Leave your nest and learn to fly
Trading in a bikini for a beanie to work on the picturesque ski fields at Whistler may sound like a dream but for tens of thousands of young Australians this could be a reality.
Drawn by the opportunity to break up the monotonous pace of life, school leavers and university graduates are increasingly signing up for working holidays.
Charlotte Pinnock, marketing manager of Overseas Working Holidays, says the freedom of such programs is behind their universal appeal.
"It's a hugely liberating and fun, cultural experience," she said.
"Going overseas to live in another country for a set period takes you out of your comfort zone and helps you get away from the everyday."
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, about 800,000 Australians live and work overseas at any given time.
Under reciprocal arrangements between Australia and other countries - including Canada, Sweden and France - people may apply for a working holiday visa, which permits them to live and work for as long as two years in a specific country.
Ms Pinnock says work obtained overseas is often unskilled - and in the hospitality industry - but employers are impressed by those who take the chance to live abroad.
"It's certainly beneficial and something that employers admire in a person," she said.
"It shows you're a bit outgoing and you can cope with situations when you're out of your comfort zone, so it's definitely a positive thing.
"On the whole, though, working holidays are not really designed for you to further your career. It's more of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience a new adventure."
Travelling internationally isn't the only alternative, with thousands more opting to move interstate to broaden their employment prospects. Qualia, a new luxury resort located on Hamilton Island, is a business that has searched nationwide to recruit 50 members of its hospitality staff.
Handpicking each recruit, senior management even made the extra effort to meet each employee face-to-face, regardless of where in Australia they were from.
Craig Davidson, Hamilton Island Resort's executive general manager, says giving opportunities to those from lesser-known towns such as Port Macquarie and Batemans Bay was at the forefront of the new organisation.
"We recruited staff from all around Australia [because] we wanted to be proud of the fact that we could open this benchmark new property using talents we have in this country," he said.
"Qualia is quintessentially an Australian product and while that's not to say we excluded anybody on that basis, we were certainly wanting to make opportunities for great young Australians."
By Miawling Lam, The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 19 August, 2007.
