Are you considering taking a career break and diving into the unknown realm of travel using only your savings? Itching start Working on the Go? Already on the road, funds are low, and you need to setup a basecamp and generate income to keep things moving?
If so, check out these four websites for finding fun, exciting, and off the wall jobs that will take you tumbling across the globe!
Backdoor is one of my favorite websites for short term job adventures.
The site is well organized by category of what you might like to be involved with. Extend your stay in Hawaii by working part-time at that yoga retreat center or lead kids on outdoor adventures in the rainforest of Costa Rica!
Whatever the case, backdoorjobs.com is all about short stints that give you amazing experiences. It also offers a variety of seasonal placements; you could plan to harvest grapes in the vineyards of Argentina in mid-January and then head off to the Bolivian Salt Flats extra money in hand.
For ladies who are looking to set the world on fire with optimistic action, head on over to idealist.org. At idealist.org their mission is to: “Connect people, organizations, and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives.”
With over 70,000 organizations (such as NGOs) participating, just begin by plugging in the location of where you want to work, volunteer, or intern for the good of humankind. Idealist is geared towards a person who is a bit more established with their areas of expertise (expats, this website is great for you!).
For example, ever consider taking your Masters in Public Health (MPH) over to Ghana, Africa to help reduce the cycle of poverty via food education and the promotion of better hygiene habits? Idealist is a hotbed of jobs spread across the world for people looking to truly influence this world.
Just like its’ name and whimsical logo of a monkey spinning a globe on his finger, jobmonkey is a fun, laid back website with non-traditional opportunities for the wayfaring lady.
Pick your poison: maritime work, modeling, trail-building, teaching English abroad—jobmonkey offers “cool careers worldwide”. They have a wonderful weekly email newsletter which contains all sorts of jobs that might go undetected in the common Google search.
You can also search jobmonkey’s “industry guides” page to get a better understanding of a field you are interested in (e.g., crewing a yacht) but have no idea where to start.
I personally have done three workaways in my travels and do not have enough room in this post to write on the benefits of using this site.
Workaway is propelled by adventurous travelers willing to barter their skills, in exchange for accommodations and language opportunities abroad with willing and open hosts. This is the only site out of the four which does require a membership ($33USD for two years of membership) in order to view the postings.
Based on my experience, that $33 got me a job selling adventure tours on the beaches of Panama, commission of said tours, and a new family in Panama that I have already visited twice. Workaway placements are available in the USA and Canada as well as across the world.
Such options range from training sled dog puppies in Finland, to working with Guatemalan street youth, to living at an ecological construction site in Brazil that you are actively building! Seriously…purchase the membership.
Workaway is great for those women who are already out on the trail and running low on funds (or just wanting to switch things up). It offers a way to slow down your travel and curb your spending as most hosts utilize the “three hots and a cot” system.