The top jobs Australians are looking for overseas, and those that people overseas want in Australia

If you're dreaming of ditching your day job and heading overseas next year, you're not alone. But only a few trades look transferable to other countries.

Figures provided to The Age and Sydney Morning Herald by global job search website Indeed shows Australian project managers, teachers, nurses and accountants are all looking overseas for fresh starts.

The top job openings Australians were seeking out overseas in 2018 were in a mix of high-skilled occupations (such as data scientists and mechanical engineers) and lower-skilled jobs such as receptionists and nannies.

Business analyst, data scientist and data analyst all ranked in the top 20 jobs Australians looked for abroad, even though none of these vocations were in the top 20 jobs searched for within Australia.

Callam Pickering, an economist with Indeed, said that while data science is often touted as a job of the future, those number-mining skills were far more in demand in the United States and Europe.

Teaching was the second most common job Australians sought out overseas, although this number may be inflated by English language-teaching positions that are typically posted around the world and aimed at travellers.

Nursing positions were also popular. “Nursing is an occupation that lends itself very well to working overseas,” Mr Pickering said.

“Nurses are in high demand practically everywhere, the roles themselves are typically well paid, and the roles are often travel friendly.”

The same is also true of overseas job seekers hoping to secure work in Australia, as nursing is the second-most searched for job in Australia for those applying from overseas.

“For nurses overseas searching for Australian jobs, it can be a little more complicated. There can be a lifestyle angle to this ... but there can also be financial considerations, particularly for nurses from poorer countries,” Mr Pickering said.

Some of the jobs in Australia that attracted the most interest from those overseas included engineering positions, electricians, chefs and baristas.

New Zealanders, Filipinos and people from the United Arab Emirates were on the lookout for nursing jobs in Australia, Canadians and Germans were keenest on au pair positions, while French job-seekers were after internships.

Electrician was the most sought after position among Brits, for Chinese people it was teacher, while for Italians it was chef.

Mr Pickering said the country-level data reflected the job website’s market share in each country and the types of people seeking out employment overseas, and said it was important to note that interest in Australian positions from overseas job seekers did not necessarily translate into successful applications.

This article was originally published by the Sydney Morning Herald's Business Day. Read the original here, or follow the SMH on Facebook.