Money and impressions
A classic example of working abroad during student holidays is the Work & Travel USA program (it is also offered in Canada). Our compatriots have already come to appreciate its advantages. This is understandable, as it provides an opportunity to earn good money by student standards, improve your knowledge of English, have a good rest, travel around America, and meet interesting people from all over the world. Moreover, new acquaintances and the experience gained (even though the work is usually unskilled) prove very useful in a future career and in life in general.
Initially, Work & Travel was created as a cultural exchange program and was overseen by the U.S. State Department on par with other exchange programs. It was assumed that a foreign student comes to the U.S. to get to know the country and its people better: first they work in the service sector for two to four months, and then travel with the money they have earned. However, over time, for many students, especially from former socialist bloc countries, this program became primarily a means of earning money. That said, it has not lost its cultural significance. Exchange - linguistic, interpersonal, professional - still takes place. And even if they do not spend the required month on travel, preferring to work more, they still manage to get around the country.
The program starts in late May or June and ends in mid-November (all participants must leave the U.S. no later than November 18). Applications for participation are accepted from November to mid-February; the earlier you apply, the better your chances of finding a job and going to the States next summer.
Only full-time students and postgraduates of higher education institutions aged 18 to 23 with conversational English are eligible to participate. Be prepared that you may have to look for a job yourself, albeit on the recommendation and with the support of an intermediary agency. Once an employer is found, you receive a special IAP-66 form required for the visa, gather the other documents for the embassy, book a ticket, wait for the visa, and then fly to the U.S. First, as a rule, all participants gather in New York at a so-called orientation camp. Its task is to help you adapt and prepare for work and life in a new country. After that, everyone goes to their workplaces.
Our students have already made it a tradition to go not alone, but with friends, classmates, brothers and sisters. This way it is more fun, problems are easier to solve, and it is calmer. Over time, you inevitably find friends among locals or fellow trainees from other countries, but at first the presence of a close person helps a lot.
As a rule, Work & Travel participants are employed in the service sector - in restaurants, hotels and inns, amusement parks, at festivals, in national parks, at resorts. If you are looking for a job yourself (the advantage in this case is that you choose the most interesting option rather than accepting what the agency offers, though it takes more time and nerves, and the result is not guaranteed), then it is best to pay attention to resort areas, where there are more opportunities. The simplest way is to find an employer via the Internet, by checking specialized websites. These are just a few possible summer jobs: administrator, maid, concierge, waiter, porter, bartender, warehouse worker, candy or souvenir seller, lifeguard, etc. According to statistics, more than 30% of students work in the restaurant business, 15% in hotels, amusement parks and sales, and 20% in other service sectors. You have to work full time - 40 hours a week, and some manage to work an additional job elsewhere.
At the same time, program participants are given complete freedom: they are free to change jobs, work in several places at once, or not work at all, end the program early, and move from state to state. What this means in practice, read in the "Personal Experience" section.
Children and guarantees
The Work & Travel program is designed for independent people who can take care of themselves, are not afraid to move from place to place if necessary, find housing, cook food, and communicate on equal terms with locals. If you want a calmer stay in another country with everything you need provided, then it is better to choose another American work program - Camp USA. In this case, you are guaranteed free accommodation and hot meals.
The first camps were founded by the Jewish Labor Movement of the USA about a hundred years ago. Today in America there are about twenty thousand different camps - scout, religious, family, university, and others.
Students are offered work as counselors or support staff. Usually the camp signs a contract with participants for nine weeks. At the end of this period, they are paid pocket money - from $400 to $700. The earnings, frankly, are small compared to the opportunities of Work & Travel, but, as they say, you have to pay for comfort and peace of mind. After that, you can go on a trip (a j-1 visa is issued for four months), return home, or ask for overtime work at another camp.
To become a participant in the program, you must be a full-time university student (aged 18 to 23) and have conversational English. But in addition, of course, something more is required - the desire and ability to work with children, remarkable imagination, childish enthusiasm, and enormous patience, ideally teaching skills or at least the makings of them.
The same will be useful for those who decided to work as an au pair, simply put, a nanny and house helper. Besides work, this program involves attending language courses, so it is often classified as Work & Study. Moreover, it is longer - at least six months, although there are cases when au pairs are sought for the vacation period, and you can work exactly during the holidays.
Nannies are needed always and everywhere, so the Au Pair program is offered by educational centers, schools, services and agencies in different countries. You can work as a governess in Europe, America, Australia and New Zealand; however, almost no one goes that far, preferring nearer Germany, France, Ireland, Italy. You can work as an au pair for as long as you like: the family is interested in a permanent helper. However, most governesses from abroad come for three to six months, maximum a year. Some continue studying there, some find other work, some return home. Au pair is mainly girls aged 18-24 (although there are no gender restrictions), students or those who plan to become ones. Two or three days a week they attend language courses, usually in the second shift. They work on average 30 hours a week, they are entitled to weekends and free time during the day. When and how much is set individually by the family. The main thing is that children are not left unattended. Au pairs also have to do housework and go shopping. If relations with the family are normal, the nanny may be taken along on trips, picnics, to the theater, exhibitions, etc. Governesses are paid a small salary, often called "pocket money". Housing and meals are free. But the most important thing is that they gain absolutely invaluable experience of living in another country, getting to know its traditions, fluency in a foreign language, and the love of their little charges.
Good and Will
If you want to do something useful, socially significant, help someone and get joy from it, then international volunteer projects are exactly what you need. By the way, such work can benefit you yourself: sometimes foreign universities, when distributing study grants, take into account the presence of such experience.
Today, more than 110 million people worldwide annually take part in volunteer actions. Volunteers participate in environmental, recovery and restoration projects, help organize festivals and celebrations, collect materials about the culture of the host country, take part in preparing historical exhibitions, help lonely and sick people. Perhaps the most important condition when choosing a direction is your own interest.
Volunteers work for free, but they are provided with free meals, accommodation and a cultural program. Conventionally, volunteer programs can be divided into two types: voluntary work camps (two to four weeks in a team of up to 40 people) and long-term volunteer projects (from two months to a year in a team of five to six people). There are no strict deadlines - volunteer work is year-round, and an interesting project can be found anywhere - whether in Africa, Latin America, or Asia. Such a wide geographical and language coverage is a big plus for the program. The working language of an international project is usually English, but nothing prevents you from learning the language of the country you are in, communicating with camp participants in their language (as a rule, no more than two people of the same nationality are taken into a volunteer group). If you are learning some rare language, this is a unique opportunity to practice it in a natural environment.
Volunteers work from three to five hours a day, doing feasible work under the guidance of specialists. The rest of the time is free for communication, trips, excursions, picnics, etc. The main idea of volunteering is to unite people from different countries within a project to spread the ideas of peace and national tolerance, and the best way to do this is joint work and, of course, rest.
What projects are there? You can, for example, go to Germany to help organize a children's camp. Or choose work in an ancient castle built in the 14th century and already in need of restoration. France offers nature lovers a project near Avignon, at the international public center Domaine - de - Maine, whose territory is covered with fields and various Mediterranean vegetation. The task of volunteers is to care for these plants. In Belgium, help is needed in building a bridgehead for the annual international festival of traditional and folk music. And, for example, in Mexico you can save sea turtles. In short, volunteering will allow your soul to unfold and get pleasure from having helped someone.
Another plus is that volunteering is the most flexible program. You choose a project convenient in terms of timing yourself. And there is no need to pass the exam session in advance or refuse a trip to the sea. You can do both! And remember that you are not facing a tourist trip, but a real acquaintance with the country. You will work side by side with local residents, getting to know their traditions and way of life. Isn't it interesting to find out what the French eat for breakfast, how Italians like to relax, what music Germans listen to, who is considered a star of British MTV?