How to Find Summer Jobs Abroad

Cutting living costs and supplementing your travel funds by working abroad isn’t always as simple as it sounds.

For example, what kind of work is available, where and when? Who do you need to contact? Are work permits required? Are students eligible for one?

Fortunately, there are services that help students cut through the red tape, just as there are directories that list short-term jobs abroad, both paid and unpaid.

Vacation-Work, a British company, has guidebooks covering such topics as jobs in Japan, au pair positions, working in European ski resorts and volunteer positions in Third World countries. New editions of three of the most popular Vacation-Work directories recently were published. The wages listed, are in British sterling, not dollars.

--”Directory of Overseas Summer Jobs,” $10.95, by David Woodworth, lists paid and volunteer jobs in 40 countries. Many are in the tourism industry, but there are also listings for fruit pickers, camp counselors and mothers’ helpers.

The directory tells students whom to contact, when and where and what wages to expect. Information for obtaining work permits also is included.

--”Summer Jobs in Britain,” $12.95, by Emily Hatchwell, claims that the organizations listed offer 30,000 summer jobs, both paid and volunteer, among them au pairs , archeology assistants, fruit pickers and office workers.

Although there are limited opportunities for paid employment outside the United States, students often can reduce their daily travel expenses by volunteering for work that provides meals and accommodations.

Attitude, too, is important for a volunteer position. Why are you offering your time, and what do you hope to gain from the experience? What might be a good experience for one person may feel like exploitation to another.

One of the most popular of volunteer jobs is that of a worker on an Israeli kibbutz or communal settlement. In 1987 more than 20,000 young volunteers entered that country to work on either a kibbutz or a moshav (a settlement of individual leaseholds farmed cooperatively).

Vacation Works’ 1990 “Kibbutz Volunteer,” $12.95, by John Bedford, gives readers background information on the kibbutz life style. Also, it lists 200 kibbutzim that take young travelers as volunteers for a one-month minimum, and tells what volunteers can expect, including the type of work, hours, pocket money and accommodations.

Here’s how a little pre-trip research can avoid problems abroad. If you believe that by volunteering for work on a kibbutz you will feel like “one of the family,” read Bedford. He says that close relationships between kibbutzniks and volunteers are not encouraged. Members of the kibbutz are often concerned about foreign volunteers attracting Israeli members away from the kibbutz life style.

Vacation-Work books are distributed in the United States by Writer’s Digest Books.

This year the nationwide student travel service Council Travel is operating student work programs in Great Britain, Ireland, France, West Germany, New Zealand, Costa Rica and Jamaica.

For a $96 fee it arranges working permits, provides students with foreign support services and gives information about job searching and living abroad. For more details, contact Council Travel at 1093 Broxton Ave., Suite 220, Los Angeles 90024, (213) 208-3551.