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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.)
My advice is that he saves the story until after he gets hired.
He might not be getting ignored because of his travels; as of 2012, it takes hundreds of resumes to land a position.
To get "back into the market" he can volunteer his services to a non-profit (10-20 hours a week) and get a set of excellent references.
Explain the two year break as "family issues." No reason to give a long explanation, really.
Later, he can tell friends/colleagues (the ones who he trusts will appreciate the story) that he used part of that time to travel, and he can share his story with them.
And forget retirement. How many people do you hear about retiring nowadays?
My grandfather was fully retired in his 50s and drew a fat pension for the rest of his life. His wife never worked.
My mother is in her late 50s and readily admits that she will be working well into her 60s and probably 70s at least part-time. My father is the same.
That is why I invest 1/3 to 1/2 of my paycheck religiously. The thought of working until you keel over is depressing.
I'll probably aim to own my own home outright, by age 60, and hopefully be able to trim my expenses so that I can live on Social Security alone. I would probably be happy to work part-time doing something interesting or helpful, maybe working at the town library or something like that. But I wouldn't want to have to rely on my work at that age.
My advice is that he saves the story until after he gets hired.
He might not be getting ignored because of his travels; as of 2012, it takes hundreds of resumes to land a position.
To get "back into the market" he can volunteer his services to a non-profit (10-20 hours a week) and get a set of excellent references.
Explain the two year break as "family issues." No reason to give a long explanation, really.
Later, he can tell friends/colleagues (the ones who he trusts will appreciate the story) that he used part of that time to travel, and he can share his story with them.
To expand on "family issues," taking care of a sick relative is always a good excuse for a gap. Even if you were just laying around in your house collecting unemployment, eating Cheetos all day for two years, you can use the "I was taking care of my mother with cancer" story even though it is a complete lie.
BTW, I'd skip telling co-workers about the traveling. Nothing good can come of that.
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.
^^ I give him a lot of credit too. Awesome dream and proud of him for living it out.
Now he just has to get back down-to-earth to enter the real world again. The volunteering thing, or even a part-time job of any kind, would help him build momentum. So would some professional reviews of his resume. I often recommend The Five O'Clock Club to people, to help with resumes and job hunting. They're a paid service, but they do have lots of free articles on their webpage.
Location: where people are either too stupid to leave or too stuck to move
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he probably didn't realize how hard it would be to get a job coming back (i underestimated how hard it would be to find a job after the college after being fed bullsh!t my whole life about how important college is but now i'm just being a bitter rambler).. he seems older, so hes probably from a time when people could take sabbaticals and come back and get a job with the experience they have..
I agree he should just tell them some other reason for the gap.
But I still think it's a great thing he took the trip.
Which do you think will lead to a richer, more meaningful life for yourself? Knowing that "I have no gaps in my resume" or knowing "I have travelled the world."
I agree he should just tell them some other reason for the gap.
But I still think it's a great thing he took the trip.
Which do you think will lead to a richer, more meaningful life for yourself? Knowing that "I have no gaps in my resume" or knowing "I have traveled the world."
My sentiments exactly.
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