Are there really any career prospects in ELT?

I've done ELT training and want to go abroad to teach English but I'm worried that I'll be living like a student and trapping myself in a low-paid profession. Are there really any career prospects in ELT, or will it just be something that will tide me over for a couple of years, but be looked down on by potential future employers as 'gap year' messing around?

Generally, the teaching of English as a foreign language is used as a good gap year filler, and is also useful at the beginning of a career which may progress to encompass teaching or training in a broader sense.

It is very beneficial to gain access to travel opportunities too. In years to come, when employers see it on your CV, they won’t look down on it, as you’ll have been working, and all work on a CV is good, provided that you can clearly show an employer, and not just teaching English to a few people you met!

It is also very impressive if you’re going for an interview for a training study course, or a training/facilitation role, as it’s good grounding in the field. ELT isn’t usually followed as a career path in and of itself, but can be, if you get into a good school, become fully fluent in the local language and then integrate into the community. Then you can go on to become a teacher in a local school or college, which would be a very serious career path. Really, career paths are what you make them, so get out there and give it a go.