The age old question of whether to take a year off in between school & university or between university and your career has often been a question of time to travel vs work experience. But now it seems that there are a few alternatives that mean you can do both.
After searching through the sea of opportunities, it seems like there are 3 really big contenders. Charity/volunteer work, internships, & foreign language courses.
Option 1: Charity/ Volunteer Work
One option is to get involved in a charitable organization or volunteer work. This could be anything from helping to immunize children in Africa to performing scientific SCUBA diving in the Caribbean.
With many of these experiences you will get a great opportunity to visit locals and places off the beaten track. Joining a big companies program will take the effort out of your search but often means less value for your money.
Big organizations such as GVI have a good selection of programmes around the world. This is very nice and convenient but you will pay a high price for very, very basic living conditions.
An alternative is to search for small grassroots projects where the money stays with the project. One way is to go through universities or community websites and see what projects they have going on or join projects through small organizations such as www.openmindproject.com. These usually end up being great value (with more of a donation to the project).
Another good place to start to look for projects if you are stuck for ideas is a site www.volunteermatch.org that allows you to be matched (without cost to you or the organization) to the right volunteer experience depending on your skills and experience
Option 2: Internships
The next choice is to do an internship in another country so you can mix a great vacation with work experience. This is a great way to boost your CV.
There are plenty of placement agencies who can find internship programs to suit your needs all over the world. Frequently these kind of services charge a substantial placement fee but they will arrange housing along with the placement.
Going directly to the organization, while it could take a little bit more time is generally more affordable because you cut out the middle man. Frequently providers also appreciate this because it shows you have initiative. A good place to look for both agencies and individual companies who have internship opportunities are websites such as goabroad.com
Option 3: Language Courses Abroad
Our third option, which is quite affordable in most cases (at the moment anyway), is doing a language course overseas. It always looks great on a CV if you can speak another language and if you pick the right schools can be a blast.
To help ensure this, be on the watch for schools that have a great activity component as well as a focus on education and learning. After all it's your gap year!
A good starting point for your search is companies like www.traveledventures.com. They target language schools with excellent social and cultural activities programs and can arrange housing, language courses as well as help you out with problems you've got while you are away.
There are also often internship abroad for students coupled with a language program. So it's a double win then for your CV! This is also a great way to have the ability to stay over the visa free time period as well as obtain course credits if you need to.
Take a gap year to discover the planet, find what you really want to do and gain experience in an area you have love for. So what are you waiting for? Get on the road and enjoy!
After searching through the sea of opportunities, it seems like there are 3 really big contenders. Charity/volunteer work, internships, & foreign language courses.
Option 1: Charity/ Volunteer Work
One option is to get involved in a charitable organization or volunteer work. This could be anything from helping to immunize children in Africa to performing scientific SCUBA diving in the Caribbean.
With many of these experiences you will get a great opportunity to visit locals and places off the beaten track. Joining a big companies program will take the effort out of your search but often means less value for your money.
Big organizations such as GVI have a good selection of programmes around the world. This is very nice and convenient but you will pay a high price for very, very basic living conditions.
An alternative is to search for small grassroots projects where the money stays with the project. One way is to go through universities or community websites and see what projects they have going on or join projects through small organizations such as www.openmindproject.com. These usually end up being great value (with more of a donation to the project).
Another good place to start to look for projects if you are stuck for ideas is a site www.volunteermatch.org that allows you to be matched (without cost to you or the organization) to the right volunteer experience depending on your skills and experience
Option 2: Internships
The next choice is to do an internship in another country so you can mix a great vacation with work experience. This is a great way to boost your CV.
There are plenty of placement agencies who can find internship programs to suit your needs all over the world. Frequently these kind of services charge a substantial placement fee but they will arrange housing along with the placement.
Going directly to the organization, while it could take a little bit more time is generally more affordable because you cut out the middle man. Frequently providers also appreciate this because it shows you have initiative. A good place to look for both agencies and individual companies who have internship opportunities are websites such as goabroad.com
Option 3: Language Courses Abroad
Our third option, which is quite affordable in most cases (at the moment anyway), is doing a language course overseas. It always looks great on a CV if you can speak another language and if you pick the right schools can be a blast.
To help ensure this, be on the watch for schools that have a great activity component as well as a focus on education and learning. After all it's your gap year!
A good starting point for your search is companies like www.traveledventures.com. They target language schools with excellent social and cultural activities programs and can arrange housing, language courses as well as help you out with problems you've got while you are away.
There are also often internship abroad for students coupled with a language program. So it's a double win then for your CV! This is also a great way to have the ability to stay over the visa free time period as well as obtain course credits if you need to.
Take a gap year to discover the planet, find what you really want to do and gain experience in an area you have love for. So what are you waiting for? Get on the road and enjoy!
About the Author:
To find out more information about internship possibilitiesor language travel programsconsider digging a little bit deeper at Traveledventures.com
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Unknown - Monday, June 3, 2013
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