Aussies take a raincheck on gap years

By Hannah Edensor

There’s a new gap year in town, and it’s a bit different from the one you take right after graduating high school.

Known as the ‘career break’, this trend cropped up after a number of corporate go-getters started taking trips after establishing their careers.

While the impulse to take the coming-of-age gap year straight out of school, Topdeck Travel says many Aussies are choosing to kickstart their careers first, score a uni degree and gain both cash and experience before shooting off on adventures abroad.

The new career break sees Aussie professionals between 25 and 35 take off on an overseas adventure for a period of around six to 12 months, after firmly cementing their place in the workforce.

But seeing as the average career lasts anywhere up to 40 years, taking a six month break is not even 3% of someone’s working life.

Topdeck’s global marketing director Mike Doyle said there were two key groups of career breakers, who had been working for a few years before getting itchy feet.

“20% of our bookings are made by young professionals, who have jumped straight into a job or trade straight from school or university, and now believe they have earned time off for a career break,” Doyle said.

“This first group has a clearer understanding of the type of experiences and fulfillment they seek from their travels, so that they can return feeling recharged and inspired. The second group often initially chooses a career, such as teaching, which caters towards their travelling dreams and allows them to take long periods of extended leave.

“Generally speaking, both groups felt an obligation and necessity to establish themselves in the marketplace, plus they couldn’t afford to travel in their younger years.”

According to the folks at Topdeck, the trend for career breakers is to join a guided trip either at the beginning or end of their extended travels, giving them a chance to meet some new friends.

According to Doyle, these travellers seem to be doing a “tour-de-force” at the start of their career break, checking out other countries they might consider living in at some stage.

“Those falling into a career break category have an average trip length of around 24 days and often choose to start their trip towards the shoulder season, so they can travel further for less,” he said.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

career break gap year