icould - Careers Advice, Choices & Ideas

Plummeting to the ground with the air rushing past and nothing but a few strands of elastic to save my life, the thrill was massive – who wouldn’t want to do this? I was bungy jumping in New Zealand.

I thought the same way about a gap year in Year 12 when people were talking about going to university and what they were doing after school. I was surprised when I found that I was in the minority at school in taking a gap year. Travelling the world and seeing different cultures through my own eyes sounded amazing, but clearly not to everyone. I stuck by my guns and decided that it was what I wanted to do. Some of my friends said they were going to take a gap year after university, but I knew that if I left it until then I might back out, or have a job offer I couldn’t refuse. I wanted to do this now.

Wanting to travel during my gap year presented me with two problems: I still wanted to get into Cambridge to do Engineering, and I needed money. I decided the best way to accomplish both of these was to find work at an engineering company for the first six months of my gap year. I started asking around friends, friends of friends, and anyone that might know a company that would take me on. I wanted to travel, so the year in industry was going to take up too much time. I secured an interview at an electronic engineering company and they offered me a job. I made sure I did all this before my interview at Cambridge so that they could see I had plans and was putting them into action. I didn’t want to be seen as someone who was putting off going to university or unsure about what I wanted to do.

I started work in October at the same time as all my friends were going to university. I was given lots of little projects and tasks to do. I had to learn to be adaptable in different jobs and get on with the work I was given, but know when to ask questions. The experience of working gave me a lot more confidence in a work environment. I became accustomed to meeting lots of people, preparing documents for other people to read, and using Microsoft Office (learn how to use this well and people will be asking you for help!).

Then the big day came when I left work, and headed out into the big wide world. I had earned enough money to pay my way to Hong Kong, and beyond. Nobody likes being bored with lists of where people have been and what they’ve done, so instead, my advice would be simple:

• Do what you want to do – don’t be afraid to travel solo, in the right countries.
• Be careful with your money and keep an accurate record of spending.
• Be independent, get out there and do it your way, not with a company that wants to make a profit from you.
• Don’t be in a rush to go everywhere, leave time to explore.
• Keep a daily journal.

I met some amazingly interesting people travelling. I learnt to say hi to everyone and get talking to people. Everyone has a story to tell. I found my confidence grew and grew. Being self reliant wasn’t easy at first, but it comes with an amazing sense of pride and liberty. Things happened because I made them. If I wanted something I had to go out and get it.

I had heard people say that travelling would be a good way to make decisions about career choices - this never happened to me. I knew I wanted to study engineering, and would think about my career from there. However, travelling did make me realise that there was still a lot I wanted to do in the world and I wasn’t going to do it all sitting in an office.

When I started university at Cambridge my bank account was empty. I had earned as much money during the year as I had spent travelling, which I had always planned to do. I knew I could get an interest free overdraft and that I was going to need to use it. I shopped around and got the largest one I could, and made sure I didn’t waste the money.

Now I have finished my first year and am working at icould.com to pay off that overdraft. I had planned to work for the entire summer and save some extra money so I wouldn’t need my overdraft in my second year. However, the economic crisis hit and finding a job became substantially more difficult, so I will probably need that overdraft again. My advice to anyone looking for a job is to try everything at once, never wait to phone someone because you think someone else is about to give you a job. Do absolutely anything you can think of from day one to try and find a job, you probably won’t work anywhere near as hard when you find one!

Toby Dickens Currently studying Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Working over the summer as an Administrator at icould