Isn’t a career break just a long holiday?
No. A holiday is a reasonably short (1-4 weeks) break from work that mainly involves relaxing, spending time with friends and family, and having a lot of fun. With a career break, however, you’re probably looking to:

1. Take a longer ‘break’ than you would for a normal holiday and...

2. Do something more constructive and challenging than simply lying on the beach for weeks on end!

Despite what you might think most people would get seriously bored, let alone burnt, after 2 months sunbathing. Your future employers will also be keen to see what skills or experience you’ve gained whilst away, beach bumming won’t improve your future employability.

What can you do on a career break?
Now this is the best bit – you can do whatever you want. Yes, that’s right, whatever you want. Climb that mountain, write that book, see that long-distant friend, start that business idea, sail that ocean, design that house, use that skill to make a difference, speak that language, or simply live that kind of life! Of course there’s lots of challenges to overcome before you can do what you want but you can overcome them – but careerbreakcafe.com will start to show you how.

To find out what options there are for your interest take the careerbreakcafe search.

Where can you go on a career break?
From Arizona to Zanzibar, from Sydney to San Francisco, from Tasmania to Timbuktu, from the exotic to the extreme, from the deserts and mountains, from the jungles and oceans, from the cities and the sunsets, the world is waiting for your company.

But why bother spending that time, hassle and money going there when you’ve got Sky TV at the end of your sofa? Well, can you smell the bushman’s dinner that Ray Mears is eating? Are you squinting at the sunrise that Michael Palin is watching climb over Mt.Everest? And can you feel the wind rush past you as Ewan McGreggor’s BMW bike accelerates across the Mongolian plains? No you can’t – you need to go there yourself.

To find out some of the extraordinary places you could go to use the careerbreakcafe search

It’s not safe out there, is it? Well there’s always been places, countries and suburbs that haven’t been ‘safe’ to visit. There always will be. But there’s also plenty of places where, with the right preparation and common sense are safe to visit and stay. Here’s our guide to planning a safe career break

But a career break doesn’t have to take you overseas. It can take place in your home, garden or local community. 2005 is the year of the volunteer in the UK so why not check out how you can spend some of your career break supporting local projects > www.yearofthevolunteer.org

Gap years for grown ups?
Absolutely. In the past decade there has been a significant rise in the number of a people taking time-out from work for a ‘gap year’. The stereotyped image of the school leaver heading off with a backpack to Thailand or Australia is quickly changing. Companies, travel organisations and even the government are rapidly realising that a gap year is for all. Many gap year organisations now offer special ‘career break’ programmes, expeditions, adventures, projects and placements. This means that if you decide to use your career break to help on a volunteer programme or to travel with a group overland it won’t just be you with a bunch of 18 year olds!

But remember that a career break can also involve a lot more than traditional ‘gap year’ activities like travel and volunteering. With career experience, whether this is 2 years or 22 years, you have the opportunity to really contribute your career skills to your time-out.

This might mean you choose to do something that only a career breaker could do like write a book, produce a record, or build a house. In other words a career break is not just about new experiences but about using your life-experiences to do something different.

A 21st century sabbatical
Even God took time out – on the last day of creation the mighty one put His feet up and reflected on a good weeks work. From the Hebrew sabat, came the word Sabbath; a day of rest and time of reflection at the end of each week. Every 7 years there was a fallow or Sabbatical year allowing the land some time to recover. The sabbatical year then evolved to give professors a paid year off in every seven to research and to rest.

Now the sabbatical year or career break is commonly accepted in the developed world as an opportunity for anyone that have had success in their careers to take time out to fulfill their dreams.

Companies with a careerbreak policy? Find out here

Women have always had time out from work through maternity leave. Now it is also becoming more commonplace for employers to also support structured career breaks as well as the natural break needed to have kids.

Can children & career breaks coexist?
Of course they can. Find out how