The Daily Telegraph - Gap years: are they worth it?
August 15, 2015

Are gap years worthwhile or just a self-indulgent distraction from reality? Michelle Jana Chan asks the experts.

Teaching English in Battambang? Kite-surfing in Jericoacoara? Rhino darting in South Africa? Learning Spanish in Sucre? Or passed out on the beaches of Koh Tao? How did you spend your gap year?

Traditionally a gap year has been taken between school and university by so-called ‘gappers’, usually around eighteen years of age, who mix up backpacking and adventure with volunteering work, perhaps in health, education or conservation.

But recently the market has been shifting; graduates, career-breakers and retirees are taking time out, too. The nature of gap experiences has also changed becoming more structured around career, academic or personal goals. Some assignments are brief; others may last for a year or more. Gappers are increasingly choosing to pull together a number of activities including paid work, fundraising, volunteering and learning a new vocational skill overseas.

Supporters of the gap year say it is essential in a globalised world. “For pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, gap years are a must,” says Jonathan Bryan, managing director of Discover Adventure, which specialises in fundraising for challenges that include trekking across the Sahara Desert or cycling through Rajasthan, India. “You meet people with different lifestyles and from different cultures; it is about growing up and fending for yourself.”

But critics say they are self-indulgent and an unnecessary distraction. Recently a lawyer at HSBC made headlines by suggesting young people would be better served if they took a Saturday job at JD Sports rather than spending time seeing “wonderful places”.

Sandie Okoro, global lead lawyer for HSBC Global Asset Management, said she was less interested in those who have “gone off to China and built an orphanage”. She suggested that a job in a sports shop or supermarket is enough to help youngsters develop resilience and pick up valuable skills that will help them in the workplace. “Forget about going to China and changing the world or whatever,” she said. “I want people who can come to me and have had real experiences.”

Okoro’s comments show a surprising flat-earther mentality for someone of her position at an international bank. The skills she lists can, of course, also be developed during a gap year overseas. At the very least, by choosing a retail job in a city overseas, like Berlin or Barcelona, there would be the added bonus of a foreign language skill and heightened skill and heightened cultural competence.

On top of that, gap experiences can also endow participants with greater self-awareness and appreciation of public service. They may arrive at university or their first (or next) job refreshed, focused and able to obtain more from their next chapter in life.

For some recruiters, a gap experience enhances a CV demonstrating a degree of know-how and employability. Fleur Evans, a top-level head-hunter at JCA Group, said she is very pro taking a year out. "A gap year creates more rounded graduates,” she said, “but I do think you should work and pay for it yourself."

Research carried out by Work & Volunteer Abroad (WYSE), a global non-profit association representing youth exchange and volunteer programmes, showed that nearly three-quarters of participants believed their experiences enhanced their ability to find a job or a place in higher education.

Even larger numbers spoke about a better understanding of international cultures. The report said “there are far-reaching knock-on effects; the participant returns home as a better informed, culturally aware and altruistic global citizen - one that feels more employable or ready for further study and is likely to go on to help other causes closer to home.”

But not everyone will be convinced that conducting an elephant census in Tsavo, Kenya will aid an individual applying for a job in international law. Some, like Okoro, may continue to insist a year on the high street will better arm them for the corporate world.

“She’s not completely incorrect,” said Steve Gwenin, chief executive of Global Vision International (GVI). “There’s a huge demand for practical experience from employers and that could be gained on a Saturday job in the UK. But it can also be gained on a job which is part of a structured gap year.”

GVI offers a number of programmes with career development at its core which Gwenin claims are becoming increasingly popular. “More than 50 per cent of GVI’s participants enroll in these types of programmes,” he said. “They come away with certificates in leadership or teamwork, as well as transcripts in, for example, scientific research collecting data in marine conservation.”

Until now, the UK has been a global leader in both the concept and practice of the gap year. Estimates suggest that every year in this country up to a quarter of a million young people engage in gap activities - and that has helped young Britons stand out in the competitive international jobs market. But we should now take note that other countries are catching on, including the economic powerhouses of the US and Germany.

Stefan Wathan is CEO of the not-for-profit Year Out Group. He says about two-thirds of the 25,000 people who take a gap year with them every year are now coming from overseas. “This is a new phenomenon,” he said, “and there is now an American Gap Association.”

Responding to Okoro’s comments, Wethan said: “We (in Britain) used to think the gap year was valuable so what has changed? Surely we want all young people to be out there learning languages and getting new experiences.”

In the US, Harvard encourages admitted students to defer enrollment for a year “to travel, pursue a special project or activity, work, or spend time in another meaningful way.” Its website states that it has admitted students in part because they accomplished something unusual during a year off. Tufts, Princeton and Brown universities offer a ‘Bridge Year’ giving permission to incoming freshmen to engage in the service sector.

If the Ivy League universities in the US - often obsessed with the effective use of time and results that are measurable - are supporting gap experiences, that must go some of the way to proving the worth of structured time out.

Gap experiences may not only better a CV but also better an individual. They can be a rich opportunity for personal development: a time to step back and reflect; to gain perspective on values and goals; to be removed from the pressures and expectations of familiar surrounds. Many head off to higher education with new visions of their academic plans, extracurricular pursuits, the intangibles they hoped to gain and career possibilities.

“The important thing is not the ticking off of the bucket list but the questions you are asking because of that bucket list,” Wathan said. “We want to hear ‘is there a contribution I can make through my career or ongoing charity work? What can I do?’ That is the world-changing bit.”

The full value of time out may never be measured accurately yet it may pay dividends for a lifetime. The greatest proof on the worth of gap years may be gained by speaking to people who have taken one. Few have regrets. Virtually all would do it again.