By Clare Matheson BBC News Online business reporter

Many people are ditching the rat race for work abroad

But do not be fooled into thinking it is a "youngsters' game" just because the two Windsors took part.

Increasingly retirees are taking part in such schemes.

There is a plethora of groups offering opportunities to help a foreign community - and just taking a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Tefl) course can provide the chance of overseas work.

But while many people may have an image of new-age students heading for India, it's far from the truth.

"Often it's people with more experience that are more valued," said Abigail Fulbrook from VSO.

"In fact we're now advertising for more professionals from business to join."

'Itchy feet'

The average age of VSO volunteers is 38, but it recruits people from 18 to 75.

Meanwhile, i-to-i, another market leader in the voluntary sector, takes anyone aged 18 to 80.

Knowing that a person has the ability and confidence to organise and see through a long-term, overseas trip, often says just about as much about the person as any interview can Melanie Jones, Eden Jones recruitment agency

They also offer the opportunity of shorter career breaks - as little as a one week "holiday" to as long as a year.

The current 20 to 30-something workforce is "rife with itchy feet", according to research carried out by the group.

It found that while 92% of them owned up to unfulfilled ambitions, they were too nervous to give up the rat race.

"Our research shows that a quarter of people fear they may not have a job when they come back, while one in 10 employers may see them as flighty," said Deirdre Bounds, i-to-i's managing director.

"Yet, in our experience this isn't the case, it's just the opposite with many adding a new string to their bow."

New talents

Overseas volunteers can come home with new skills and talents thereby adding a new dimension to their CV which stands out.

"Far from seeing returned travellers as impulsive new-age types, many employers value the knowledge and skills these people have gained as a potential benefit for their companies," Melanie Jones, director of recruitment agency Eden Jones, said.

Suzanne's work in Ghana gave her a leg up the work ladder

"Knowing a person has the ability and the confidence to organise and see through a long-term, overseas trip, often says just about as much about the person as any interview."

VSO agrees. Many of the more than 30,000 people sent overseas since it was founded in 1958 are now big names - such as Jon Snow, Horse Whisperer author Nicholas Evans and BBC director of sport Peter Salmon.

Career change

One volunteer was Suzanne Fenwick, 23 of East Sussex.

She took a three-month i-Venture to work in advertising in Ghana, after a tough time trying to get into marketing following her graduation.

Five days after arriving back in the UK she was snapped up to do direct marketing at Help The Aged.

"The main benefit from my experience in Ghana is my new job," she said.

"My line manager told me it was my unique CV with 'advertising, Ghana' and my enthusiasm for the trip that got me the job."

But the experience does not necessarily mean coming back to the old routine. It can also mean career change.

Work in Brazil saw Samantha ditch her planned film career

Samantha Bain, 23, from London, changed career after working with underprivileged children in Brazil.

After studying film and TV at Brunel University she ditched her plans to enter the film world and now works with underprivileged children in London.

"I had the most life-changing experience. I came to Brazil to volunteer and instead found my life's plan," she said.

While the projects may sound "worthy" - helping orphans, or drought and disaster victims - there's plenty more opportunities on offer.

Among the many posts on offer, you can be an accountant in Ghana, journalist in Ecuador or work with elephants in Sri Lanka.

'Magic' reward

Jane Morgan, from Norwich, has found her "niche" in Battambang, Cambodia, teaching 18 to 55 year olds.

"The reward is from my students - seeing them progress in the English language is magic to me."

However, not all projects will go according to plan, as Anne and Edmond Thomson, who went to western Kenya for two years with VSO as small business advisers, explained.

While many enjoy their projects, some don't go to plan

The pair of retired independent financial advisers were to give marketing and book-keeping lessons, but instead of business plans found themselves branching out into agriculture.

Seeing the dire circumstances of people who "didn't know what they'd be eating for lunch" moved them into action.

They helped tribe members develop a system of hand pump irrigation for the dry season, introduced beehives, and showed them how to make pesticides from local plants.

Success story

But they did have one small business success with a local lady who sold banana fibre place mats and bags.

"We did try to get her to sell locally, but no middle-men would pay her upfront for her goods.

"So we convinced her to go to Nairobi, which she did and got paid, so it was worth her while going there on the bus with 20 or 30 items ."

There was no sense of achievement in Kenya, Mr Thomson said, yet he has kept up his work since returning to the UK.

He provides people in East Africa with information on subsistence farming, translating it from English to Swahili and distributing it on the internet.