Career breaks
Life in stasis? Time to plan that biiig break – follow our tips to put together your ideal odyssey
A career break is a step out of the old nine-to-five. It’s a chance to put your working life on hold for a while (or maybe take it in a different direction completely) and do that thing you always wanted to do: be it learning Spanish in Guatemala, helping street kids in India or leaping off a bridge attached to a flimsy bit of bungy cord in New Zealand.
You might think you can’t take a career break. Common excuses include “I can’t risk giving up my job”, “I’m too old”, or “I’m just too frightened”. But they’re all nonsense! Anyone who wants to can take a career break – you just need to do a bit of planning first.
Making the mental leap is the first step. Believe you CAN take a career break and then decide what you would like to achieve on it – be it flying to Outer Mongolia or walking to Timbuktu. Get out the maps and begin plotting your Michael Palin-style Pole to Pole adventure, scour the internet for volunteering opportunities in South-East Asia, post questions on forums to find out what other career breakers have done before you – get as much inspiration and information as you can.
There are practicalities to consider: should you quit your job or arrange a sabbatical? Should you sell your house or rent it out? Who is going to look after the cat? But none of these are insurmountable problems if you have a good plan and the passion to see it through.
The options open to you on your career break are practically unlimited. You could spend time volunteering (perhaps with people in Romania, with animals in Kenya, with ancient buildings in Peru); you could set out to learn a new skill (languages in Morocco, cookery in Italy, belly dancing in Turkey); you could try working overseas (either in a profession related to your current one or something completely different); you could build a travel itinerary based around countries beginning with the letter A (Austria, Australia, Argentina, Angola…). It’s up to you.
Far from breaking your career, career breaks can take your working life to a whole new level. Get planning!
Top 10 tips for taking a career break
- Find inspiration: remember, you CAN take a career break – read about what others have done to prove it
- Plan a volunteering placement – from studying meerkats to mentoring small businesses in developing countries, there are a wealth of options
- Get a job overseas – finance your career break by finding work
- Leave your current job – think about whether you want to quit or negotiate a sabbatical
- Get your affairs in order – think about the practicalities, such as renting out your property and selling your car
- Learn a new skill – there are infinite courses you could enrol on worldwide, from language classes to learning to scuba dive
- Take the kids – career breaks aren’t off limits just because you have children
- Make a packing list – if you’re heading off for a whole year, think carefully about what you put in your backpack
- Travel the world – a career break is a great time to plan a round-the-world itinerary or tick off some travel classics: the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Americas top to bottom… the list is endless
- Do something different – why not crew a yacht or plan a full-on expedition?