10 places to find awesome travel jobs

Did you hear about the campaign that Tourism Australia held back in 2009, where they offered one lucky person ‘the best job in the world’?

Everybody went absolutely crazy over this idea. The job was this: Based on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef, the winner would take over as the official ‘Island Caretaker’ for 6 months. They would live on the island, take photos of their daily activities, and share their island stories online. No hard labour required.

Admit it, we’re all a tad envious of that winner.

I sure am, and I don’t even think I’m fit for the role of Island Caretaker (whatever that is), but I can’t help but melt at the idea of being paid a hefty salary to live in luxury on an Australian island surrounded by white-sand beaches and wildlife for half a year.

Don’t worry, those of us who didn’t enter the competition aren’t destined to spend the rest of our lives in a shitty office job just because we didn’t win the golden ticket. There are other options! Awesome travel jobs actually exist in all sorts of places, if you know where to look.

I’ve spent the past few weeks actively searching for jobs online, in an effort to find a use for my new and improved digital marketing skills (and if I happen to come across another awesome travel job like the Hamilton Island one, then I might do that instead and forget the digital marketing stuff completely).

Here are 10 websites that I regularly use or have found in my search, where you might just find your next dream job in travel.

1. Travel Massive

(travelmassive.com)

The Travel Massive Marketplace is my number one go-to site for travel jobs. It’s updated fairly frequently, and there are some great travel-related jobs and opportunities in there. The site is divided into sections for job opportunities, partnership and affiliate programs, travel blogging opportunities, and more.

2. TravMedia

(travmedia.com)

I’ve been a member of TravMedia for years, but only recently has the Australia-Pacific site opened up a section for jobs in the travel industry. I’m seeing around one or two new opportunities come up every week in Sydney. Most of the jobs have been in PR, communications, or marketing for hotels and tour companies.

3. We Work Remotely

(weworkremotely.com)

We Work Remotely is particularly good for finding tech jobs, so if you have some skills in that area, this would be a great place to start. There are also a bunch of other great remote jobs, such as marketing, design, HR, sales, and customer support.

One thing to keep in mind that the competition for remote jobs is high, and the pay is usually a little lower than it would be if you worked in the company HQ, but in my opinion, the flexibility of working remotely is totally worth a slight pay cut. Just imagine, you could work from anywhere. Aaaaaanywhere.

4. Working Nomads

(workingnomads.co)

Another site very similar to We Work Remotely is Working Nomads. The jobs listed here are all remote and are mostly in tech, but you can find other office-y type jobs like sales, consulting, and finance.

5. LinkedIn

(linkedin.com)

I know LinkedIn might sound like a strange place to search for travel jobs, but they can definitely be found here! The search function on LinkedIn can narrow down jobs by keyword, so you can type in any kind of job you want and search for travel jobs all over the world.

I’ll include the terms ‘social media’ or ‘online marketing’ in my search, but if you want to be a tour guide or a travel agent, all you have to do is add those terms into the keyword box! LinkedIn also has a handy ‘save’ function, so that you can come back to the job listing later once you’ve sorted out your resume and cover letter.

A big benefit of using LinkedIn is that your profile is basically an online resume, so make sure you spruce it up with your most relevant experience before sending any applications.

6. Craigslist (USA only)

(craigslist.org)

Craigslist isn’t just for perverts or people selling their televisions from the 1970s. The jobs section on Craigslist is actually quite comprehensive and is constantly being updated with new jobs.

The search bar on the left allows you to get fairly specific. There are some great jobs listed here, though you will also get a fair few bullshit jobs that aren’t really related coming up in your search results. Just one of the joys of using Craigslist for anything, I guess!

7. Go Abroad

(goabroad.com)

At first I thought that Go Abroad only offered TEFL and Au Pair positions, but on closer inspection, I discovered that the site has a much larger range of travel jobs listed.

Pick your preferred destination country and the type of job you are after in the search bar, and all the relevant programs in that destination will come up. Just from looking through the ‘Germany’ category (yes, I would actually love to move there for reals), I found a bunch of interesting travel writing and paid internships in various German cities!

8. Go Overseas

(gooverseas.com)

Go Overseas is similar to Go Abroad but mostly for people who want to study abroad or volunteer overseas. The benefit is that they have sections for TEFL and internships (some of which are paid) – just choose the country where you want to go and the site will list the jobs and programs available for you.

9. All Cruise Jobs

(allcruisejobs.com)

If you’ve ever dreamed of working on a cruise ship, this is the place to start looking! You would be surprised at the variety of jobs you can get on a cruise.

All Cruise Jobs sorts their careers into job type, ranging from food and beverage staff, photographers and videographers, child care staff, entertainment, and more.

10. Company websites

When I’m job searching (like I am right now) I visit the websites of companies that I have an interest in working for, as most companies will have a ‘careers’ or ‘jobs’ link in the footer of the website.

I regularly check the careers pages for companies like G Adventures, The Travel Corporation, and Hostelling International USA.