Detailed Account of Gap Year – An Important Tool in Building Your Career

Like anything else, a gap year too can be spent well with a good planning. And when planning is concerned, it is related to the largest extent to what you are going to do afterwards. When you are asked questions like “What is your ultimate aim in life with this?”, you may wave off the question with replies like “exploring the world” or “having a vast cultural knowledge”. But obviously such replies cannot satisfy a job interviewer. So, it’s necessary to remember that you will be back some time and be in need of a job. At that time, a good amount of cash and/or a vast experience can come to your help, which you can get through gap year jobs – paid or voluntary. But then, how to make full use of it?

What are Employers Looking For?

Look at your gap year from an employer’s perspective. Will you find something impressive which will be helpful in starting a career?  You might have been volunteering all the time, with no money – but in that case, experience matters.

Recruiters want to figure out what you have learned through your gap year. They will want to know about your key skills, like problem solving, teamwork, leadership, tackling critical situations, and so on. They will indeed be interested to understand your thought process, approach and attitude, and what all resulted into. This may look simple on its face, but it may not be so easy to recollect all the details while sitting before your computer trying to create an impressive resume or in the hot seat of a job interview.

Keep an Account

So, it is important to keep a neat account of your gap year experiences, with each and every detail, no matter how minute it may be. It should remind you about how you handled a challenge. Did you use ultimate bargaining skills to get heavy discounts? Did you overcome the problem of communicating in a foreign language? Did you navigate successfully through a labyrinth of alleys? Did you study keenly about particular cuisines and their pros and cons? Whatever it is – write it down!

You should keep aside an hour or so mindfully for jotting down the details of the day during your gap time, and they will lead to constructing a striking bio of yours. Above that, you will be surprised to know how many qualities you actually have but were not aware of. That is certainly going to build great confidence in you.

Write on the Same Day

Making the details on the same day when they took place has another benefit. If you think of writing them down in your leisure hours when you return home, you may not remember when and in what order they happened, and that will lead to a shabby, hazy, unorganized and therefore unconvincing memoir. Your recruiter will always be impressed with a neat, detailed and doubtless account which you can create only by writing on the same day.

How to Make Use of Your Gap Year Account?

You are marketing yourself through job application forms, resumes and interviews to your potential employers. So, you can choose a part of your gap year account that can be relevant to the post you are applying for. You might have spent your gap time doing a volunteer work overseas, wherein you came across several difficult situations and you overcame them with your qualities like presence of mind, ability to learn and tackle, communication skills and so on. This you can mention while applying for a post of managerial level. Remember that employers will not only see how you faced the challenges, but also in which situations you did that.

Keeping a detailed record of your gap time can thus help you in making your career. So, don’t forget to jot down your exciting and satisfying moments, no matter how tired and overwhelmed you are after the day.