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The concept of a gap year has expanded over the years. It used to be a year between studies, either before or after university, where young people can travel and work or volunteer as a way of making their CV seem more interesting.
Nowadays, anyone can take a gap year, also known as a deferred year, bridging year, career break, or sabbatical. Taking time off between work contracts, or before retiring, has become a booming trend. And with that boom, the possibilities of what you can do on a gap year has boomed to.
Scooping elephant poop in Sri Lanka or building huts in the Amazon rainforest may not appeal to everyone, so we’ve put together a list of gap year ideas together to cater to every type of traveler.
Whether you’re a student taking a break or you’re looking for taking time out of work to do something fulfilling, these are ways you can volunteer, work, or simply just explore on a year out.
Pros and Cons of a Gap Year
First, you might be wondering whether a gap year is the right step for you.
Taking a gap year and volunteering can do wonders for your life experiences, skills, and even your CV, and some universities even encourage it.
However it’s not for everyone. Here are some quick fors and againsts:
Pros
- It puts you out of your comfort zone. Travel can be a great way of getting to experience new environments that are vastly different from your home. Therefore, it teaches you to live outside your comfort zone. This is a good environment to put yourself in before going to university, or living away from home.
- Looks great on your CV. If you are new to the world of work, it’s important to know that qualifications are not enough. You may be applying for jobs with hundreds of other people with the same qualifications as you. Gap year travel gives you life experience. It makes you interesting. Employers are not just looking for people with skills, but someone they wouldn’t mind having a chat with around the water cooler.
- World values and diversity insight. As you mingle with other cultures and get true cultural immersion experiences, you start to expand your mindset and become more open minded to how other people do things. Your values change, you see new things as important and become more aware of other cultures and how diverse the world is.
- Rejuvenate motivation. It can even rejuvenate someone who is in the midst of their career and is a little burnt out, and give you motivation for the next role or opportunity.
- Better grades. Taking a gap year does not mean a student is destined to remain degree-less forever. It’s been researched that taking a gap year can actually make you more focused and ready for the rest of your academic life, which in turn, can lead to better grades.
- Career exploration. If you choose gap year programs where you might have to work, you may find a new career path you enjoy.
- Language immersion. Do you want to learn a new language? Gap years are a great way for language learning.
- Memories. The one thing we don’t have enough of in this world is time. A gap year is a experience that you will remember for a lifetime.
Cons
- Need to invest some money upfront. Even if you work on your gap year, you need to have a sum of money to fund you at the beginning. Chances are you won’t want to work the entire year, and so you need to set a budget for your days off and time out. Gap year budgets vary depending on where in the world you travel, interests and your comfort level.
- Acheivment gap. This is only really for people who take a gap year between studies. It means you will graduate later than other people, which is only really a con because you can’t walk the graduation walk with your peers – but on a resume perspective, it’s not going to affect you.
- Lose motivation. Contrary to the last point, you could come away more motivated but there is potential to come away with less. You may have so much fun gallivanting around the world that the idea of stopping to work may sound like no fun at all.
- Reverse culture shock. Not many people talk about this, but it’s something that you can experience if you’ve traveled for an extended period of time. It’s the feeling of not fitting in within your own culture after being away for a while. As you spend time away, things change back home, and it can be hard to adjust. We have a whole guide on this here: Reverse Culture Shock: What Is It & How To Deal With It?
When to take a Gap Year?
teaching english in bangkok
The truth is, anyone can take a gap year and you can take one at any time of your life.
Most people take a gap year before college, between college degrees such as between a Bachelors and a Master’s course, or between employment.
For those who are still studying, potential employers will see a gap year as time that you’ve spent broadening your horizons and learning some new skills.
If you spend a year volunteering for an industry or organisation you would like to get into in the future, potential employers will see that you are dedicated to advancing your career.
And even if you want to return to college or university, taking your gap year in between courses or each semester shows you are committed to your education and you may find that you approach learning in a different way.
A growing number of high school seniors are either burnt out, not quite ready for college yet, or they need to explore a few interests and learn more about themselves before deciding what to study.
Even Harvard, arguably the most competitive university in the United States, believes so much in a gap year that they encourage every student they admit to consider a year off before matriculation.
And Princeton has announced a new program called the “bridge year” that will allow newly admitted students to spend a year performing public service abroad before beginning their freshman year. So fear not!
Gap year ideas: ways to spend your year
Many people spend their time traveling or taking gap tours, others are working, and it’s possible to combine these into an international working holiday.
A popular option for gap year students is to Volunteer Abroad.
Gap Programs and Volunteer Programs
Teaching in London in 1997
There are organizations world wide who offer people of all ages the chance to volunteer or work abroad on their gap year.
Volunteering during your gap year gives you great immersion and a whole new perspective into another country’s culture, and offers valuable work experience that would undoubtedly look good on any CV.
Whether you want to volunteer and gain hands-on experience, or you are looking for a way to have adventure travel without being alone, check out these programs:
- Gap360, formerly called Real Gap, provides over 250 gap year and traveling ideas to people between 18-30 in over 35 countries round the world.
- Gap Force, work in some of the world’s most remote dive locations. You can conduct research in the Amazon, explore the wilderness of Nepal and Tibet, work in Australia, and even take medical elective placements, and more…
- Trek Force, is a subsidery of Gap Force, and offers trekking experiences to outdoor adventurers to some of the most extreme and challenging expeditions. Trek the mountains of Patagonia or the rainforests in Peru, or look for volunteer projects around the world.
- Green Force, also part of Gap Force, specializes in volunteering with non-profit projects throughout the world and community service in conservation.
- Med Force, a part of Gap Force that allows you to volunteer with specialist providers of medical electives and services overseas. If you’re looking for healthcare and medical placements as nurses and doctors, this is a good way to start.
- BUNAC, offers eligible applicants the opportunity to spend extended time living, working and traveling overseas in Canada, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand as summer camp workers.
- Camp America is the OG program where you can spend your summer in the USA living and working either with children or ‘behind the scenes’ as support staff in summer camps.
- CIEE provides both outbound international educational gap year experience for university students, faculty, and administrators, and study, work, and internship opportunities for people coming into the U.S.
- Peace Corps is restricted to Americans. A great way to learn about new cultures, languages and customs – not to mention making a meaningful contribution to your assigned location.
- Dynamy is an internship year and youth academy. They run two Hands-On Learning programs.
- City Year unites young people of all backgrounds to become leaders who help children stay in school and on track in the USA, South Africa and England.
Gap Year Jobs
For those who prefer to earn while they travel, there are many jobs you can do while you’re overseas.
Many people choose to teach, pick fruit, or work as an au pair.
- Transitions Abroad has job listings for all kinds of temporary and permanent positions to survival tips for living & working overseas.
- Cool Works is a place to find seasonal or summer jobs such as a camp counselor, ski resorts, ranches, theme parks, tour companies and more….
- Fish4, formerly Hot Recruit, is the first UK site to cater specifically for students. Temporary recruitment for thousands of national & international jobs.
- Jobs Abroad Bulletin is mainly aimed at young adult Brits. Info to help navigate the red tape to get legal employment outside one’s home country.
- Fruit Picking Jobs is a great place to find seasonal work around the world.
- Harvest Trail with Work Force Australia is a site that links job seekers with harvest jobs Australia wide and explains the seasons.
- Work Stay Australia is another good site for working holiday backpackers in Oz.
- Fruitful Jobs is a UK farm jobs suitable for those wishing to gain horticultural experience.
- Workaway is all over the world. It promotes fair exchange (work for room / board) between travellers and hosts who seek help with a range of activities. You can find experiences in Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, South America, Central America, and more.
- Work Gateways offers UK jobs for working travellers.
- Anywork Anywhere is a jobs and resources for work throughout the world.
- New Zealand Jobs has a wide range of vacancies in all areas including professional and trades.
- NZ Backpacker Board has fruit picking jobs in NZ
- Escape Artist has resources for expats and those looking to work or retire overseas.
We recently discovered Global Work & Travel which is a youth travel platform that connects travelers with opportunities to work & fund their travels abroad through cultural exchange experiences like working holiday, volunteering, au pair, study abroad, teaching and internships.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL: Just for our readers: $100 off your trip (whatever your currency) You must use the code: YTRAVEL when booking the trip. That discount works in addition to any other special discounts or specials running.
Teaching English Overseas
One of our favorite ways to spend a long time in a destination and to gap travel is to teach English as a foreign language (TEFL).
We, Caz and Craig, both had the good fortune to teach English overseas, spending 6 months living and teaching in Bangkok.
For all the information and resources you need on gap year teaching abroad, see our Teach English Overseas page.
Teach in the USA
My old 5th grade class in Raleigh, North Carolina, 2008
Do you have a Bachelor of Teaching degree from K-12?
Designated by the U.S. Department of State as an Exchange Visitor Program, the Participate Learning brings international teachers to the USA to expose American students to other cultures.
Caz has participated twice in this program teaching in Raleigh North Carolina, and it’s a great way to live and work in America on a J1 visa.
Australia Working Holiday Visa
For gap travel in Australia, if you’re from a Commonwealth country or one that otherwise qualifies, the Australia Working Holiday Visa is a great way to spend up to 12 months living and traveling around Australia.
This is a very popular thing to do for young travelers and students from the UK in particular, as working in Oz gives them an opportunity to experience life, gain new skills, and to travel in the rest of the southern hemisphere.
To see if you qualify and for all the information you need on this visa, see our Working Holiday Australia Visa page.