it but didn’t publish an offer yet, maybe they’re thinking of firing someone but don’t have a backup plan (you could be this backup plan) or maybe they will be looking for someone in a few months… Cold contacting companies is a really valid way to find a job when it’s timed right. Companies in the tourism industry start preparing for their next high season 4 to 6 months in advance, and if you’re amongst the first ones to offer your services you’ll be hired more easily than if you apply 1 month before the season starts when they already have 100 candidates to choose from.


3) Target smart, don’t contact everybody but contact the right ones. As I said timing is important but choosing the right companies is important too. Personally I don’t even bother contacting companies who have a website that seems to be from the early 2000s or companies that don’t have any reviews from guests. You want to contact companies who don’t have a shady website and who look like they have a lot of visitors because the more clients they have the more employees they need so there’s gonna be more opportunities for you to get hired. 


Be creative in your research, I’ve found a job just using Google Maps for example, I wanted to work with hot air balloons so I typed “hot air balloons” above Switzerland in Google Maps and contacted the company that looked the most appropriate, we planned a call 2 days later and they hired me during the call. If I have some destinations in mind I might use TripAdvisor, go to the outdoor activities of the destination and check the popular companies in the activities that I’m targetting. 


Jump

Now it’s your turn to start building your dream life! There’s no set path for doing these kind of things, use the cards that were dealt to you to your advantage and make up your own way. You are way more capable than you think, most jobs out there are maybe not easy but they are SIMPLE, meaning that you don’t need a doctorate in astrophysics to do the tasks, just humility and a will to learn will do the trick.

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