OPINION14 September 2017

Mind the gap

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Impact Opinion Travel

Does taking a year off, before or after university, make you more employable? By Sinead Hasson.

Travelling gap year_crop

When I did my gap year, in 1996, I had graduated and been working for two years. My gap year involved a combination of travelling and working in Australia and Asia. It was fun, and I met lots of friends and gained stories for life… but that’s a tale for another day.

I hadn’t given work much thought until the last few weeks of my trip, when – by chance – I met someone who worked in market research. It was the first time I had ever heard of market research and insight. Little did I know how my life was about to pan out.

At the time, back in the good old days, there was no email/mobile/FaceTime – so it really was a gap from everything for a year. I did it because I didn’t know what I wanted out of life, but I knew I really wanted an adventure, and I wanted to be as far away ...