Your life splits into three clear thirds; sleep, free-time, and work. Sleep is important, so get a comfy bed. Free time is the freedom to chase what you want. Work allows your professional development to make an impact and fund your lifestyle. It’s important to improve each of those thirds, and for work, many chase adventurous jobs to spice up life.
You’ve no doubt heard the old “do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. Although you’ll still feel like you’ve got tough days and it most definitely still feels like work, adventurous jobs allow the days to fly by whilst you’re engaging in something you enjoy.
You see these dream roles as just that; dreams. Coming from a small town or city in the UK may make you think that a watersports role in a far-flung location isn’t achievable.
But it is.
There are methodical, easy steps that you can take to ensure you find yourself in that dream role. So if you’re ready to explore the world’s most adventurous jobs and look at landing them, then you can find our top 9 below.
Scuba Diving Instructor
Exploring the underwater world is a serene experience.
Anyone who has ever scuba-dived will agree that the experience will live with them forever.
The colours, the silence, and the wildlife reveal some of the very best of what this planet has to offer, whilst creating an almost meditative state throughout.
Doing that on a day-to-day basis, and inspiring others to do the same, is a dream that water addicts can realise.
Entry point
The likes of PADI and SSI offer the ‘fun dives’, where you can do your open water (or equal qualification).
If you’ve done this, you can take it to the next level and start doing the more advanced courses, such as a divemaster qualification.
Once you complete these, you’re then at a level where you can begin thinking about making it a career, and your next choice will take you into a professional discipline.
Skydiving Instructor
Jumping out of a plane for work has to come near the top of any list of adventurous jobs.
Hitting terminal velocity whilst you race towards the ground is the ultimate adrenaline thrill. But for most, it has to be in accompaniment of a trained expert.
If that rush sounds like your 9-5, then you could be the perfect tandem jumper, to ease the anxiousness of an awkward, first time jumper.
Entry point
There are many different pieces of training and qualifications to go through, such as the Accelerated Freefall Level 1 at an entry-level. This is as well as ensuring you’ve clocked up a set number of dives through an accredited agency, amongst other things.
On top of these, the courses you’ll need to complete will need a British Parachute Association membership.
There’s a lot of hoops to jump through, but so there should be; this is one of the most extreme, dangerous yet rewarding careers out there.
Ski/Snowboarding Instructor
Hitting the slopes is a thrilling holiday for a lot of people.
Yet taking it to the next level as a ski or snowboard career is a move that thousands of ski season workers take every year. From Europe to Asia, and North America to Australasia, there’s always a ski season going on at one point of the year.
Entry point
If you’re not a competent skier to begin with, spend some time getting some training before looking at qualifications.
There are UK based ski slopes, such as Chill Factore https://www.chillfactore.com/, which will allow you to hone your skills. You can even do a ski season as a hospitality worker, and shred the slopes on your spare time. But when you’re ready, you can get a UK accreditation through BASI https://www.basi.org.uk/, which is internationally recognised, or through the International Ski Instructor Alliance ISIA https://isia.ski/?lang=en.
Once you go through level 1, level 2, and beyond, you’ll never be short of a job worldwide, at any time of year.
White Water Rafting Guide
Crashing down a river (in a ‘relatively’ controlled manner) is another water-based career that appeals to many.
Mother Nature plays a big part in creating the adrenaline, but the experts on the boats are the important ones to harness it in the right way.
They’ll be hitting these lines daily, with customers who don’t know them, so that knowledge allows first-timers to have the best possible time.
Entry point
Once you’ve got some experience, even as a paying customer, you should look at other health and safety qualifications that will help around water, such as first aid and lifeguarding.
After, you can look at gaining water safety qualifications, as well as guide courses. This also includes the advanced white water rescue technician, which takes you up the game.
Tour Guide
If you know and love a landscape, environment, or country, then you could be the perfect person to lead others around it.
Traversing, climbing, bouldering, driving, entertaining, sailing, leading. Whatever your skill set, you can inspire others to follow in your footsteps, in the same way that you’re following in those that came before you.
Snow, sand, sea, or land, you choose your terrain.
Entry point
First off, an obvious passion and in-depth knowledge of a country, locale, or activity are important to display you’re the right person.
When you know what you want to dedicate yourself too, you can then begin getting the relevant qualifications that will help, whether that be lifeguarding, mountaineering, or whatever else is on offer.
Logistically, you’ll be involved in transport and moving people from place to place, so ensure you’ve got a full, clean driver’s license, and any extras and additions you can get to it.
Safari Guide
David Attenborough has inspired our generation and allowed us to see the natural world.
But for those who want to live that life as well as see it, then a safari guide is the way to go. To protect and inform is the name of the game, and bringing the wonder of these incredible animals to awe-inspired visitors is an incredible ‘office’ toward from.
Entry point
A lot of people that enter into this work comes from a particular discipline, whether that be a vet or another university-trained animal profession.
Taking the educational route will direct you immediately towards the area you want to go to, so study and practice pay off. Tour guides who have a passion for the country or area can also enter into this field of work, but your level of knowledge and expertise has to be at an outstanding level.
If you’re looking at working the major safari countries, such as South Africa, you’ll want to prove a huge background of experience, so building up locally from a young age is important.
Wakeboard/Waterski/Surf Instructor
Whether tearing it up on a wave or a wake, being out on the water daily is an exhilarating experience.
Mixing your passion for watersports with an educated background in powerboat driving will allow you to get out on the water and make that your ‘cubicle’.
For those that enjoy it, cutting through fresh water at 6 am, whilst it’s as smooth as sheets of glass, is an unparalleled feeling.
Entry point
There are now lots of areas across the UK where you can partake in watersports for fun, and then get relevant qualifications.
There’s great surf down south in Newquay, whereas you’ll find watersports centres dotted throughout the UK. Build up your experience to a competent level, and then supplement that with relevant water courses.
Most times, you’ll need to be trained on a cable or be able to drive a powerboat, so consider these qualifications if you’re serious about it. If you want more information on why a powerboat qualification is important, check out our article on How a Powerboat Qualification Can Kickstart Your Dream Watersports Career.
Storm Chaser
Crazy if you ask us, but undoubtedly one of the most manic and adventurous jobs going.
It’s not just done for the thrill though; the information collected plays a huge part in understanding these behemoths of storms, whilst the footage collected is licensed and used worldwide.
It’s not just a crazy ride, but one that pays, too.
Entry point
It goes without saying, but you’ll need to be in an area where Mother Nature kicks up a fuss.
It’s prevalent in the United States, who regularly get battered with storms. But before making the most, ensure that you’re bringing a skill set to the table.
Whether that’s meteorology, videography, or anything else, you can show why you’re the right person for the job.
Adventurous jobs liven up the third of your life taken up by work.
These don’t have to be pipe dreams that you long to do on holiday, but solid professions that pay the bills.
If you can land one of these adventurous jobs by being studious and building up your own background and experience, you’ll be at the forefront of inspiring more into that industry, as others have done for you.
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