Gap years: Make sure you do something useful

As Will Morgan begins his final year at Southampton University, his career plans are undergoing a thorough rethink.

After he emerges with a masters degree in electrical engineering next year, Will had intended to start a career in finance: he is interested in becoming a trader because “I’m quite a hands-on guy”.

However, the financial crisis has made him postpone a decision and keep his options open. He now intends to live in Marseilles for a year and do some work experience in a French engineering consultancy firm where he has a family contact.

“Because of the economic downturn, I think I want to see what’s going on and wait until it all settles down. I’d like to take a month or two off but then do something constructive because I know employers take a dim view of people just having fun.”

Will is probably one of the lucky ones. A degree in engineering, because it proves his problem-solving abilities, makes him a sought-after recruit either in industry, business or finance. He is likely to have more than one path open to him when he returns from France, especially because he will have acquired good working use of the French language and several months experience of the world of work.

But among Will’s friends, and across the undergraduate population in general, similar decisions to take a post-university gap year are become more widespread.

In a survey published last month by TMP Worldwide, the recruitment advertising company, 54 per cent of the final-year undergraduate interviewees were thinking about taking a gap year and one in 10 was planning to wait for a year to escape the financial chaos and wait for the economy to either improve or for the picture to become clearer.

Some of Will’s contemporaries have managed to defer banking jobs for a year for similar reasons.

Some have other motivations: “A lot of my friends are doing a similar thing because, if they didn’t take a year off between school and university, they have been doing exams solidly for 10 years. They need a break and they want to see the world.”

But Jayne Cullen, head of graduate solutions at TMP has a warning for any soon-to-be graduates contemplating such a step. “They need to plan it carefully to make sure they’re more employable when they return and look for permanent jobs.

“They need to make sure they not only develop the right skills, such as communication and teamwork, but also ensure they can demonstrate what they have learnt to potential employers.”

The company conducted the research after finding that more graduates were taking time out and then failing to reappear as potential recruits to training programmes – companies were concerned about how to reconnect with this “lost” group.

The survey also showed that those who had already taken a gap year were bad at selling the way the time off had developed their skills: 20 per cent did not think their employer would be interested in their experiences and another 13 per cent did not even mention their time away from the job market in conversations with potential employers.

Recruiters say this is a mistake. “People tend to box off career from the rest of their life,” says Sedef Buyukataman, graduate recruitment manager for the UK, Ireland and the Nordic countries at Cisco. “But we are looking for potential. If you can’t find what you want in the current business environment, I would say take that year off but find something that will develop you.”

She recommends, for example, a community role or volunteering, which even if not directly relevant, shows commitment, and “it will all be useful”.

Morgan McKinley, which specialises in banking and financial services recruitment, says employers can see the advantages of both work experience and travel but only if potential recruits can prove their experiences demonstrate “resourcefulness, drive, responsibility and inquisitiveness”.

Debt, however, is another consideration that may dissuade soon-to-be graduates from putting their job search on hold. Some students run up large amounts by opening multiple bank accounts with overdrafts, and 37 per cent of UK undergraduates use credit cards for some of their expenses.

Will and his friends say they are not worried about debt in the form of student loans, because the interest rate is so favourable and it will not have to be paid back until they begin to earn a decent salary.

But he is keeping his attitudes flexible: “I’ll still be looking for a City job. I’ve always wanted to live in London. And if an offer comes up that’s too good to refuse, well…”