Are you looking to start a new life overseas? A change of pace from your current everyday life? If this sounds like you then maybe you should look into expat jobs. In today's global economy, there are plenty of chances for you to check out other countries and lifestyles. Your opportunities, will, of course, depend on your experiences and skill set (as well as the economy of the country you want to move to) but there are plenty of chances for adventurous people like yourself to explore employment opportunities overseas. There are several ways to get jobs overseas, but the best and easiest way is probably to become an ESL (English as a Second Language) instructor for an overseas school. There are a variety of these kinds of jobs all over the world, particularly in hot spots such as the Middle East and East Asia. If you don't have an educational license or teaching background, don't worry necessarily. Many of the entry level ESL jobs out there do not require certification or previous experience. ESL is wonderful to try because of its flexibility. There are people who use it as a gap year of sorts from their regular career. There are also others who find they love it so much, they switch gears entirely, and upgrade their ESL teaching qualifications and get into higher-level English teaching jobs. Even if this isn't a long-term thing for you, you will learn valuable soft skills that will help you in a variety of professions.  

The first thing you would want to do, if you're interested in pursuing this, is to check the job market and qualifications necessary for the country in which you want to work. Each country has different requirements, and different kinds of jobs available. South Korea, for example, requires you to be a passport holder of a country where English is a native language. In addition, working in Korea requires a four year degree (any subject is fine, though English and education majors are preferred). Besides the qualifications for the job itself, you will also need to keep in mind visa requirements. Your employer should walk you through this, but generally it's required to have a criminal background check of sorts (usually a national check, like from the FBI) and various other documents proving your educational background and other things. Depending on the kinds of documents you need, it may take a while, so prepare well in advance. An FBI check in particular requires several months to process. A tip to get hired quickly - prepare your documents in advance, if possible. You are much more attractive to potential ESL employers if they do not have to wait for your documents to process. This isn't always possible, of course, but if you can try to prepare in advance. Next, if you don't have any previous experience you may want to try preparing for the job in any way you can. There are many ESL certificate programs of varying quality out there. Some are online courses, which provide a quick refresher on grammar, as well as some basic classroom tips. Others are courses which run several thousand dollars (such as the CELTA), and are in-person, and very intensive. The CELTA in particular requires a full-dedicated month to complete, though it offers courses in many different cities in the world. 

If you can't afford a course, you can still get a job, but you may want to prepare in other ways. Find some good ESL teaching books that will give you a good rough idea of classroom management and ESL teaching theories. The internet is also great resource for materials and class ideas, though not a good place to find more advanced topics of course. Some of the more popular job programs in Asia in particular include - the JET Program (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program), programs in Korea (such as EPIK, GEPIK, and many private institutions), and the NET system in Hong Kong. You can get jobs at many different places depending on your qualifications - such as public schools, colleges, and private cram schools. Do note that any government program or college position is likely to be more reputable than a private institution. While private cram schools and related positions offer great opportunities, they are also less reliable in some ways. For example, many of them will obviously care about the bottom line rather than education, and if you have low student enrollment, you could risk your particular branch shutting down. Public and government jobs tend to be more secure. That said, if you do your research and come up with a solid back-up plan there's plenty of good jobs in the private ESL sector as well. Besides teaching, it is more difficult to get a work visa for other fields, though that's not to say it's impossible. Other jobs tend to require more advanced qualifications, and it's much easier to get hired domestically first and ask for an overseas transfer (rather than trying to first find a job overseas with a foreign company). Regardless of which route you take, working overseas is a life changing experience that you will never forget.