A guide to gap year and holiday jobs

by Daisy Evans

Introduction

The ever more popular "gap year" has become a recognised component of the social and intellectual development of young adults as they progress into higher education and full time employment. How a person spends his or her gap year is important because it provides them with life experiences that help to lay the foundation for the person he or she will become.

For most people the gap year - typically taken in the gap between finishing school aged 17 or 18 and starting university, college or employment in the autumn of the following year - provides the perfect opportunity to broaden the horizons and see the world. Both voluntary and paid positions are possible, and many people do a mixture of both, or work in return for training or free accommodation.

Aside from the post school gap year, many people take a gap year after completing higher education, before joining the conventional labour force and many agencies cater for recruits up to 25 years. There are no shortages of companies and agencies specifically catering for the youth market, happy to tap into this energetic and idealistic resource.

There are a few questions that you should ask yourself before deciding on taking a gap year - what do you want to get out of it, and how much effort would you want to put in. It should be something that adds to your skills and experience, improving your skill set and making your CV more attractive to employers and admissions tutors, as well as providing you with the experience of a lifetime, which is somewhat less quantifiable. As well as making you a better candidate for a job or a place at university or college, a gap year can give you immense personal benefits.

Listed here are three types of gap year web resources that can be found. Firstly are the gap year portals which offer work around the world and act as intermediaries between the remote organisation and the volunteers or workers. Secondly are direct recruiters and agencies for paid holidays, and thirdly the opportunities that are available for working with young people.

These web and online resources are mainly for people seeking paid employment for seasonal and gap year work. We also have information on volunteer opportunities for Europeans of all ages.

WEB RESOURCES and PORTALS:

Gap Year Jobs

This is a specialist website displaying temporary and seasonal employment vacancies in the UK and internationally. Particularly strong on North America and for paid employment for people with outdoor skills. It itself is not a recruitment agency for gap year job seekers, but can point you in the right direction.
http://www.gapyearjobs.co.uk/

Gap Work.com

This is an organisation which aims to give young people help needed to plan an entire gap year, the most up-to-date information on all your gap year options, destinations and activities, working holidays expert advice.

It is not in itself a direct recruiter, but puts you in touch with organisations and companies.
http://www.gapwork.com/

Real Gap

Real Gap offers hundreds of real gap year and career break adventures. The programmes extend to over 30 countries across the globe and provide excellent opportunities to travel, work abroad, volunteer with communities, children and wildlife and learn new skills. Paid work, volunteering, wildlife projects, community work in developing countries, conservation volunteers, learning new skills, teaching with or without a TEFL qualification and other skilled work.
http://www.realgap.co.uk

WORKING HOLIDAY RECRUITMENT AGENCIES:

Season Workers.com - the working travel website

A leading portal specialising in sports, conservation, medical and teaching. Find opportunities during the ski season, at summer resorts, on cruise ships, teaching, sports coaching, and in the hospitality industry. Outdoor type jobs are particularly strong here. Suitable for gap year job seekers and other types of holiday, seasonal and temporary employment that would suit young people in search of travel, adventure while earning money.
http://www.seasonworkers.com/fe/GAPyears/jobs/

The work for travel frontier club

A "jobs abroad" portal that markets itself as a "travel the world and get paid for it" information service. It is not designed specifically for gap years, but advertises many opportunities in all sectors, so gap year travellers can find paid employment. It covers all kinds of opportunities suited to the working traveller, from agriculture, forestry, farm, ranch, teaching (TEFL and non-TEFL), hospitality, sports, recreation, entertainment, conservation, engineering, building, IT, administration, medical, health and fitness, casino, domestic work and childcare, offshore crew, hostesses, sailing, lifeguards, and more.
http://work4travel.co.uk/index.htm

WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE AND SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN:

Every summer in North America, millions of children say goodbye to their folks and head off for the rituals and exuberant joys of summer camp. A whole industry supplying specialist and non-specialist staff of seasonal workers can be accessed by those seeking to fill up at least part of their summer vacation or gap year employment requirements.

BUNAC

Bunac offers a range of working holidays including a summer camp counselling programme in the USA, flexible work and travel programmes to Canada, Australia and New Zealand and volunteering placements. These are open to full-time or gap year students and other young people from both the UK and the USA. Programmes last from 8 weeks to eighteen months.
http://www.bunac.org

PGL

PGL is a market leader in providing children's adventure holidays at 27 activity centres across the UK, France and Spain. For 2006 for instance it recruited over 2,500 staff to work at its facilities to instruct, inspire and look after young guests. Positions are available for water sports instructors, adventure activity instructors, group leaders, language speakers, administration, maintenance, catering and domestic staff. Minimum age is 18 and you don't have to be a UK resident to apply, as long as you are legally eligible to work in the UK - i.e. anyone from countries within the European Union.
http://www.pgl.co.uk/online/workingwithpgl/

CCUSA

Camp Counsellors USA is an internationally recognised organisation which places thousands of young adults in hundreds of summer camps and for seasonal employers in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe, Brazil and Russia. It is paid employment, but for many the wages count for pocket money rather than a living wage, but accommodation and meals are included as part of the counselling placements.
http://www.ccusa.com/PROGRAMS/CC/intro.aspx

ADVICE:

Advice from UK careers company, Jobsite.

Covers all aspects of the legal aspects of working abroad: taxation, rights, visas, and residency. There are many things to consider when accepting paid employment in a foreign country and this gives a thumbnail guide to the main points.
http://www.jobsite.co.uk/career/advice/working_abroad.html

© Daisy Evans. All views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to the European Commission.