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The new government funded gap years for graduates are to be welcomed, even if not for the reasons that are being cited in the publicity material. The ad for candidates asks if they feel that everything is “doom and gloom” and suggests that one way of beating the recession will be to volunteer on an overseas scheme, partially funded by a government bursary.

At Career Energy we welcome this initiative; not so much because we think it provides an answer to youth unemployment amongst recent graduates (it does not) but because of its long term effect in helping them to find the career which is right for them. The transition from full time education to full time employment is not straightforward (I seem to repeat this mantra half a dozen times a day) and although our clients are of all ages, and working in every sector, we see a steady stream of people in their late twenties or early thirties who made long term career decisions too soon, and who deeply regret it.

The truth is that when students leave education they are in no way equipped to make lifelong career decisions. This applies whether they have done a vocational course, or had an education which was not career specific. It can take several years before school leavers, or graduates, really understand what full time work is like, and where they fit in the huge and complex employent spectrum. That is why our programmes for graduates are all about giving them options, which they will explore over the next two or three years before making a final choice rather than helping them to make long term decisions which they are likely to regret.

That is why the government scheme is welcomed. By giving graduates the opportunity to work in a volunteer environment they can begin to ascertain what their workplace skills are and start to appreciate what different working cultures are really about. It won’t give them all the answers they need but it will certainly help.

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Tags: . Gap Year, Career Advice, Career Change, Career Consultant, Career Energy, career management, Career Planning, Gap Year Schemes, graduates, Raleigh, School Leavers, unemployment, Volunteering, Youth Unemployment

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Career Advice, Career Change, Career Consultant, Career Energy, Career Planning, Uncategorized, Volunteering, graduates, unemployment . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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