Have you ever dreamt of travelling the world? No, not going on some all-inclusive resort trip with your entire extended family. We’re talking about the adventure of a lifetime. Spending weeks or months exploring a new culture, new landscapes and meeting people from all over the globe. Ever wondered how people manage to travel for ages without going completely broke? It’s an easy 2-word answer: working holiday. In this post, we’ll explain what it takes to work and travel long-term as a Canadian.
A working holiday is a type of extended trip where you work to help pay for your travels. By working during your trip, you can avoid emptying your savings account. In fact, a working holiday not only makes travel more affordable but also allows you to settle in one place for a while and experience life as a local. A work and travel experience also allows you to gain experience while you discover the world. It’s a great way to avoid that awkward work experience gap on your resume! Plus, your parents won’t be worried that you are becoming a full-fledged vagabond.
The jobs people typically do on a working holiday are temporary and casual in nature. The idea is that you work for a short period of time before travelling to a new place. This could mean working a short gig for a weekend or working somewhere for several months. If you’d rather do something more career-focused, an internship abroad might be just the thing for you. And hey, it’s also the coolest way to launch your career!
Working holidays give you the chance to take a job you may never have the opportunity to take back home in Canada. Imagine working at a surf shop in Australia, or at one of the world’s top ski resorts in Japan. How about helping people take the plunge at a bungee jumping company in New Zealand? The options for work and travel for young Canadians are truly endless.
Sometimes, it’s heavier on the work and less on the travel – while for others it’s a lot more travel than work. This is your experience and you can customize it to perfection.
In order to go on a working holiday, you must first obtain a specific entry visa for the country you want to work and travel in. These entry visas, called working holiday visas, are granted by foreign countries to Canadian citizens. They allow you to stay in the country for an extended period of time and obtain work, something you aren’t allowed to do on a regular tourist visa.
These visas are granted to Canadians through a partnership between the government and the particular foreign country. This means that Canadians can get a working holiday visa for Australia and Australians can get a working holiday visa for Canada, for example.
The Canadian government actually has an entire department called International Experience Canada devoted to creating these partnerships with foreign countries to provide Canadians with opportunities to experience work and travel abroad. International Experience Canada makes it possible to gain new skills while abroad, learn new languages, experience different cultures and explore places you never thought you could.
Yes, 30 countries! We weren’t kidding when we said the opportunities for work and travel for Canadians are endless! You can literally work and travel your way around the entire globe, spending time on nearly every continent. To give you some perspective on how truly amazing this really is, American citizens can currently only get working holiday visas for five countries.
If you’d like to know what it’s like being a Canadian working in Australia – we’ve got just the post for you! It might just give you a better idea of what life is like when you work and travel.
To work and travel abroad, there are certain eligibility requirements you must meet to be granted a working holiday visa. These requirements vary for each country. In general, you must be between 18 and either 30 or 35 years old at the time of your visa application. You must also be in good health, of good character and have a specified amount of accessible savings. You can read more about each country’s working holiday visa requirements and application process on International Experience Canada’s website.
The visa process can be a bit tricky for some countries. Our work and travel experts are there to walk you through the process so that you can focus on planning the cool stuff. In most cases, you only get one working holiday visa for each country in your lifetime, so make sure you can make the most of this opportunity before you apply.
If you are thinking that you would rather go backpacking and skip the work part, think again! In addition to helping pay for your trip, you can gain relevant work experience that will impress future employers when you return to Canada. On top of that, how often do we get the chance to spend a whole year in another country?
If you are a business student, gaining events, promotion, sales or customer service experience while abroad provides very beneficial skills to start your career with. If you are an arts, humanities or communications student, you could kick off your career by gaining experience tutoring English or developing social media promotion campaigns and brochures for tour companies. Someone from a technical background like engineering or sciences will benefit from the soft skills gained while working abroad. Working in a new country can also propel a career in hospitality. The opportunity to learn skills in new cuisines, customs, and foreign languages will help you land a job with an international company upon your return to Canada.
Don’t underestimate how impressive it is for a young person to move across the world and work in a job where you have to quickly adapt to new work cultures, customs and possibly a new language. In today’s globalized world, it is more important than ever to have international experience. It looks pretty amazing on a resume, just saying.
First, decide where you would like to go for your work and travel getaway. You can check out the list of countries on International Experience Canada’s website. Stepabroad has Working Holiday Programs for Canadians in the following destinations: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Spain and the UK.
Our programs help you navigate the process of going abroad on a working holiday. This includes helping you obtain your working holiday visa, get a job, a bank account, cell phone, pay your taxes, find living accommodation, meet other travellers and so much more. We provide pre-departure and arrival orientations so you feel well-prepared for what lies ahead every step of the way. Let our team take care of the details so you can plan your adventures! And then it’s off you go!
Interested to learn more about our programs and how they can help you get on a working holiday? Fill out the form below and a member of our team will get in touch with you soon!