)The benefits of taking a gap year are pretty obvious – the chance to meet lots of new friends, get an incredible suntan, and see some wild, wonderful and exotic locations. However, these aren’t the only advantages to taking that year out before you start work. And, with the job market for graduates still a fairly tough place to be, a well-planned gap year can help give you an advantage over others when it comes to looking for your dream job。
停學休整一年的好處是非常突出的——你可以結(jié)識更多新朋友，可以曬出亮麗的小麥膚色，也可以去看看野外天然美妙而具有異國風情的地方。然而，這些都不是工作前休整那一年的唯一好處，并且對于畢業(yè)生來說，人才市場還是一個挺殘忍的地方，而一個計劃周詳?shù)男菡陝t會在你尋找理想工作的時后相比其他人多一個優(yōu)勢。
You may not be able to transfer your ability to ride an elephant or dance all night into a job when you return (or maybe you will…)， but there are other aspects to taking a gap year that provide definite benefits for your CV. Here are a few:
也許當你回歸工作軌道的時候，并不足以把你的技能轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)轵T一只大象或徹夜的工作(或者也有這個可能....。.)，不過在其他方面上，休整一年確實為你豐富個人的簡歷帶來好處。下面列舉了其中一些：
1.Experience。
1. 經(jīng)驗。
A year at the University of Life can be a great addition to your actual university degree, adding the kinds of skills and experience to your CV that you wouldn’t have been able to acquire if you’d jumped straight from finishing your studies into a permanent job。
擁有額外一年體驗生活的經(jīng)歷會是大學學位以外的極大附加優(yōu)勢，你能夠在簡歷上增添各種不同的技能與經(jīng)驗，而這些技能和經(jīng)驗，是你在畢業(yè)后就馬上投入一份長期的工作無法獲得的。
You might gain PADI qualifications, teach English as a foreign language, learn how to build homes in hostile environments, or get involved in wildlife conservation – all these skills look great on any CV and can demonstrate commitment and aptitude to a potential employer。
也許你獲得了專業(yè)潛水教練的資格，教授英語，掌握如何在惡劣的環(huán)境建造房子的技能，或者加入到野生動物保護的隊伍當中——所有的這些技能都能讓你的簡歷看起來非常吸引，還能夠給潛在的雇主一種信任與能力的保證。
If you want to spend a gap year setting yourself up for a specific career, then choose activities that a relevant to that job. There are overseas opportunities for everything from PR and marketing through to medicine – you don’t have to spend the entire time on the beach。
如果你想花一年的休整時間為某一具體職業(yè)做好準備，那么就要參與相關(guān)的職業(yè)活動。有許多從公共部以及市場部獲取的海外機會——所以你不必把所有的時間都花在海灘上。
2.You can network as you go。
2. 旅途中建立聯(lián)系。
When you’re travelling, you tend to meet people. It’s an incredibly sociable way to see the world. Without the pressures of a corporate environment or the expectations that you might feel back home, you can create lots of opportunities for establishing new contacts by really opening up and being yourself。
在你的旅途中，你得與人們打交道。這是一個非常友好的見識世界的方式。沒有外在的工作環(huán)境或期待的壓力，你會感覺到賓至如歸，還能通過敞開自己的心扉建立更多新的聯(lián)系。
Plus, you never know who you might meet when you’re travelling or working abroad – you might come across people who can open up new opportunities, suggest alternative routes into the career you want, or even open the door to an elusive interview with your dream employer。
再者，你永遠不知道在你的旅途或出國出差時會遇到什么樣的人——也許你會給你提供新機會的人，或者給你理想職業(yè)的道路選擇提供建議的人，甚至是為你打開一扇通往神秘面試的門的夢想雇主。
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3.Refresh and refocus。
3. 恢復活力與調(diào)整目標。
It’s often quite difficult to gain any kind of perspective on your career path when you are buried in exams at university, constantly reminded of the pressures and challenges of taking that next step towards working life. A gap year is the ideal opportunity to obtain genuine perspective, both in terms of what you’ve achieved so far and where you want to go next。
對于你來說，當你沉浸在考試的海洋里的時候，當你不斷面對各種為職業(yè)生涯規(guī)劃的壓力和挑戰(zhàn)的時候，想要看到任何職業(yè)道路上的遠景是相當困難的。而休整年則是一個讓你獲取真實遠景資訊的理想機會，無論從你已經(jīng)獲取了信息還是你即將前往的下一步的基礎(chǔ)上。
Taking yourself out of a familiar environment will shake up your way of thinking and the new perspectives you will come across when you’re travelling might give you some fresh new ideas. If you’re burned out from the stress of the student lifestyle, then you’re unlikely to be in a position to make good decisions – after a year out with plenty of new challenges, new sights and opportunities for relaxation thrown in, you will most likely find yourself refreshed and ready to take on the world。
把自己帶離熟悉的環(huán)境，可以給你重新思考的角度。以及在旅途的過程中，你很有可能會因為不同的思考角度而讓你產(chǎn)生不少新的想法。如果你已經(jīng)受夠了學生生活的壓力，那么你就很難以良好的狀態(tài)做出正確的選擇——但通過一年的休整，許多新的挑戰(zhàn)，新的景象和放松的機會都撲面而來，這樣你會發(fā)現(xiàn)你的狀態(tài)已經(jīng)恢復了也準備好面對這個世界了。
4.Challenge yourself。
4. 挑戰(zhàn)你自己。
It might seem intimidating to set up a gap year that is full of new challenges, such as being away from friends and family for all that time, trying new physically demanding activities, or dealing with language barriers and alternative cultures. However, these tend to be the things that make us grow as people and you will find that you gain enormously in confidence from the kinds of experiences that you’re presented with every day when travelling – in a way that you just wouldn’t if you didn’t take that step。
也許你會覺得停止休整充滿新挑戰(zhàn)的一年是一件挺嚇人的事，也許在這一年里你常常不在朋友和家人身邊，嘗試新的體力活動，或者處理各種語言隔閡或不同的文化障礙。無論如何，這些事情都能讓我們成熟，并且你會發(fā)現(xiàn)在旅途的過程中你會從這些經(jīng)驗中獲得了極大的自信——以一種你不參與就做不到的方式。
Plus, the great thing about a gap year is that the opportunities for stepping outside your comfort zone are plentiful and tend to arise almost every day. Whether you find yourself agreeing to something you’d never do back home – such as jumping out of a plane – or you just gain the ability to strike up a conversation with just about anyone in a social setting, all of these will play a big part in creating confidence that you can use to bag yourself your dream career。
再者，休整的一年的好處在于，你有相當多的機會走出自己的舒適區(qū)，而且這些機會幾乎每天都會增長。無論你是否發(fā)現(xiàn)自己適合做某些你在家里從未做過的事情——比如從飛機上跳下來——或者你獲得了一項在社會場合中與他人交談的技能，所有的這些都會為你建立起強大的自信心，以此為你的理想事業(yè)做好準備。
