specific lessons

Finding work

Maryanne Steitz - Author44 Comments

Questions about how to find work when living on the road often pop up on my Facebook feed, so this post will describe our experience.

There are a lot of things to consider when looking for work while traveling around Australia. What do you want to do, how long do you want to stay, where do you want to be, where are you going to live, what skills do you offer and how do you be competitive for the job.We don’t really want to do the same thing twice.

What do you want to do?

We want new experiences. We want variety. Experiences such as working on an outback station, on a fishing trawler, in a caravan park or harvesting crops are new and interesting. We get to immerse ourselves in a new life, have a go, try it out. We don’t really want to do the same thing twice, although we did do the sugar cane harvest in Mackay twice. We needed money and they were nagging Thomas to come back so we did, but there are so many opportunities out there, we would rather try something new, even if it is just a different location. Before we took off in the van, I work in Community Services. I am highly qualified, skilled and experienced in this field and I do love it, but as it is working with people, I rarely look for this type of work. The main reason for this is that in this work you work with people, come into their lives, build a rapport, trust, a relationship and I don’t think it’s fair to do all that and then leave a short time later. I have worked for agencies a few times, who provide relief staff as this is expected to be temporary, filling shifts until the organisation finds themselves more permanent staff. My husband is a truck driver and heavy machinery operator and has found plenty of opportunities as we travel round.

How long do you want to stay?

When we set out we looked for short term jobs, with the goal of saving a bit of money in order to keep moving on our journey. This is possible by chasing seasonal work such as crop harvests or the tourist trade. North for the winter, south for the summer. This b bubba is what we have done so far, which has been great. We haven’t lived in a cold winter or a very hot summer for three years. However, the only money we have is made as we go and we need to buy a new car so we are currently looking for a longer term job. We want to stay a year or even two if we like it. We can buy a new car and save money to travel longer before we need to work again. We have found that working short term jobs has not allowed us to save much money and not long after we head off again, we are looking for another job. Looking for longer term work means we can apply for “normal” jobs. We have always been honest about how long we wish to stay when applying for work and do not think it would be fair to take a job, go through induction and training, just get into it and then quit, leaving the employer to have to recruit again.

Where do you want to be?

Do you go where you want to be then look for work or do you find a job then travel to that area? We have tried both approaches but have had more success finding the job first then travelling there. We found it surprising that employers will agree to giving you a job without having met you. I always make sure to say that once we arrive, either party can change their mind without having to explain why. This is to cover us (and them) in case things are not as expected. We had an experience recently, where we travelled 1500km for a job as assistant managers in a dog friendly hostel. We has had a number of calls with the Manager, the husband of a husband/wife team, including discussions about our English staffy being the new hostel dog. When we arrived the wife took one look at our beautiful, quiet, friendly best mate and said “I can’t let that dog in here. He will scare the Asian tourists” And that was that. Seems the husband had not been talking to the wife. They did reimburse us $500 and we were sent on our way. So you need to decide where you want to be and how willing you are to be more open to the location for the right job.

Where are you going to live?

When looking for a job, a traveller also has to consider where they are going to live. Does the job come with a site to park your van, do you need access to power, water, a bathroom, a laundry or a dump point. Will you need access to transport or shops, for example if one person is going to work and will need to take the car. If you have pets, are they welcome? If both are going to work, what will the dog do all day? There are a few options. Some jobs come with accommodation or a place to park-up. For us, this has to be dog friendly. You generally have to pay for this accomodation either in exchange for work or you pay from your wages. Sometimes they give it to you for free. You might have to find somewhere to park-up that is seperate from your job, which could be a caravan park or a private arrangement. I have described an example in more detail in my earlier blog, “Learning to live for less”. We are open to all options. We are happy to live in the van, in fact we have only lived in on-site accommodation, a three bedroom house with a fenced yard that we had to live in as Assistant Managers of a caravan park, once. It was good as we could safely leave our dog at home while we both worked. As this was meant to be a long term job it was also reassuring to have a safe haven against the elements that we were likely to experience ie cold winter, hot summer and storms. As it worked out we didn’t stay in this job very long. This will come up in another post, perhaps entitled “Our worst job experiences “. Twice when we have stopped to work we purchased very cheap second cars so we could both get around, which we sell again when we head off.

What skills do you offer?

My husband and I are in our mid fifties, we have raised a family, we have renovated houses, we grew up on farms, we have travelled and we are bilingual. We can drive, my husband has a truck licence, I have a first aid certificate, we can use a computer and social media. We had pets, a garden and once we had a cafe. These life skills have become far more important than the skills and qualifications we gained when we were more focus on climbing that professional ladder, when more money was the main motivator. My Masters in Disability Studies is no longer relevant. Don’t underestimate the life skills that you have developed in the course of your life. Are you friendly, hard working, flexible, honest? These are important attributes for any job. More often than not these are the skills and qualities that get us the jobs we want. It seemed irrelevant to me to send off the resume I have been creating all my working life, that outlines senior positions in Community Services etc when I am applying for a job on a cattle station or in a caravan park. So I created a travel resume that outlines both my husband’s and my relevant skills and experience. As we do enjoy caravan park work and it suits our situation, I have one specifically for that type of work. New jobs and references get added to it as we go. We have references from house sits, from people we have helped in exchange for a site and from jobs. I have a pre- written cover letter so I just need to change the position title, attach the travel resume and send it to the job I have my eye on. This has been very effective, in fact, I sent one today, it took me five minutes and I just got a reply. They will be ringing me in a minute!

There are other handy qualifications we would like to get someday such as RSA, forklift driver and traffic controller as well paid jobs requiring these tickets often come up. Training is unfortunately not cheap. Additionally, to increase our chances of getting that job, we have National Police Checks and Working with Children clearance.

Where do we find the jobs?

So finally I will tell you where we find jobs while on the road. There are a number of useful Facebook pages and websites including;

Grey Nomads Jobs

Working Around Australia

Helping Australian Farmers and Travellers. Jobs

Australian Travellers – Jobs

Short Term Bush Jobs for Travelling Tradesmen Australia

Workabout Australia

The Farm Army

Fruit Picking Jobs.com.au

Workstay.com.au

Hiremeholidayparks.com.au

Pastoral.com

TAW.com.au (travellers at work)

Caretakersaustralia.com.au

There would be plenty more where they came from. I prefer those specifically for “Grey Nomads” as they seem to value the life skills we bring and often offer temporary work. Once you know what you want to do, how long you want to stay, where you want to be, there always seek, hora, indeed, gumtree etc. The more jobs you do, the more experience and references you have and the easier it gets. People will start talking about you on Facebook then others will contact you with an offer. People you have worked for in the past will ask you to work for them again. My husband is currently working in Victoria for a company he first worked for in Queensland.

Good luck! I would love to hear how you go.

44 thoughts on “Finding work”

  1. We are about embark on our working grey nomads Australia trip
    We would like a copy of your resume so I can start getting ours together
    How do we follow your blog how do we start our own
    Looking forward to hear from you

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    • Hi Kerrie,
      Thanks for making contact. I sent a copy of our travel resume to your email address. To follow my blog you have to click the follow button which comes up after each blog. To start it I first googled “what is a blog” etc. I choose WordPress but there are lots of options. It is free but they constantly encourage you to upgrade to reach more people which I will do when we start our next job. Then I just started writing. I linked my blog to Instagram and my Facebook page but to tell you the truth I am not sure how that all works. I learn something new every day and I imagine it will take a while to irk it all out. Good luck

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      • Hi Kerrie, could u also email me a copy of your resume etc also. Micheal and I have started our working life around Australia. I found your above blog very helpful. Thank you so much. I just need to work out how to follow you.
        Thank you again

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  3. Great article, really informative information and looking forward to following your blog. I would be grateful to receive a copy of your travel resume as I’m sure this would be helpful. All the best with your blog.

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  6. This is really informative thank you. I would love a copy of your travel resume please. We are in our mid 50s also and hesitant to do this. We dont have money behind us like others do so we would have to work. We have a neo mastiff cross that we would like to take but worry about what to do with him when we find work. Any help would be appreciated please. Thank you.

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  7. Hi Maryanne, thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog (foreign territory for me!), hubby a workaholic but trying to encourage him to leave and travel. Would love a copy of your travel resume please as we won’t be able to travel without additional income. My skills are practically zero due to looking after a disabled daughter most of my life and some health issues, however still looking to find a way to contribute financially to our travels. Thank you so much for all the information in your blog 🙂

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  9. Thankyou for this informative post.
    My husband and I have just sold our business is there many opportunities out there for people like us?
    We worked this business for over 20 years and we have very little life experiences apart from this.
    We are in the process of planning our working holiday but would love any extra information if at all possible.

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  10. Great information. We are just about to hit the road. I would really appreciate your travel resume as I’m sure it will help us get jobs. Husband is a truck driver and I have worked in community services. Cheers

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  11. Hi great blog, have signed up to receive them. Would love to work around Australia but don’t know where to start . If I could get a copy of your resume that would be a start.

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  13. Hi there, love your blog. I’m wanting to do a working holiday around Australia but don’t know where to start. If a could get a copy of your travel resume that would be a great start, thank you

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  14. What a great article. Thank you. Could I also please have a copy of your travel resume. Would be great to know how to fine tune ours. Happy travelling!!

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  16. So glad I found your blog. It’s so informative! Could I have have a copy of your resume template please? Hope to meet up with you on the road one day!

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  17. Hi , I have been reading your blog for awhile and love it. So much information and enjoyment about your travels but would really like a cope of your resume.
    Cheers Mandy

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  18. Awesome read thanks very much would love a copy of your resume as support please , happy and safe travels 🙂

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  19. Thank you for sharing your information and experiences, your bogs are very informative and giving me food for thought as when are just planning our travels. I would also appreciate a copy of your travel resume if possible. Regards Louise.

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  21. can I also have a copy of your travel resume as myself and my husband will be joining the grey nomad society in the near future thanks Liz

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  22. Thanks for the read very helpful as we are doing the same thing. I would love a comfy of your travel resume and cover letter templates if at all possible and look forward to following your blog and reading more.
    TIA Theresa

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  25. Thank you for sharing your experiences in this great blog. I would love to see your travel resume and cover letter. Hopefully we can hit the road in the next 2 years when our kids are out of school, We also will be travelling with a small dog.

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    • Hi Diana, Thank you for making contact. Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of my travel resume any more. Basically, I just introduced ourselves (age, family, experience) but not the stuff we did when we were building a career, but rather what is relevant to the jobs we were looking for. For example, caravan park work – we live in a caravan and know what we want from a park, we maintained our own gardens, can use a computer, can clean etc. As time past and we had different jobs on the road, I just listed these jobs, duties and contact numbers for referees. It’s just about showing examples of the skills they might need from your life experience. And expressing an ability and willingness to learn.

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  26. My partner and I plus Jett our big gentle dog, plan to rent out our house and become grey nomads in a year or so. It’s great reading your experiences, thanks so much for sharing. Enjoy yourselves!

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