My Career Break – Fears, Gains and Why I’m Now More Employable

The 12^th of May, 2011, marked the end of an 11 year career at my former employer and the beginning of an adventure that would take Pamela and I around the world and back again.  A year later, now that we’re back in the “real world” it’s time for me to seek out new employment and start a new life in a new city. I’d like to try and describe some of the feelings and reservations I had about quitting my old job, taking a year off and hopefully finding a new job. I had made the decision to quit my job about 10 months before it actually happened so this whole experience has stretched for quite some time.

About Me

Let me start about talking a little about me and  my old job.  I spent most of my 11 years in one form of Information Technology role or another. I really enjoyed the job and for most of the time felt blessed to work for a good company surrounded by good people. I always seemed to be working on fun projects which taught me quite a bit about different aspects of Information Technology and really took advantage of my organization and planning skills. Yes, I’m a planner.  I was promoted a few times during my tenure and didn’t really consider myself a slouch when it came to work, I felt interested and motivated for the most part and think I did a relatively decent job. What I’m trying to get at is that I’m employable and worth a decent salary, at least hope that I’m employable.

Oh Crap
About five months prior to quitting I went through what I would call an extremely nervous phase which I refer to as the “Oh Crap” phase. It lasted about a month. Cyclical thoughts of negativity ran through my mind which had me doubting my skills, experience, personality and therefore ability to one day get a new job. Not only was I taking a year off and living off savings, but I would eventually be looking for a new job in a new city in a new country where I knew few people. Needless to say I was scared. Some of the questions and thoughts that ran through my head were: 

Would I find a job doing similar work? I’ll need to support myself.
Will I forget everything I know?  I don’t want to take a huge pay cut.
Are employers going to think poorly of my for taking a year off?

Thankfully I had a very supportive fiancé at the time who helped me through this negative phase, whether she knew it or not. Overall I’d say this phase lasted about a month and caused me quite a few sleepless nights. Interesting enough I never had these type of feelings when it came to getting married, it was strictly about losing my job and therefore means of financial support. I would also be holding back if I didn’t say that I had some of these same thoughts while we were travelling. Unfortunately my fear sometimes got the best of me and I’d lose a night or two of sleep thinking about this crap.

Oh Yeah
Negativity gone. It was awesome to think that in just a few months I’d be married, debt free, jobless, homeless and travelling the world one country at a time with my new wife. No Blackberry, no daily grind, no commute, no conference calls, no notes……WAHOOOOO, I was stoked. Most days I came to work happy as a clam. In some cases I think I developed a short timer syndrome but I really tried to stay as functional and responsive as possible. I’m sure my coworkers would have some input into how functional and responsive I actually was. In either case, I tried my best to get my work done and leave on a high note. I didn’t much care whether or not I’d find another job, I just knew that I was leaving this one, getting married and travelling around the world.

Time to Go
Turning in my keycard and Blackberry then walking out of work on my last day was one of the best feelings I can remember. Not that I don’t miss the crew from work, they’re all awesome. I just felt great to be un-tethered. All that was left to do was work on plans for our Fijian Wedding and get ideas for our round-the-world trip.  It was at this point that we got our finances together and determined an adequate budget for our big trip ensuring we’d have enough left over to set up somewhere new. The thought of spending so much money was a bit daunting but I knew it would be worth it.

Going, Going, Gone
The wedding and honeymoon were amazing. Over the course of time the plans changed and we ended up staying on the road for approximately nine months versus our original planned year. During the nine months we visited 20 countries and travelled well over a hundred thousand kilometers. Our forms of transportation ranged from first class airfare to a donkey in the Middle East. It was such a great experience and one that will live in our hearts and mind forever. From a budget stand-point we ended our trip with  a couple thousand dollars to spare, another reason to be happy.

Next Steps
With the trip over it’s time to start life over in a place called the Gold Coast. We chose this location because of the nearby activities, cost of living, job prospects, weather and overall atmosphere. So far we love it and spend as much time as we can outdoors, whether by the pool, at the beach or in the nearby mountains.

Now it’s time for me to polish up my resume and start applying for jobs. Unfortunately those same questions and negative thoughts start to circulate in my head. This time with a bit of added pressure as we need to pay our new found bills. Thankfully some of the answers to my thoughts are starting to work themselves out.

Would I find a job doing similar work? Although not a huge job market, there does appear to be IT jobs available here in the Gold Coast with some pretty decent positions coming available every couple weeks.
Will I forget everything I know? I did forget some things but overall I say I retained more than I thought I would. What I did forget appear to be small details but my overall knowledge base seems to be intact.
 I don’t want to take a huge pay cut. Thankfully jobs here seem to pay more so I hope to be looking at a little rise in my salary. Granted cost of living is a bit higher so it will probably work out even-steven.
Are employers going to think poorly of my for taking a year off?  From talking to various recruiters it doesn’t appear my year off should hurt my employability too much. Thankfully the year off thing is more common here in Australia.

What I’ve Gained
Yes, I’ve forgot a few things in the year off work but overall I think I’ve gained far more than I’ve lost. I’d even go as far to say that I’m probably more employable now than I was before my year off. You may laugh at that statement but here are some of the reasons why my year abroad made me a more employable person:
Increased Self Confidence: This endeavor and associated experiences has given me a much greater sense of self confidence. Self confidence is helpful in any job and increased self confidence will aid in decision making, allow more autonomous thinking and I open up leadership potential, and or, make me someone a better leader.

Improved Interpersonal Skills:  Let’s face it, in this era of globalization the chance of you doing business with someone culturally different from you on a daily basis is pretty high. Travelling the world gave me the opportunity to live amongst and meet people from so many different cultures far different from my own. I’d like to think that doing so has taught me how to more effectively and appropriately communicate with people from these various cultures. I saw how locals were raised and lived in countries whom I routinely communicated with, thus giving me a bit more insight into a culture and therefore a person which I didn’t have before.

Additionally, language barriers are sometimes not a bad thing. I think that I, as an American, tend to be too wordy at times. Existing in a place where English is hardly spoken taught me to use less words when communicating, basically not muddying the waters with my jibber-jabber, when all I needed to do was say the most direct words to get my desired outcome.   

Improved Negotiation Skills: Many people negotiate at work, for someone in sales it might be on a regular basis and their negotiation tactics directly impact their take home pay. Others, like someone in Information Technology (IT), may negotiate on a rare basis and their tactics may not directly impact their take home pay. Thus the person in IT has far fewer opportunities to negotiate and less of a reason to improve their tactics.  Prior to leaving on our trip I’d done a bit of travelling and had honed my basic negotiation skills on short two week trips here and there. I wasn’t very good at it and generally gave in pretty quick.

Anyone who’s travelled a bit knows that negotiation skills are essential to ensuring you pay a fair price for most things. Negotiating for goods, transportation, laundry, lodging, food and just about everything under the sun is a routine occurrence while abroad. Doing this over a two-week holiday is one thing but doing it over an extended period of time is a whole different animal altogether. Thankfully I had Pamela with me to show me the ropes, at the beginning of the trip I was a rookie. Over time the constant negotiation for everything taught me how to more effectively get what I want at a price that was both fair to me and to the person providing the goods or service. This taught me not to show my hand, when to walk away, when to keep pushing and when negotiation was absolutely futile. This experience was gleaned across multiple cultures where negotiating could be slightly different in each region and when the goods or services I was negotiating for directly impacted our bottom line. In any case, I’m a far better negotiator now than I ever was at my old job.

Increased Positive Attitude:  Before I left I like to think I had a pretty good outlook on life and didn’t complain all too much. Since embarking on this trip I have a new perspective and even greater appreciation for life.  I truly understand that I shouldn’t really complain about anything in my life. Witnessing and living amongst intense poverty for extended periods of time has taught me to appreciate what I have and what we in the western world can sometimes take for granted. Nothing I’m ever asked to undergo in any workplace would be as bad not having food on the table or a toilet to use.

On a less serious note there are certain experiences which I’ll always be able to look back on for comparison. No meeting will ever be as bad as a 17 hour bus ride through the back roads of Cambodia listening to Cambodian karaoke. No overnight work project could ever be as bad as our 2^nd class train voyages through India and no conference calls could ever be as bad as our terrible overnight train experience from Luxor to Cairo. These are the type of experiences that I look back and laugh on now but ultimately give me a more positive outlook on any situation and provide some good stories in the process.

Aftermath
If asked whether I’d do it all over, the answer is unequivocally yes. This has been a great experience that no money nor corporate job could ever provide. Not to mention I’m now married to the most wonderful woman on the planet. Looking back, I should have done this when I was 18 years old and then again when I was 25 and then again when I was 30.

Only time will tell whether or not I succeed in finding a good permanent job but as long as I stay positive I think it will all work out. Thankfully Pamela is highly employable as a Travel Consultant and has already started her new job which has greatly reduced any financial pressure we were feeling. Our big trip has only added to her travel resume and given her much more insight into the world of travel sales.

Hopefully this long post will help someone else who may be thinking about a career break. I’d definitely recommend.

Cheers for Now –

Dave