Man took a 18 months off to travel the world, now unemployable! (interviewed, unemployment)
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Personally, I admire him for having the courage and the self-discipline to financially plan for and follow through on pursuing his dream. The OP said that his friend sold his home for 600K and spent 50K on the trip. Honestly, how many of us could do that? Rather than hate the guy, I would like meet the guy or at least talk to him to find out how he did it. No doubt he's probably lived some great experiences and would probably have some entertaining and insightful stories to tell.
Maybe its because I've thought of doing the same (12 months off traveling the world), but shouldn't the fact that he was so financially prepared to take 18 months off from working play into this at all? Most people can barely make ends meet working full time and are a paycheck away from going under. This guy? He's got 5 figures, maybe 6 in his bank account. He basically stepped away from a unprofitable market, used his money to fullfil a life's dream, and now he's back to work hard.
Unless this guy tapped his 401k, took a 2nd mortgage out, and left kids at home with grandparents, given references, skills, and general demeaner, I wouldn't hesitate to hire him.
Some people get luckier than others. I consider selling your house at the top of the housing bubble luck.
If he did work hard to get to where he is, he should make that the focal point at his interviews rather than the vacation he took.
A friend of mine bailed out of California and the mess it has become and sold his house and decided on a mid life adventure. He and his wife sold a lot of his things and put the rest in storage and traveled the world for 18 months. He made arrangements to live in 10 different cities in condos or vacation homes all over the world and lived life as a local and bummed around and played tourist too. It was quite an adventure.
Now he has moved out east in a relatively inexpensive town in North Carolina (Cary) where the economy is strong and has been looking for work. Once the potential employers find out about his mid life adventure of living abroad and not working for 18 months they write him off as some type of lazy flake and deep six his employment application. Sometimes his creative resume gets him an interview but once they find out he has not been working for almost two years and hears about his overseas travel, they look at him like he has two heads.
If you were an employer what would you think of that man's story/situation? (He has a strong background in Accounting, an MBA, CPA and lots of great references, etc.)
I think they are passing up on a gold mine. Some places seem to take issue with people who have actually done any exploring, who have lived other places, who have great life experiences not realizing that those people actually bring a wealth of information with them. To travel the world for 18 months is not lazy, (how on EARTH is that lazy?!?!), and it builds a whole lot of character. The different people they have met, the different cultures they have experienced, the places they've seen..all of this can actually create a much better person, in the end.
But, unfortunately, some people like cookie cutters. Maybe it's because I've lived all over, as well but I just cannot understand why people fear things like this. What makes a well traveled person so scary? I really don't get it but I've seen it, time and time again.
Traveling made that person more 'dynamic and interesting' because he has been to more places than everyone else. He probably saved up $ so he can travel the world.
What other countries have you been to? If you never set foot outside this country, please stop trolling.
Why do you assume I haven't been anywhere else?
I've traveled to England, France, Thailand, Japan, and NZ...as well as Canada (& MX if you count TJ.)
He obviously had enough money to finance this trip. He was a mature man who knew what he was doing. Of course it took guts and clearly he was not lazy. If he was in a different field and didn't live in North Carolina, he probably would have found a job by now. I say it's the workplace culture of his chosen field that looks down on people who travel. I agree that in Europe he would not have been so stigmatized by taking this trip. I also "don't get it" but have I heard of this type of rejection happening to others as well? Of course. He should say he had a family matter or some other "more politically acceptable" reason. Of course if all fails, he may have to just cover the gap and get a reference to cover his behind.
Whether or not he had the money to do the traveling is none of an interviewer's business, and it shouldn't come up from either side.
Perhaps a lot of businesses are more interested in hiring new grads or recent grads because they're cheap, rather than hire experience, no matter how good. (My job does this, rather, no one with experience will come on board because the pay is too low. If they do, they're gone inside of six months).
If he wants to explain where he's been for 18 months, "Out of the country with a family matter, now resolved" should cover it. If someone wants to chat him up about adventures, let them do it after he's hired.
I also have been all over the place and out of the country on different ventures. One orientation woman asked me, "Are you manic?" when she heard the truth about my first ten years of varied employment.
Then again, I'm not going anywhere again, not in this market and at this age. I'm glad I went trekking in Nepal before I hurt my back.
Lots of people would love to do what he did but can't afford it. The fact that he had the money to travel does not really make him more 'dynamic and interesting' than everyone else.
Fifty thousand for eighteen months of travel? That is about $33k a year for two people to live on. That would be an abysmally small amount just to exist in a European country, and I cannot see them actually affording travel on it. What were they doing - backpacking and sleeping in hostels?
I don't think deprivation makes a person dynamic and interesting. Maybe there could be something else behind the missing time? I don't know. I would not just take off on that amount of money.
He should just say that he had his own small business doing taxes or something like that. How is anyone going to disprove that?
I can't believe how many people on here are critical of someone who takes time away from work to travel. Certainly we are working for the very purpose of being able to do things like that ! --- not to set up some flawless work record with no "gaps" so that some robotic HR person will like it.
What's the problem with gaps anyway? So you were unemployed for 18 months? Why does that make you any less of a valuable potential employee? You still have all the skills and intelligence you always had. Same goes for women or men who take time off after having a new child --- why is that considered so awful? A job is just a job, a way to support yourself. At the end of your life you'll value and remember family, friends, and experiences you had --- not hours spent in an office. You never know when you'll end up with a bad back or a chronic illness --- travel and do things while you can. You may not be able to when you retire.
First... How cool to be able to travel and take time off like that! I would love to be able to take 18 months off like he did, but will settle for planned vacations when I can for now.
I'm not sure how you friend is presenting his 18 month sabbatical on his resume and on interviews, but a big part of why he is not getting hired could simply be that he has that gap and the rest of his competition simply does not.
Being in the financial industry, I would think that it would be admired in how he handled his money and was able to travel for 18 months and still come back with a substantial nest egg. A savvy person in finance would look at that with respect.
Unfortunately, I guess it comes down to who's interviewing him and how he is presenting the time off. Additionally, I've noticed that when a person has a lot of "worldly experience", hiring managers may think this the person may want more from their jobs - not just money, but support, growth opportunities, etc. They may also feel the person may be a bit of a on-the-job revolutionary bringing in ideas contrary to company culture and stirring up the well-oiled machine they have running with their "enlightened ideas".
I'm curious to know if he learned any languages or did any kind of volunteer/service work while traveling abroad. It may help a little. I do agree with not playing up his travels unless it is relevant to the job. Maybe he should look at a consulting job where there can be some periodic travel where the experience can be a help to get the foot in the door and then later switch to a non-travel position (if that's what he's truly looking for).
Your friend is competing with people in an extremely tight job market. I don't think that traveling in and of itself is a bad thing, and I don't even think hiring managers are necessarily against him doing what he did. However, your friend is clearly an unconventional decision maker - in a field and in a part of the country that very much value convention. Moreover, he is using the conventional approach to find work, which is not well-suited because of his unconventional decision making. Your friend has to understand something: employers are terrified of making mistakes in hiring, because they lose face or worse if they get it wrong. The problem I see here is that, as far as potential employers are concerned, this guy is 'out there' - he's not bad, but he is just more than a bit eccentric. And eccentric is risky. When employers see your friend, something tells them not to buy. It could be that it's strictly the fact that he vagabonded for 18 months, or it could be something is that is reinforced by his voluntary unemployment.
Your friend can overcome this, but he needs to be more strategic, and he needs to be willing to show employers just through his job search that he's an @ss busting kind of guy. Responding to job ads, mailing the CV, and doing interviews...that's on the employer's terms. Worse, it's a passive way of looking for work. Eighteen months of vagabonding + passively looking for work = not the guy his employers want. He needs to take greater control of the process. He should network. He should stop by the offices of employers. He should go to chamber of commerce events. He needs to be active, not reactive. That by itself would do a lot to convince potential employers that he's not just a flake, but someone who takes initiative.
Last edited by chickenfriedbananas; 09-25-2012 at 07:12 PM..
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