For those who are dropping out of school, age about 17 or 18, go and join the foreign workforce. By that I mean, join the workforce that works in foreign countries. The local job market, though still available for those who are keen to learn, don’t pay as well as those who joins companies that supplies labor to projects overseas.
The most highly paid skills are those in the oil and gas industry and jobs are abound in countries in the Middle East, China, Vietnam, parts of Russia, and even in African countries like Sudan.
The oil and gas industry is a very wide and diversified field. To build a refinery, they need welders, pipe fitters, electrician, Instrumentation technicians and fitters. These are all jobs that don’t need a diploma or a degree if you are willing to learn from scratch and it does not take long, especially for fitters. A fitter with about a years experience and can show their resume that they have worked in 2 or 3 projects easily earns 6 to 7 thousand a month. Those who has spent years in this field with a stack of resumes from different international contractors earns more than 10,000 per month and most of them only has a Lower Certificate.
The beauty of it is, when an International Company acquires a multi million dollar contract in some foreign countries, they need all the manpower they can get. All they want are people who has been in this line. They look for experience rather than academic qualification. They want people who knows how to do a good weld or how to lay a cable tray, not people who sits in the office and they are willing to pay highly for these people.
Taking your first step into this area is the toughest. You must keep your eyes and ears open. Mix with the same crowd. Don’t worry about the pay first. Jump on the first opportunity. What you want is the experience. The contracts they offer are normally for 6 months. If it ends in 6 months and they don’t need you anymore, make sure you get a testimonial from the company stating that you have been involved in that project. Pass you contact number all around to everyone before you leave. These crowd are very closely knitted. Once one hear of another contract in other country, they pass the word around. When you become one of them, you will have work whole year round. The better you get, the more popular you will become.
I have friends who have been besieged by offers. Sometimes to go to 3 countries at the same time. He has the luxury to choose which country he wants to go and he earns more than 15, 000 per month, excluding allowances.