So I just started a corporate job....just looking for some people's experiences with taking a long break to travel and the consequences.
Hmm. Having read each response, I am realizing where I went wrong I think. Most of these responders had really skill specific professional work experience before they left. So when they came back, they still had the same solid resume that got them a job in the first place.
Because I travelled instead of working while getting my degrees, my work experience was seasonal, school related, or internships. I also have a degree (MA in Humanities: Art and Art History) that unless I am applying for a specific job in that field, I seriously might as well just have a high school diploma. (not joking).
I am 37 but look 25 (Ive even been mistaken for high school aged). It hasn't materially helped.
You guys just seem to have some magic formula. I don't know, I think also the southern US has little respect for travel. A lot of it is who your Daddy is and where you went to college. Did I mention I am determined to move? 😉 My travel has paid off for me in every respect except career. Though, I still feel like if I was applying for jobs A. Not in Texas/the South and B. In Art and Art only, things would click with no problem. I guess I am just getting discouraged too easily.
So, imho a word of warning to those contemplating the big leap: Unless you have solid professional experience or are very young, wait until you have it, or people will be looking for it and it won't be there.
Reply to this Most of these responders had really skill specific professional work experience before they left.
I didnt. I left Ireland and moved to London, England straight after high school when I was 19. I worked in London for 8 months before backpacking around Europe for 4 months. Then I went back to Ireland and went to university. I did badly and took a year off to work and travel in the middle of it. Then I went back to university and then did badly again and then took a year off to work in Canada. I then went back to Ireland with absolutely no qualifications. I didnt even know how to type.
I was at this stage 25 years old. I did a secretarial course but didnt work as a secretary because the wages were so bad that they wouldnt even allow for saving for travel. I then did a basic course in Information Technology. That lasted a few months and I got a qualification for it. While doing it I applied for a 3 year Information Technology qualification. While I was doing this I was offered a job in a business training company. I did the job which also offered me some training in Information technology and continued my main course at night. When the course was almost finished I was offered a job in a computer company, where I worked for 4 years as a technician and trainer for computer systems and applications. Then I got pregant and just before the baby was born I quit working. Since then(8 years ago) I have been doing the unpaid job of mothering, but that is by choice. Now we can live on my boyfriends income so I am more particular about what I will spend my time doing. If I do get a job it will be doing something I want to spend my time doing, rather than one that must earn money.
I also have a degree (MA in Humanities: Art and Art History) that unless I am applying for a specific job in that field, I seriously might as well just have a high school diploma. (not joking).
You might have a point there. What I studied(not at university) was very marketable.
I think also the southern US has little respect for travel. A lot of it is who your Daddy is and where you went to college.
You might have another point there. Conservative places are not flexible enough for either travellers or mothers because the companies there would be more traditional.
Did I mention I am determined to move?
Probably a good idea. But before you move I would consider what you are moving to and what you intend to do when you get there. How much money do you need to make and doing what? Or maybe money is not the main issue and you want to choose quality of life......
So, imho a word of warning to those contemplating the big leap: Unless you have solid professional experience or are very young, wait until you have it, or people will be looking for it and it won't be there.
It might be the case, that those who have your qualification and didnt travel are having just as much trouble getting jobs and earning money. If I was in your position I would use the qualifications to develop myself as a person and hope that one day I can make a living with doing what I love, while taking on some more marketable skills to earn money in the meantime.
Looking on the bright side, you seem like a much better academic that I was. I probalby spent as much time at university as you did, but got no degree.
Reply to this Oh thanks for replying Mell! You are really awesome at giving thoughtful responses to people. You know, I really wondered what you had done in your professional life, but didn't want to ask. Sounds like you followed your bliss and made it work, which is very admirable. I didn't get bitten by the travel bug til I was about 27, and didn't discover art history until I was pushing 30. But, its sorta nice to know it wasn't all unicorns and rainbows for everyone but me 😊 Seems like you landed on your feet, too!!
Yeah, I am a bit of a geek when it comes to school. I am actually also a few credits short of another degree in Biology (that dream was strangled by an evil fiend known as MATH!). I think travelling in other parts of the world is much more common, and employers have learned to cope. Here its basically announcing you have no stability or sense of responsibility and could blow them off on a moments notice to do it again. URG! When I say move, I mean to the east coast, an area I have always liked. There are a lot of museums/galleries/universities in the Boston to Washington Megalopolis, so there would be plenty of opportunity there. I am from Austin, and although its an awesome place, and Shangri-La for most people, it's nooot the place to be for an art historian/jack of all trades artist type. You would think it would be very arty, and it is, but they apparently barely make ends meet. Lots of artists, few venues. Plus I am more on the academic side. There is a series of federal jobs (I was in the military, so its a good fit for me) as art directors, graphic designers, museum work, and they are at Naval bases all over the east coast. So, its rich hunting ground for me. I haven't even had the opportunity to apply for art or art history jobs locally yet (one just came up for Art Institute that I am applying for) but I am shocked as hell when I apply for an entry level job requiring a high school diploma, and I am passed over because I don't have any long-term work experience. They could honestly care less about my academics. It's kind of freaking me out, but once I figured my degree was just really niche, I calmed down a bit. A bit!
I just lost two years since I finished my masters to illness, and as I am healing up I am temping (kind of disheartening when you have $75,000 student debt from a double masters degree). So, I get impatient for the glorious career to begin, panic about my age, and deal with leaving everything I know, but knowing if I don't I will never really feel like I reached my potential. And then when will I travel? Sigh. I have a feeling it will all work out, but its really interesting to see how other people pulled it off, or didn't. Thank you for telling me your story, it helped. : D
Reply to this Seems like you landed on your feet, too!!
And you will too. I feel on my face plenty of times. I think it is a matter of making the most of what is available while continuning to search for more.
Yeah, I am a bit of a geek when it comes to school.
I spent years envying people like you. I was for so long surrounded by so many of them, because no matter how many times I screwed up my high school teachers kept putting me in the same class as the brainy kids. Most of my high school friends and all my siblings have at least one degree. The teachers insisted I had the intelligence to do any type of academics because sometimes I produced the results they ''knew'' I could produce. I suppose they did not take my personality into account when they were deciding what I should do.
Maybe you are so good with academics and it all came so easily to you, that you have not yet seriously looked into all the other life choices available. I became good at finding other ways in life because of comming up against so many brick walls in the academic world. I think my parents did not know what to do with one like me thrown in with all the family doctors, accountants, teachers....... :D Leaving home and moving to another country was exactly right for me, because it exposed me to other types of people and ways of living. People that I was not a failure when compared with.
...and employers have learned to cope. Here its basically announcing you have no stability or sense of responsibility ..
I have heard so many N. Americans say that. They consider travelling to be their down time and seem to feel a need to explain themselves. I, on the otherhand consider it to the a highlight of life and a means to finding out more about myself and adding to myself.
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