Working Abroad: Top 5 Dream Jobs

Working abroad is a fantastic way of experiencing new countries and learning about different cultures. It not only allows you to gain a more in-depth understanding of what day-to-day life entails for the residents of each country you visit, but it helps you meet and communicate with the locals, and in some cases provides the payment or accommodation you need to stay for longer.

For those that choose to volunteer abroad, there’s also the knowledge that the work you’re undertaking is helping to improve the communities you’re visiting for future generations, and will improve the prospects of the locals that you’re interacting with on a daily basis.

Whichever you choose, working abroad is usually a fun and rewarding way to learn more about the world and meet some truly fascinating people. But for some, the decision to work overseas has resulted in the chance to live out their dreams, and enjoy working in their perfect job.

Read on and prepare to feel just a touch of jealousy as we present the top 5 dream jobs abroad.

1. Waterslide Tester – Who doesn’t enjoy the gleeful childish fun of hurtling down a slide, swinging round bends, over bumps and splashing down into refreshing, clear water? Well for Tommy Lynch, this normally rare pleasure is an everyday occurrence as he is employed by First Choice holidays to test the height, length, speed and general enjoyment of slides in each of their resorts.

As if this job couldn’t be any more amazing, Tommy also gets to travel around the world, to some truly spectacular destinations. He’s tested tubes in Greece, Florida, Turkey, Jamaica and Ibiza, and racks up around 27,000 air miles a year. How unfair is that?

2. Diving Instructor –  Scuba diving is a truly wonderful experience that everyone should try at least once. The feeling of weightlessly weaving through coral reefs or amongst brightly coloured fishes is a wonderful way to explore a world normally hidden to us. Yet due at the expense and the fact that most people would prefer to dive in Belize rather than Bournemouth, most people get to go once at most.

For a lucky few however, diving is a way of life and what puts food on their beach-hut tables. It may be hard to fathom as you sit in a dark, dull office devoid of any distinguishing features, but many people work abroad on pristine sand beaches and in the warm turquoise waters showing others the mysteries of the deep. Life really doesn’t seem fair sometimes…

3. Wine Taster/Blogger – If you fancy lounging around in the Californian sun supping a variety of wine and making a cool $10,000 per month (and let’s face it, who wouldn’t), a job as a wine taster may be just the thing you’re after. The Murphy-Goode winery, based in beautiful Sonoma County, advertised for this very position a couple of years ago and understandably received a huge number of applicants.

The winner, Hardy Wallace, need only to blog about his experiences and promote the company on social networking sites to make his $120,000 salary. This may sound easy, but hitting the correct keys after that much wine is liable to spell disaster (or disasaster), so don’t despair, you may just find the position advertised again in the near future.

4. Party Organiser – Fancy hanging out with Brad and Angelina in LA, or hiring a super-yacht for Kanye West’s latest album launch in the Maldives? Well, being a party planner may just be the job for you. With celebrities seeking to outdo each other with more and more elaborate soirées, whole companies now exist to help ensure every lavish whim is taken care of.

Of course, you’ll need to make sure you’re at the upper end of the food chain when it comes to this sort of role (discussing which tropical island would be most suitable for George Clooney’s birthday party with the man himself, rather than shelling individual M&Ms for the guest’s enjoyment), but if you can get there, the rewards are huge. Not only will you travel to some of the world’s most beautiful and exotic destinations and meet some fascinating people (possibly) but you’ll have a whole host of scandalous stories to tell the grandkids (or if money gets tight, the tabloids).

5. Caretaker of a Tropical Paradise – Yup, this is the big one, advertised as ‘the best job in the world’, Tourism Queensland offered hopefuls the opportunity of a lifetime to spend six months as a caretaker on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef. The assignment involved the arduous tasks of swimming, exploring and relaxing on the beach, and part of the interview process involved gorging on a beachside BBQ and snorkelling in the clear blue waters surrounding the island.

The accommodation was a rent-free, three bedroom villa with its own pool and spa, and aside from remembering to feed the fish, the winner, Ben Southall was only required to blog for 12 hours a month about what a wonderful time he was having in order to promote the island paradise. Oh, and he received a salary of $111,000 for his trouble. I hope he gets eaten by sharks.

Author Bio

Daniel is an avid traveller with a passion for exploring the globe and sharing his experiences online.