The Back Door Guide to Short-Term Job Adventures: Internships, Summer Jobs, Seasonal Work, Volunteer Vacations, and Transitions Abroad

by Michael Landes

From internships to seasonal work to volunteer jobs and adventures abroad, this best-of-the-best guide from short-term job expert Michael Landes offers a comprehensive list of more than 1,000 life-enriching opportunities like river guiding in Alaska, restoring a medieval castle in the south of France, or contributing to a sustainable farm. Whether you'¬?re looking for a summer job, avoiding the post-college cubicle life, or trying to reinvigorate or redirect a stalled career, a short-term job adventure may be just what you need. In this fully-revised, handy-sized fourth edition, Landes has extensively updated all listings to provide the most current information, and added 150 completely new listings. Why wait and wonder? Seize your life and career path in both hands (it will take both to lift this book!) and step through the back door. The world awaits!

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel

584 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of great ideas in here, but not many for the um... budget-conscious.

To fully benefit from this book's suggestions, you must:

• Have unlimited means and a limited time frame, or

• Have limited means, and an unlimited time frame.

Preferably, you have all or nothing; you're an independently wealthy philanthropic artsy type wanting to go on a trip to restore castles in Europe for a few months, OR, you're a new college grad with no commitments and just enough graduation money to pay for a plane trip to spend the year in Guatemala....

Impressively researched and organized (and cross-organized), the reader can choose their own adventure based on average age of participants, time commitment, geography, pursuit, or size... but not cost. Ah, well!

[Walter Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! I never knew so many opportunities existed. I wish I had this book in my 20’s. It would have totally changed everything. Yes, most of these opportunities require you to pay. But hey, bragging rights! SUCK IT UP, get a temp job, save your money, and GO ASAP!!!

Any one of these jobs/internships/volunteer opportunities will look FANTASTIC on your resume!

Pro tip: the book tells you where to go looking for a job to fund your adventure.

IT’S MASSIVE!! 500 pages worth of OMG!!!

My only regret is not having found this book sooner. It goes, STATE BY STATE, region by region, country by country… you get it. If after reading this book, you haven’t found something that inspires you, the problem isn’t a lack of opportunities, IT’S YOU!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used more post-its while reading this book than I have for anything since my neuro textbook sophomore year! Some of the introduction is a little hoky, but the book is full of information about and contact info for hundreds of job opportunities all over the world. It's great to have all this info in one place, and I can't wait to start using it!

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It is on my shelf as a hope that someday I will have the freedom to take off and work somewhere meaningful for a short while. It is a big book of dreams in the form of volunteerism and actual jobs around the world that you can apply for.

[Vicki Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's great ....unless you live in the state of Kansas....there's no listing for ANY business or opportunities in adventure jobs

[Maleka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I continually read and re-read this book since I bought it years and years ago. Inspiration!

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic must-have for the travel nut like me. Always am i trying to find a way to live somewhere else & travel abroad for longer periods. Has a lot of helpful info & advice!

[Cathie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aimed mostly for the under 32 crowd. Some good contacts.

[Mercury1122 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for fanning the "what if' fire in people who haven't gotten married, made babies, and embarked on monthly mortgage payments yet.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an inspiring list of off-beaten paths to pursue and organizations with their contact information. It gave me some ideas for the next step. Thank you to the friend who lent this to me.