The Overseas Job Centre is mainly aimed at young Brits (though much of what we cover will be useful to other nationalities and age groups) keen to take the best chance of prolonged travel before 40+ solid years of slaving for the boss drains the life from them.

We hope the information on this site is useful. We haven't conducted any market research or anything like that, but feel there is something here for both those looking to fix up work in advance and those who like to pick it up as they go.

While we'll continue adding resources we always appreciate contributions of tips or features concerning the topics we cover, particularly from those with first hand experience of working abroad.

The Overseas Job Centre is Deirdre Higgins, a veteran of the working week in France, Belgium, Peru, Britain and Ireland, and Shane Donovan who has successfully evaded a real job for several years. After a period of house hunting around Europe they now live in Turkey and, after nine months of waiting, finally have a phone line and internet connection. In May 2008 we changed our name from PAYAway.co.uk.

We are not an employment agency, find it flattering that some people think we have offices in London, Paris and New York and we don't have any brochures.

The Overseas Job Centre also hosts:

The Jobs Abroad Bulletin (JAB). We allow employers to post vacancies to us for free so we can offer as many jobs as possible. Every month we put them all together and send them to you in our monthly newsletter.

Issues of JAB have been produced, among other places, in Cusco, Corfu Town, Buenos Aires, Nhulunbuy (Australia), Bangkok, and Malacca.

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"Having difficulty finding a temporary job abroad or funding a gap year trip? This site has a wide range of links to organisations that can help as well as many resources of its own. 'Tramp News' has information and features for budget travellers and 'The Jobs Abroad Bulletin', produced as a monthly email, includes vacancies around the world for voluntary work, conservation projects, TEFL and work in ski resorts." The BBC Webguide - Best of the Web

"Hundreds of global job vacancies, advice and articles." Daily Telegraph, August 19, 2006

"Directory of winter work, ski holiday operators and jobs in ski resorts" The Independent. January 28, 2006

"This site is aimed at working travellers and tells you how to get temporary employment abroad. Each of the job-finding guides - which are split up into categories such as catering, ski jobs and teaching English - offer basic advice and links to other sites should you want to find out more." The Times, November 17, 2005

"Hundreds of global job vacancies" Daily Telegraph, August 13, 2005

"A great starting place for anyone who wants to work abroad. They've missed nothing out in their links section." The Good Website Guide 2005

"A good one-stop-shop for anyone looking to pay their way through a holiday can be found at www.payaway.co.uk. It contains links to organisations looking for volunteers as well as tips and advice for the thrifty traveller." The Guardian (Education section), February 16, 2004

"An excellent website with jobs and info for gappers - you can sign up for a regular email jobs bulletin." The Gap Year Book (Lonely Planet)

"Designed for Brits on their “gap year,” this site works just as well for traveling Yanks who’d like odd jobs as they work their way around the world. A bumper crop of opportunities." Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel - "Behold: The 124 best money-saving web sites for travel"

"Great website with information on every country including red tape, embassies and a list of addresses and useful organisations to find work." The Virgin Guide to Working Abroad

"Friendly, non-industry travel web site packed with links..." The Cheeky Guide to Student Life

"PAYAway is a website for the working traveller including lists of jobs, a country index and links to working holiday schemes" London Evening Standard (Just the Job section), September 3, 2001

"Incredible site." Suite101 awarded PAYAway with 5 stars and a place in the top 5 Youth Travel sites.

"Good tips and leads for all travelers.. an eyeful of opportunities" Arthur Frommer's Daily Newsletter

"Devoted to working holidays and jobs abroad" The Daily Telegraph's Planet (Word of mouse column), June 2000

"Non-commercial website dedicated to international short term work. It has a free email newsletter with specific vacancies around the world" Taking a Career Break (Vacation Work)

"Extensive information on working holidays and jobs abroad for gap year students and the not-yet-seriously-employed (who appear to include the site's authors)" The Good Schools Guide

"Supplies a wide range of job suggestions around the world and tells you where to look and who to approach to do something about it" UK Plus

We've also seen mentions in the Vacation Work Guidebooks Work Your Way Around the World, Summer Jobs Abroad, Working in Tourism, and Gap Years for Grown Ups, Lonely Planet's The Career Break Book, How To Books Planning Your Gap Year and Taking a Year Out, in the magazines Wanderlust and It's on the Web and on the websites of BBC Radio 1 and the BBC 'Grown up Gappers' programme.

The quotes below are about print versions (no longer available) of PAYAway, JAB and The Working Traveller:

PAYAway
"Young, opinionated rag offers an alternative view on gap year organizations" Daily Telegraph

"Gap Years: Need a job abroad? Subscribe to PAYAway" The Guardian

Jobs Abroad Bulletin
"Students looking for summer jobs should scan the latest Jobs Abroad Bulletin" Mail on Sunday

The Working Traveller
"Advice and articles on getting a job abroad, tips for budget travel... pages of job vacancies" Sunday Times

"The Working Traveller could be your most useful companion" New Woman

"An essential publication" Living