Career break
A career break is a period of time out from employment. It is commonly used for people to take time out of their career for personal or professional development.
History
A career break is usually between one month and two years long. Six months to two years is the most common period of time for a career break.[1] It is also possible to take a mini career break of less than one month, which enables people to try out career break activities without committing to longer periods of time. Shorter career breaks are most popular with people over 45 years of age.[1]
It can take the form of a sabbatical, which can be paid or unpaid; unpaid sabbaticals are much more common.[1] Sabbaticals were originally only offered to academics and clerics but are now being increasingly offered by companies.[2]
A career break is not simply a period of unemployment. Career breakers usually do one or more of the following:
- Rest from burnout
- Travel
- Voluntary work
- Paid work abroad
- Studying or training
- Career development and business start up
- Offering palliative care
- Raising children
- Staying up-to-date with (profession related) news
- Recovering from accidents or illnesses
Usage
The career break has grown in popularity over the last several years, with 75% of the British workforce currently considering a career break.[3] Every year, around 90,000 professionals are estimated to take a career break.[4] It is most common in the UK, where it grew out of the gap year concept. The career break is sometimes referred to as an 'adult gap year', which reflects the commitment towards developing skills and gaining experience while out of the workforce.
In the USA a career break is generally referred to as a 'sabbatical'.
See also
- Gap year
- Sabbatical year
- Leave of absence
- On-ramping
- Work–life balance
References
- v
- t
- e
- Academic tenure
- Casual
- Contingent work
- Full-time job
- Gig worker
- Job sharing
- Part-time job
- Self-employment
- Side job
- Skilled worker
- Independent contractor
- Labour hire
- Temporary work
- Laborer
- Wage labour
- Application
- Background check
- Business networking
- Cover letter
- Curriculum vitae
- Drug testing
- Employment contract
- Employment counsellor
- Executive search
- Induction programme
- Job fair
- Job fraud
- Job hunting
- Job interview
- Letter of recommendation
- Onboarding
- Overqualification
- Person–environment fit
- Personality–job fit theory
- Probation
- Recruitment
- Résumé
- Simultaneous recruiting of new graduates
- Underemployment
- Work-at-home scheme
- Apprenticeship
- Artisan
- Avocation
- Career assessment
- Career counseling
- Career development
- Coaching
- Creative class
- Education
- Continuing education
- E-learning
- Employability
- Further education
- Graduate school
- Induction training
- Knowledge worker
- Licensure
- Lifelong learning
- Overspecialization
- Practice-based professional learning
- Professional association
- Professional certification
- Professional development
- Professional school
- Reflective practice
- Retraining
- Vocational education
- Vocational school
- Vocational university
- Mentorship
- Occupational Outlook Handbook
- Practice firm
- Profession
- Operator
- Professional
- Tradesman
- Vocation
- Break
- Career break
- Furlough
- Gap year
- Leave of absence
- Long service leave
- No call, no show
- Sabbatical
- Sick leave
- Time clock
- Crunch
- Epilepsy and employment
- Human factors and ergonomics
- Karoshi
- List of countries by rate of fatal workplace accidents
- Occupational burnout
- Occupational disease
- Occupational exposure limit
- Occupational health psychology
- Occupational injury
- Occupational noise
- Occupational stress
- Personal protective equipment
- Repetitive strain injury
- Right to sit
- Sick building syndrome
- Work accident
- Workers' compensation
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- Workplace phobia
- Workplace wellness
- At-will employment
- Dismissal
- Employee offboarding
- Exit interview
- Layoff
- Notice period
- Pink slip
- Resignation
- Restructuring
- Retirement
- Severance package
- Turnover
- Barriers to entry
- Discouraged worker
- Economic depression
- Frictional unemployment
- Full employment
- Graduate unemployment
- Involuntary unemployment
- Jobless recovery
- Phillips curve
- Recession
- Reserve army of labour
- Structural unemployment
- Technological unemployment
- Types of unemployment
- Unemployment benefits
- Unemployment Convention, 1919
- Unemployment extension
- List of countries by unemployment rate
- Wage curve
- Youth unemployment
- Bullshit job
- Busy work
- Credentialism and educational inflation
- Emotional labor
- Evil corporation
- Going postal
- Kiss up kick down
- Labor rights
- Make-work job
- Narcissism in the workplace
- Post-work society
- Presenteeism
- Psychopathy in the workplace
- Slow movement (culture)
- Toxic leader
- Toxic workplace
- Workhouse
- See also templates
- Aspects of corporations
- Aspects of jobs
- Aspects of occupations
- Aspects of organizations
- Aspects of workplaces
- Corporate titles
- Organized labor