There were lengthy queues outside the RDS in Dublin yesterday as hundreds of people looking for information on how to start a new life abroad attended a weekend-long event.

Early indications were that attendance at the annual 'Working Abroad Expo' was up on last year, with a significant shift in the age profile of attendees.

Stephen McLarnon, one of the organisers, said whereas previous events tended to attract younger people seeking information on working holidays, many older skilled professionals and even entire families are now attending.

"There is a bigger mix across the board," he told the Sunday Tribune.

Sinead Stack (21) from Portlaoise recently qualified as an occupational therapist in the UK, and is now reluctantly considering moving to Abu Dhabi, Australia, New Zealand or Canada to further her career. "I wanted to come back home to work, but there are just no opportunities," she said. "The recruitment agencies want two to three years' experience, but how are you supposed to get it if there is nowhere hiring. You're not given the chance to get experience."

Her friend Anna Smyth has just qualified as a nurse from Athlone Institute of Technology, and said about half of her classmates are considering moving to the UK and further afield to get work.

Smyth said she intends to continue her training in theatre work at a hospital in Leeds, before moving abroad.

"We were offered no jobs, you have to look for your own. But there are none," she said. "I don't want to leave but if I want to train in theatre work I don't have any alternative."

Caroline Ayres, who runs a cleaning company in Collinstown, Dublin, said the prospect of the forthcoming tough budget had led herself and her husband Joe – an unemployed construction worker – to decide to emigrate. They hope to move to Australia within the next six months.

"The last week has done it. I don't want to be saddled with the €50bn this government is putting on us," she said. "As a self-employed person I have received no help from the government. The government is looking after the big boys, the bankers, and are not helping out ordinary Joe Soaps like us."