Now is the time for travelling. But what are the risks to graduates who set off for their season in the sun without a clear idea of what they could be doing when they return?
"I made the classic mistake," says Luke Dent. "I knew I was going to do a few ski seasons in Grenoble after I graduated, mixed in with summer camp work in France and America, so I didn't pay too much attention to the opportunities in my final year. This made it much more difficult to find a good job when I came back."
However much you think you're going to enjoy the worlds of back-packing and seasonal employment abroad - and even if you think you're going to be doing it for the foreseeable future - it's likely that one day you are going to want a job that reflects your education.
The first problem is timing. If you are looking for a graduate traineeship, selection is timed to the academic year: applications in by January, interviews and tests in February and March, offers in May-June, start in September. If you arrive back at the wrong time, it could be 18 months before you start work.
All of which presumes that you can get a traineeship. As you haven't secured a job before going, employers are going to question your commitment to themselves, the industry, and to a more settled lifestyle - the latter being one of the most important problems, as many employers will worry that you have itchy feet.
"When employers ask you if you have got the wanderlust out of your system, it is vital that you have a convincing answer to this question," says Dent. "And if they don't ask, you should volunteer it. In order to carry conviction you have to be convinced yourself. I learned this the hard way. After I came back I went for a number of interviews in media sales and though they liked me, they reported back that their concern was that I would be off again as soon as the ski season started."
By the time it came to an interview for the logistics arm of Boots, he had his answer down pat. "I told them quite truthfully that I had run out of challenges. I could do the ski job in my sleep, I was bored of living in hotels and found the fact that I was only forming friendships that lasted a few months dispiriting. I was ready for home, and for new opportunities."
Unlike smaller companies that may just make appointments on gut instincts (once a traveller always a traveller), big graduate recruiters like Boots are wary of writing anyone off, and were pleased to offer Dent the job.
"We look at people like Luke because everyone demonstrates their vitality and energy in different ways," says Alan Kerr, recruitment marketing manager with Boots. "For some it is academic work, for others it is extra-curricular activities, while for others it may be the challenge of an alien environment. As to worrying whether people will wander off, our attitude is that the best people do need challenges, so it is up to us as an organisation to convince them that their next year with us will be just as invigorating."
But big name recruiters of course require far more than to be convinced that you are not about to disappear again. What they are looking for is transferable skills.
"We are looking for specific answers to specific competency questions," says Jane Brundle, graduate recruitment manager with KPMG. "In a way it does not really matter what you have done, whether travelling, a voluntary project, or seasonal employment. It is what you have learned that matters. I would, however be very doubtful of someone who didn't have any work experience these days."
It is, of course, far easier to demonstrate transferable skills if you have already thought about this aspect and built it into your itinerary.
Sophie Matthews spent six months in Chile, three of which were on a Raleigh Expedition where she helped build a community centre and a bridge. "I would highly recommend this type of activity," she says. "It was superb for a number of reasons. But in terms of employment benefits, there is no doubt that building a bridge across a river is an organisational and logistical challenge which naturally gives you the sort of team-building and leadership skills that employers are looking for. I will definitely keep it on my CV."
Matthews, however, already had a job with Andersen Consulting on hold when she left for Chile, and her case highlights the great Catch 22 of travelling. It is much easier to focus on what you can get out of an experience if you know what you will be doing at the end of it. But for many, much of the attraction of foreign travel is the fact that its open-ended nature allows them to focus on what it is they want while being well away from family and friends.
Luke Dent occasionally attends recruitment fairs on behalf of his company and finds that he is often fielding questions from students who want to plan their get-up-and-going so they don't return to find career prospects have gone AWOL as well.
"I tell them it really is best to use the careers service resources available to them in university," he says, "and to think about what sort of job they want now rather than later. However, if they do head off without a job, it is important to think about the experience they do have in terms of key competencies."
