Gap year seen as giving an edge

There is nothing wrong with taking a gap year. Photo / Thinkstock.

Gap years make university graduates more interesting and appealing to employers, says a Tauranga company.

After graduating from high school, some students wait a year to get into tertiary education and spend the time travelling overseas or working.

The worry for some is that if they get out of the habit of study, the jump back to the student lifestyle is much harder.

The Tauranga branch of KPMG runs programmes for graduating accountants. Senior human resources consultant Kerry Gillon said gap years made graduates more interesting.

"We see it as a good thing for a couple of reasons. If they travel overseas it's almost like they've got it out of their system and realise Tauranga is an awesome place in the world.

"It makes them different than stock standard graduates, it's something extra on the CV and makes them a bit more rounded."

Tauranga career professional Ewan McLeod of McLeod Careers, of the Smithells Professional group, said he would usually recommend going straight into tertiary education, but if someone had the travel bug, he recommended an exchange programme.

"I believe a gap year can be a disincentive to leave work. They might look back in 10 years and say 'if only I had gone straight into study'."

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic student liaison Scott Henderson said there was a lot of pressure on school leavers to make a decision about their career and go straight into study.

"A lot of students feel they aren't ready to make a decision they feel they will be stuck with for the rest of their life. There's no point in getting stuck into something if you're not 100 per cent committed.

"Sometimes I believe it's probably best for them to take a gap year and figure out what they actually want - so long as they don't waste the year."

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce operations, training and events manager Anne Pankhurst said feedback from their clients showed that taking a gap year was not important and it was about the fit of the person within the team.

The Bay of Plenty Times spoke to five Year 13 students from Mount Maunganui College about their plans for the future.

Charlotte Tomlinson and Lydia Verschaffelt said they had considered gap years, but decided to go straight to university.

Kathryn van der Zanden said she would be studying towards a bio medical degree, a decision she made when she was in Year 10.

Kahleia Josephson will be taking a gap year as she was undecided between something sports-related or law and commerce. She will be working and training for sports in her year off.

Jackson Preston said he was not sure what he wanted to do for a career and would make that decision after his first year of study.