Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
“Therefore in many ways it will help if you think about returning to your old position as
if it were a brand new job, ie expect things to be new, to have changed and realise that it
will be up to you, once again, to find out how everything works and prove yourself even
more capable of succeeding now because you bring all your old skills, competencies and
experiences to the role plus all the new ones you developed whilst you were away. Real-
ising you may face these challenges and planning how to overcome them will help you to
more successfully integrate and adapt to your return at work.”
If you have to start earning as soon as you get back and your old job wasn't kept open for
you, you can always consider temporary work. These positions are often available immedi-
ately and can be flexible enough to enable you to carry on with your permanent job search.
And you never know, once working in a company, opportunities often come up that you'd
never have expected.
However, when looking for that new permanent role, Karen says: “Remember firstly that
many jobs never get advertised so get in touch again with all your old contacts and see what
jobs they know about and may even be prepared to recommend you for.
“When putting together a CV, think through all the new skills you learnt on your trip that
will be invaluable to employers. Unfortunately many people use the phrase 'travelling' to
cover gaps; they may be using this term to hide an unsuccessful job that ended in dismissal
or possibly even time spent in prison! Consequently, recruiters can be cynical whenever
they see 'travelling' on a CV so tackle this head on by highlighting how your trip has in-
creased the contribution you can make to the role for which you are applying. This also
helps make the travelling period seem genuine but remember, in a job search situation it's
the benefits to the employer that will count, not how much fun you had!”
You'll find more useful advice on this in
Chapter 3 - Career Breaks and Older Gappers
.
Deciding what next
While getting back to 'normal' life, you've no doubt been trying to process everything
you've learned from your gap experience.
How do you feel? What's changed? What's been confirmed? Where to now? Is there
something new you want to do next as a result? How to go about it? You'll almost certainly
still be in touch with friends you made on your travels, maybe even had a couple of after-
gap reminiscence meetings. Others may still be travelling and keeping you restless!
You may also still be in touch with the projects you worked on. It's a fairly common feeling
to want to keep a link to something that's been a life changing, learning experience. Is this
you?
The best piece of advice on dealing with the consequences of any life-changing experience
is to be patient and give it time. Nothing but time can make things settle into some kind of
