The benefits of taking a gap year are pretty obvious – the chance to meet lots of new friends, get an incredible suntan, and see some wild, wonderful and exotic locations. However, these aren’t the only advantages to taking that year out before you start work. And, with the job market for graduates still a fairly tough place to be, a well-planned gap year can help give you an advantage over others when it comes to looking for your dream job.
Related:How To Handle Career Gaps On Your Resume
You may not be able to transfer your ability to ride an elephant or dance all night into a job when you return (or maybe you will…), but there are other aspects to taking a gap year that provide definite benefits for your CV. Here are a few:
1. Experience.
A year at the University of Life can be a great addition to your actual university degree, adding the kinds of skills and experience to your CV that you wouldn’t have been able to acquire if you’d jumped straight from finishing your studies into a permanent job.
You might gain PADI qualifications, teach English as a foreign language, learn how to build homes in hostile environments, or get involved in wildlife conservation – all these skills look great on any CV and can demonstrate commitment and aptitude to a potential employer.
If you want to spend a gap year setting yourself up for a specific career, then choose activities that a relevant to that job. There are overseas opportunities for everything from PR and marketing through to medicine - you don’t have to spend the entire time on the beach.
2. You can network as you go.
When you’re travelling, you tend to meet people. It’s an incredibly sociable way to see the world. Without the pressures of a corporate environment or the expectations that you might feel back home, you can create lots of opportunities for establishing new contacts by really opening up and being yourself.
Plus, you never know who you might meet when you’re travelling or working abroad – you might come across people who can open up new opportunities, suggest alternative routes into the career you want, or even open the door to an elusive interview with your dream employer.
3. Refresh and refocus.
It’s often quite difficult to gain any kind of perspective on your career path when you are buried in exams at university or stuck in the UK, constantly reminded of the pressures and challenges of taking that next step towards working life. A gap year is the ideal opportunity to obtain genuine perspective, both in terms of what you’ve achieved so far and where you want to go next.
Taking yourself out of a familiar environment will shake up your way of thinking and the new perspectives you will come across when you’re travelling might give you some fresh new ideas. If you’re burned out from the stress of the student lifestyle, then you’re unlikely to be in a position to make good decisions – after a year out with plenty of new challenges, new sights and opportunities for relaxation thrown in, you will most likely find yourself refreshed and ready to take on the world.
4. Challenge yourself.
It might seem intimidating to set up a gap year that is full of new challenges, such as being away from friends and family for all that time, trying new physically demanding activities, or dealing with language barriers and alternative cultures. However, these tend to be the things that make us grow as people and you will find that you gain enormously in confidence from the kinds of experiences that you’re presented with every day when travelling – in a way that you just wouldn’t if you didn’t take that step.
Plus, the great thing about a gap year is that the opportunities for stepping outside your comfort zone are plentiful and tend to arise almost every day. Whether you find yourself agreeing to something you’d never do back home – such as jumping out of a plane – or you just gain the ability to strike up a conversation with just about anyone in a social setting, all of these will play a big part in creating confidence that you can use to bag yourself your dream career.
This post was originally published at an earlier date.
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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