Do I have to work full time?

I’m on a gap year at the moment and it wasn’t planned. I am reapplying to UCAS again while also searching for things to do in the year. Is it ok to work part time (like 2-3 days per week), or am I expected to work full time?

Reply 1

user2313

Expected by who? You can work as little as you want

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 2

Dee-Emma

Gap year isn't a thing with rules, it's just living life. It only turns into a gap year if you go back into education at the end of it. Get by with whatever money you've got, or can earn. Work or don't work, travel or don't travel, study or don't study, party or don't party.

Reply 3

Anonymous #1

Original post by user2313

Expected by who? You have work as little as you want

I’m thinking about questions from future employers or even my university.

Reply 4

Dee-Emma

Original post by Anonymous

I’m thinking about questions from future employers or even my university.

Well that's just how you spin it in hindsight - it might be useful to be able to describe the time in productive terms... So travel, study, work, volunteering etc would look good on a cv or personal statement, but tbh anything other than 'meh, was a bit bored, didn't do much' can be made to look good.

Reply 5

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

What are you planning to study at University and does your course have the option where you can do a sandwich placement year after 2nd year then if you apply you'll be working full time then

Before you start your University journey then straight to working in the "real world" I would treat this "Gap Year" as an opportunity like others above have said to earn money (whether you work part time or full time no employer is going to judge a job you did 3/4 years previously as they all know what a Gap Year is usually for), travel, have fun, volunteer, get to know yourself and your interests, think about your mental health and enjoy whole your free from education.

UCAS any experience is better than nothing whether it's part time or full time they are not going to judge you.

Future employers- No why should they.

Reply 6

Anonymous #1

Is tutoring a suitable job for a gap year or does it have to be something more rigid?

Reply 7

SummerStrawberry

Employers and universities won't expect you to have had a full-time job during a gap year. If you want to get a job to support yourself and/or give you some structure during the year, something like tutoring would be great, and gives you the time and flexibility for other things you might want to do during the year (e.g. volunteering, travelling, learning new skills, etc.).

Reply 8

Anonymous #1

Original post by SummerStrawberry

Really? I knew it wouldn’t really be a problem with unis but looking online I heard employers really look down on CV gaps.

Reply 9

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by Anonymous

Really? I knew it wouldn’t really be a problem with unis but looking online I heard employers really look down on CV gaps.

When you are 30 perhaps, but not when you are obviously on a gap year or in full time education.

Reply 10

SummerStrawberry

It depends on what you mean by a CV gap. If you have a couple of years in your CV in which you've done absolutely nothing, that's likely to be a red flag - people don't just spend that much time doing absolutely nothing, and in my mind I'd be thinking "what is this person trying to hide?". If you have a year or two in which you've worked a couple of jobs, done an online course or two, volunteered somewhere for a bit or travelled somewhere, I doubt that most employers would consider that to be a problem.

Career breaks aren't that non-standard - lots of people have them for all sorts of reasons, and most employers worth working for won't mind, or will even consider them to be a good thing: just make sure you do something productive with the time, and are able to talk about it!

Reply 11

Anonymous #1

Original post by threeportdrift

When you are 30 perhaps, but not when you are obviously on a gap year or in full time education.

Oh OK I see. So not too much to worry about? I’m currently looking for jobs but I’m not having much luck. I do want to get one ASAP, but I was just worrying that the longer it takes the bigger the gap on my CV. I thought a gap year was meant to be fun and I’m just stressing :redface:

Reply 12

lucyyy12

do what you like, it’s your gap year
you can work as little as you like, or volunteer or travel or whatever

Reply 13

Anonymous #1

Original post by lucyyy12

do what you like, it’s your gap year
you can work as little as you like, or volunteer or travel or whatever

Yeah I’m trying to find a part time job and I’m having no luck. It’s getting to the stage where I’m getting quite down about it and all I seem to be doing is checking my emails and websites like Indeed.

Does any one have any other ideas of what I can do? I hope that I do find a job but what can I be doing now to improve my skills. I was thinking of taking an online course because I do miss learning, but I feel this would be viewed as wasteful?

Reply 14

lucyyy12

Original post by Anonymous

have you worked before? maybe you need more experience, maybe volunteer? you sort of need to do something or you're going to be a bit bored. I wouldn't say that an online course would be wasteful, and it's better than doing nothing