Gap Year or Gap month?
Travelling abroad is useful as one element of getting ‘work ready’ as an undergraduate or school leaver. One of the most useful aspects of this life experience is what you will find out about yourself and your interpersonal skills to enable you to better sell yourself in an interview.
In the early stage of your career, one of the best things you can achieve is what you know about yourself. For instance, you may find that you during your travels abroad, you prefer doing so alone, and planning your trip autonomously which means you may be suited to working on an individual basis. Alternatively, you may feel that you would prefer to travel as a group, or with other people around you, which then indicates you may be better suited to working in a team environment. All pretty basic stuff but it starts to build a picture for yourself. Similarly, exposing yourself to new situations, such as learning about local cultures, local languages and being part of something more diverse, can be really beneficial and can translate into elements of the workplace. It also gives you very solid points of reference to discuss answers to interview questions later on.
Timing really is a key factor, though. Travelling for say two to three months enables you to demonstrate how organised you are, your planning skills and your ability to budget. You can then present these skills to a potential employer, whether for a full time job or internship, to show what you have learned about yourself from the experience. A longer trip, however, for say three months plus or a year out, has to be underpinned by some bigger purpose such as charitable work, work experience or for paid work than just travelling for a gap year.
On return, or better still, during your travels it is crucial to take some time out to ask yourself ‘What have I learnt from those experiences?’- write them down quickly as you will forget! You then need to present these findings as key achievements you have gained from those experiences, which will look great on your CV and make it stand out from your peers.
Travelling or working abroad can give you the edge over the competition. This is vital for those who don’t necessarily know what career path to choose in an increasingly complex job market. Travelling and the experiences it offers can help you make sense of your own skills, whether it is demonstrating team-working, verbal or written communication skills and also giving you real life examples to describe the skills you have gained. It is about honing yourself and helping you find out that little bit more about yourself that you perhaps didn’t know before.