1. International Jobs Center is a comprehensive source of international careers for professionals, including international development jobs.
2. DevNetJobs is the #1 online source for finding international development jobs; international consulting jobs with NGOs; international non-profit work; and jobs with the UN, aid groups, charity organizations, multilateral organizations and development banks.
3. UN Jobs is a source for job opportunities through the United Nations and the Hague.
4. WorkPermit is a great site for navigating the ins and outs of required work permits and other immigration regulations for nearly every country around the globe.
5. Cross Cultural Solutions places 4,000 volunteers every year in the fields of caregiving, teaching, healthcare and community development. Volunteers are assigned to communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
6. Transitions Abroad is a comprehensive web portal, offering articles, planning tips, classified ads and more to help you navigate your travel/work abroad experience.
7. Peace Corps, aka the toughest job you’ll ever love, is the quintessential volunteer abroad organization (and hey, two years of service might just get a significant part of your student loans forgiven.)
8. Jobs Abroad is a online database with thousands of work abroad jobs, searchable by country.
9. Country Studies is a project of the Library of Congress and the perfect online destination for learning everything you need to know about over 85 countries around the world.
10. JobMonkey — Have you checked out our Work Abroad section yet? If you are planning to spend anywhere from a few weeks to a lifetime working and living abroad, JobMonkey is your essential first step. We cover everything from teaching English as a Second Language jobs to au pair jobs to resources for ex pats.

What great work / volunteer / live abroad resource have I missed? Leave me a comment with your best online resource for adventure abroad.

Given the rather soft job market in America, the time has never been better to live out your dreams to work, volunteer and travel abroad. Author Nora Dunn’s article includes tips for everything from getting a work visa, to finding work, to keeping the travel budget to the bare minimum. She also has plenty of words of encouragement, including my favorite:

Critical capabilities, such as interpersonal and communication skills, managing finances, and problem solving are touched upon in school, but frequently not in a comprehensive or applicable way. These are examples of true life skills—those that are acquired and applied with experience [like working abroad].

For more information about working abroad, be sure to read the full article and then check out JobMonkey’s section on Work Abroad Jobs.

Have you visited the Job Center lately?

The Job Center features thousands of job openings, in dozens of fields, all updated daily. The best news is that the Center is completely free for job seekers.

This week, I am featuring international volunteer jobs, including a community outreach coordinator in Rwanda and a volunteer teacher in Nepal. (Do you get the JobMonkey newsletter? This week’s edition spotlighted five of the benefits of becoming a volunteer. Sign up to receive the newsletter here.) You can learn more about volunteering in America and overseas at the JobMonkey.

1. Assistant Community Outreach Coordinator, RWEYOWA, Rwanda
RWEYOWA is one of the largest community outreach, non-profit organizations in Rwanda, serving HIV/AIDS patients, widows, elderly people and orphans. The organization provides counseling, food, clothing and other support services. The person in this volunteer position will help to coordinate home visits, monitor and report on the progress of outreach activities, organize fundraising activities and other duties as assigned. The ideal candidate will have fluent written and spoken English, computer literacy, and experience in writing proposals and fundraising. The volunteer coordinator will be provided with meals and accommodation, for a monthly charge of $350. The coordinator must also cover the costs of his or her transportation and health insurance. You can learn more about Rweyowa at the organization’s website.

2. English Teacher Job Nepal at Alliance Nepal, Pokhara, Nepal
Alliance Nepal provides health, education and community aid programs to the people of Nepal, particularly orphans. The organization is currently looking for a volunteer English teacher to serve in one of the orphanages of the Buddhist Monk Health & Sanitation Program. Volunteers can work anywhere from 2 weeks to three months, with flexible schedules providing plenty of time for exploring the wonders of Nepal and the Tibetan nation. Volunteers will receive a several-day orientation period, with basic Nepali language classes, culture orientation and sightseeing. Serving as a volunteer will incur a monthly cost to cover airport pickup, orientation and training, room and board, and voluntary supervision. Additionally, volunteers are responsible for the cost of their flight, visa, vaccinations and travel insurance. Estimated spending money is $10 per week. You can learn more about Alliance Nepal at the organization’s website.

One solution might be to change your perspective.

Instead of looking for a six-figure job, consider a change in position: Become a volunteer with AmeriCorps. Created by President Clinton in 1993, AmeriCorps is the domestic version of the Peace Corps, which provides federal funding to nonprofit organizations that want to hire volunteers.  President Obama is about to sign a bill that will triple national funding of AmeriCorps.

AmeriCorps volunteers work full-time for a 10- to 12-month period, and receive a basic living expense stipend of $11,400. Some placements supplement these governmental funds with organizational dollars. While volunteering, you can defer your student loans — a big plus for grads struggling with the college debt.

When you graduate from your AmeriCorps job, you will receive an educational award of $5,350 (as of October 1, up from $4,725) to apply to your student loans. Or, if you want to take a break from your studies to volunteer, you can apply your award toward future educational costs.

SPECIAL NOTE - JobMonkey has launched a volunteer job board where you can find a wide variety of opportunities – in the U.S. and abroad. From Christian missionaries to construction. Don’t miss it! Use the Keyword search box to find exactly what you’re after.

The bill will also create summer employment opportunities, starting in 2010, for high school students. Young volunteers will earn a $500 grant toward college in exchange for their summer service. If you’re a retiree looking to get involved with AmeriCorps, the government will allow you to transfer your educational award to your child or grandchild.

To learn more about AmeriCorps, visit the organization’s website. And if you want to combine a little adventure with your service, check out JobMonkey’s section on overseas volunteering opportunities.

Laid-off workers are turning in droves to volunteer organizations to help them fill their time and contribute to people in need, while still aggressively looking for a new job.

Remember this post from last week about how to volunteer your way into a new job? I’m thinking some of those New York volunteers might be hoping to network, too, while serving up soup or rescuing stray animals. Nothing wrong with that!

Interestingly, all of the volunteers interviewed for the article were women. Which got me wondering if the apparent article’s gender imbalance was a coincidental slip of the article — or if there’s something more to it? I went to the Corporation for National and Community Service, which in 2006 found that 32.4 percent of women volunteer, compared with 25 percent of men. The difference occurs across the board, in every state of the Union. Hmmm, do I smell a challenge to men? Time to get out there and volunteer!

If you want to combine adventure with volunteerism (maybe that’s an angle that will appeal to men?!), check out JobMonkey’s section on overseas volunteer jobs.

And really, I don’t think the impact of effective networking can be underestimated: Career experts tell us that 60-80% of all new jobs are landed through networking connections.

But what if you are already talking to everyone you know (and everyone they know), regularly updating your profile on LinkedIn, attending networking parties, and participating in industry events … and yet you still haven’t found a job? How about this non-conventional networking idea: Volunteering?

The personal and professional benefits of volunteering are vast. On a professional level, volunteering keeps your skills fresh, earns you valuable resume experience, and allows you to meet people who can help you in your job search. From paid professionals to boards of director and lay leadership, non-profit organizations are fertile grounds for well-connected movers and shakers.

How can I make a volunteer gig work to my advantage?
Let’s say you have always loved working with animals. But you majored in accounting and worry that volunteering at the Humane Society wouldn’t be the best career move. Think again: You could volunteer your time and education to help the finance committee, preparing tax documents or annual reports.

You could even put your stellar number skills at work planning a fundraising event. In the process, you would be working with and learning from other accounting and finance professionals — and meeting business leaders and philanthropists throughout your community.

I really don’t think I have time to volunteer. Looking for a job is my full-time job right now.
It’s true that looking for a job requires your full-time attention. But I’m not recommending 40 hours a week of volunteering. Four to eight hours a week is more than enough time to achieve your career networking goals — while also making a meaningful contribution to people and causes in need.

Have you had a volunteer job that turned into a full-time job? Have you met people through volunteering that helped you find employment? Share your experiences!

You don’t have to wait until school is out to volunteer, though. According to this article from CNN, more and more college students are spending their vacations in “alternative spring break” programs.

The programs, which typically cost students around $250, offer coeds the opportunity to get involved in some of today’s most pressing social issues: hunger and homelessness, disaster relief and global warming.

Says one student, who spent her Spring Break volunteering at a homeless shelter in the Bronx:

I never really had all that money to go off and do the whole Cancun, Mexico, spring break, and I didn’t really want to, because I think that’s throwing away money… When you can give back, it’s selfish.

If you want to learn more about giving back — either here or overseas, check out JobMonkey’s section on volunteering jobs.

Especially popular are overseas volunteer opportunities.

According to this article from the Lexington Herald Leader, the Peace Corps has received 16 percent more applications this year than last year. Americans are also doubling up on their application to Canada’s largest volunteer international development group, CUSO-Voluntary Service Overseas.

The article points out that volunteering at home is also up. Teach for America, the national program that sends college graduates to teach in rural and urban under-funded school districts, saw a 50 percent increase in applications last year.

In addition to being a wonderful opportunity to practice a little altruism, volunteering is great way to earn some invaluable experience and keep your resume current. If you are interested in learning more, check out JobMonkey’s extensive section on overseas volunteer jobs.

Whether you are facing a career change or looking for your first job, one of the biggest challenges is writing a resume that truly markets your skills to a potential employer.  If you don’t have a lot of on-the-job experience, or if you want to pursue a career in a new field, then this task becomes even more daunting.

The good news is that even those of you without overtly relevant experience can still sell yourself for a new job.  How? With transferable skills. If you’re not sure what transferable skills are (or whether or not you have them), read on.

What Is a Transferable Skill?
The book What Color Is Your Parachute is one of the best selling career planning books on the market.  If you haven’t read it, run — don’t walk — to the nearest library to check out a copy. While you are reading through the book, pay special attention to the discussion about transferable skills.  According to author Richard Nelson Bolles, transferable skills are the abilities that we are born with and cultivate into skills with each new job. I would add that these skills can also be cultivated outside of the workplace, through education, volunteering and even extracurricular activities and hobbies. Bolles says there are three categories of transferable skills:

•    People Skills – including communication, supervising, and teaching
•    Data Skills – which can include research and record keeping
•    Things Skills – which means your ability to operate, repair and assemble equipment (including, but not limited to, computers and software)

How to Identify Your Transferable Skills
Now that you know what transferable skills are, sit down with a piece of paper and make three columns: people, data and things.  Write down the skills you possess in each of these categories.

Let’s take Jennifer, a recent college graduate, as an example.  Jennifer is seeking a job in Marketing Communications, but other than one college internship, she doesn’t have any direct experience in the field.  She majored in English and volunteered as a peer counselor in the campus writing lab.  She also worked as a waitress during the summers to earn money for school.

Under People Skills, Jennifer might write:

•    excellent written communication skills (if she won any awards for her writing or graduated with distinction, she might note it here as well)
•    good at listening
•    helping people
•    good customer service
•    problem solving (anyone who has worked in the restaurant business or in retail will definitely be good at problem solving!)
•    good time management

When making your own list, think about what you excelled at in your college education or specialized coursework, past work experience (even if it wasn’t a “career job”), volunteer assignments, extracurricular activities, and hobbies.

How To Find Jobs Based On Your Transferable Skills
Once you have made a thorough list of your skills, start cross-referencing this list against job ads.  Look closely at the skills each job requires. You may not have all of them, but you will probably find that many are closely related to the skills on your list. Jennifer, for example, may find that entry-level marketing positions are looking for individuals with strong research and presentation skills — both of which she possesses.

In addition to scouring job ads, networking within your industry is key.  (I know, I know, I write the word networking at least once in every post. That’s because it really is critical!)  Talk to anyone you can find.  Attend industry trade events.  Read every employer website you know of — and then Google for more.  Your goal is to learn all you can about the critical skills needed for this particular industry.  Once you know that, you can better assess how well your skills fit the profession.

How To Highlight Your Transferable Skills On a Resume

Rather than writing a resume with a generic laundry list of jobs titles and descriptions, consider including a bulleted list of skills for each position. My college career counselor had me write three or four skills for each entry on my resume, with a heading of “Transferable Skills Include:” Also be sure to emphasize these skills in your cover letter, where bulleted lists also work well.

Since we have talked pretty extensively on here about career networking, I thought I would take a look today at the power of volunteering. Now, you may have been motivated to volunteer by your Save the World ideology, but do not let your altruism diminish the fact that generously donating your time (and talents) can also be a big plus for your career.  Here’s how:

•    Volunteering develops important business skills
•    Volunteering provides countless networking opportunities

According to a the Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey, quoted here at Monster.com, more than three-quarters of workers said that volunteering helped them to network and learn business skills or develop leadership abilities.

Networking
Now wait a minute, I thought she said she wasn’t going to talk about networking today?

Well, the truth is that one of the major career benefits of volunteering is the connections you make with people. 

Whether those people are the professionals who you work with in the field or the donors and board members who support the work of your non-profit organization.

These networking connections not only know the field in which you are volunteering, but they also have much broader connections throughout the business, academic and medical communities. In other words, if you are volunteering in an inner city literacy program, but you want to find a job in medical research, don’t assume the connections you make through volunteering won’t be able to help you.  Assume, in fact, the opposite.

When it comes time to look for a job, these connections should be first among the people that you call. If you have impressed them with your adaptability, leadership and commitment, they will undoubtedly be eager to help you find your next (or first) paying job.

Skill Building
Whether you are a high school or college student, a career changer or someone who is out of work altogether, volunteering can be a wonderful way to learn, practice and develop mastery over a variety of important new business skills.  These can include: organizing, planning, communicating, budgeting, fundraising, marketing, researching and many more.

If your resume is particularly thin (say, if you are still in college and have not yet had any significant job experience) or if you have been out of work for a while (either by choice or by layoff), you can use your volunteering to highlight skills or to indicate a continuity of experience.  If you do this, however, keep in mind that you should note, either in your title or in your job description, that your assignment was voluntary.

If you are interested in learning more about how volunteering can help you find your next job, Monster.com has a series of excellent articles on the topic, including:

• Volunteering Can Boost Skills, Advance Careers

• Volunteer for Your Career

• Leverage Your Volunteer Work on Your Resume

• Volunteering Can Buy You IT Experience

Also be sure to check out JobMonkey’s extensive section on Volunteering Abroad, for practical tips about finding placements and preparing for an intensive international experience.

Have you ever had a volunteer job turn into a paying one?  Either at your volunteer placement or through connections you made on site?  If so, please stop by and tell us about it!