I was fortunate enough to be able to experience such program in my life. I will specifically avoid talking about dates because i have done it a few years ago, but it should be still relevant.
In Malaysia, we normally join via agents to participate in such events. In career fair or edu fair we can normally see their booth. The two famous one i knew is Speedwing and OTB.
http://www.speedwing.org/
http://www.outofthebox.com.my/
I opted speedwing and joined the WAT USA program. Below i will share some of my experience before flying to USA.
1st step: Decide if you want to go.
Many student see going for Working Holiday as a back up plan if they cannot find job.
Some feel that they should have enough friends to go with them before they decide to go.
This program is for the mentally strong people, if you cant even decide this for yourself, imagine you are lost in NYC need to decide which station to go to, which hotel to stay, which mode of transport to use, which attraction to sacrifice.
My experience is, i had 7 friends who wanted/interested to go with me, but i end up going with someone else, just 1 and she is not 1 of the 7 friends.
It is about yourself, if you feel that going there is just another holiday plan, then you are so wrong, it is life changing, full of challenging experience while rewarding program.
2nd step: get an agency
After you have decided, find ways of achieving it, go via an agency apply early and plan early.
You can apply to both agency and choose between both because you do not need to pay if you have not commit, yet you can view their available job.
I did my planning 6 months ahead.
3rd step: find Sponsor
Be it your parents, relatives, or own savings.
Typically it is not cheap to do this program, but with accounting background i find this cheap in this way. here's why:
Say you need to survive in Malaysia for at least RM2k a month.
for 5 months you will need RM10k
My WAT program + air tics cost me around RM10k, it allows me to earn my own money and have sufficient money to travel. 4 months of working + 1 months of travel. That 10k gives me 5 months living too, but in USA with great winter experience.
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4th step: Start Planning
According to the agent there is only 1% of applicants that got their visa rejected.
* I got my visa in less than an hr in the US embassy
So it is easy to be accepted. Now you have money and have decided, you need to start planning for at least below few things:
-When do i want to go ( MOST IMPORTANT- decide and stick to it)
-Where do i want to work ( which state)
-What kind of job i want to do ( Every job gives you great experience)
-What is my travel plan.
-Which season i want to experience
I know you cannot answer or have enough knowledge to answer these, but try to give ranking in each question: I want to work in Vegas second choice is Miami, I want to work as a coffee maker, i must visit Hawaii and Niagara Falls, i want to experience winter. All these answer will give you so much more direction than blindly apply.
5th step: Go and experience to the fullest
Will share later about my experience progressively. In a brief context, i went with speedwing during winter/spring season. I worked as a lifeguard in wisconsin and traveled over 10 cities in USA.
* During skype call interview with employer
BYEZ
