Don’t Delay; Put Off College Today

Have you considered taking a gap year? 

Students, if you have parents who are downright giddy about the idea of you going off to college or university, you might want to save this article until they are out of the room because chances are they won’t be overly thrilled with me for putting the idea of delaying the start of your post-secondary schooling in your head. 

And I understand that completely.  They want what is best for you, they want to help you succeed and get ahead in life and to them that equates launching yourself into more schooling so that you don’t lose momentum or fall behind your peers.

Choosing a college or university program is one of the most important decisions you will make in your young life.  It is a decision that will not only cost you a significant amount of money to pursue, but it has the ability to dictate what you will be doing for the next 45 years of your life.  Forgive me if I am wrong, but a poor choice here is the reason why many adults are so dissatisfied with their work lives.

There use to be a stigma involved with people that did not go directly into post-secondary education after graduating from high school.  They were drifters, lazy; under achievers who would rather spend a year undergoing what was sarcastically referred to as “self-discovery” than buckle down and become a contributing member of society.

This stigma doesn’t do anybody any service.

Gap years are not for the lazy.  They are a tool, that when used right, can contribute greatly down the line to total career satisfaction.  I’ve known many people, friends and family alike, that have taken that year of “self discovery” to work, volunteer, build their resumes and academics, and confirm what path they want their future to take.

Why do so many people think that is a bad idea?

Firstly, if you are not 110% sure of what you want to do with your future, why on earth would you want to plow ahead and spend upwards of $60,000.00 or more in tuition, books, and other fees pursuing a vocational goal that you might not like in four or five years?  Financially, it makes sense to take a year or even just a semester off to confirm that decision in your mind before you spend that money.  It is going to cost you a lot less in the long run to take that year off now rather than having to take another four years off down the road to go back to school after you discover that you really can’t stand your current career.  Take the time now to learn more about a few different career options.  This can be done through making some industry contacts, talking with them and maybe even completing an internship or some volunteer hours to get some hands on experience.

Even if you are entirely confident of your future career, taking that year off can still be incredibly beneficial and by taking the year off I don’t mean spending the next 12 months lying on your parents’ couch watching old sitcom re-runs.  If you are going to take a gap year, be smart about it.  If you are positive about your career choice, use your year to build up your resume, get some job experience and network with other industry professionals.  This experience will push you to the top of your class when you do go to school the following year (which your parents will love) and set the stage in your future when it comes to finding a summer internship or entry level job when you do graduate. 

Going the post-secondary route is never something I would discourage anyone from doing.  Be it college, university, an apprenticeship program or whatever, the time and money you spend on your education is never a waste.  But neither is the time or money you spend testing the waters of your future career.  Use your gap year to gain some experience, build your confidence, and set yourself up for a successful and happy career.  So don’t delay, do some research and talk to your guidance counsellor today about your gap year options.

Unpaid Internships: Why Should I Bother?

It is a universal truth that internships are a great stepping stone for young graduates seeking to get a foothold into the working world.  Internship positions provide basic, entry level positions with plenty of supervision, a variety of tasks, and consistent training to help shape your classroom education into something useful.  Internships provide work experience and no resume is complete without work experience no matter what private school you went to.  However, the sad fact of the matter is that many internship positions today don’t pay.  Of course, that depends greatly upon what industry you are going into and the type of company you are working for but the truth remains that you are participating in an internship because you need work experience and are often at the mercy of the employer.  Choosing to participate in an internship therefore often conflicts with the need to meet certain financial obligations that many young students are faced with such as bills and school loan payments.  For some, not earning money in exchange for work is not an option they can live with and that is completely understandable.  However, if this is your case, I urge you not to write off the unpaid internship just yet.

Why should you bother with an unpaid internship position?

You need the work experience.  Currently, you have no experience that relates to your industry no matter how carefully you word your stint flipping burgers at the local fast food joint.  Even entry level positions these days require previous work experience and so not stepping up to the plate means your resume is going to be left in a scrap paper bin.  You might not be able to afford to go three months without an income.  But if no one will hire you based on lack of work experience, can you really afford long term not to?

Unpaid internship positions mean less competition for the spot.  Paid positions are few and far between and when they do come along, you can bet that they will be swamped with applications numbering in the hundreds.  Even with a stellar education, it can be hard to stand out.  You might not get called, you might not get selected and then you will be stuck waiting around for the next paid internship to become available.  Unpaid positions, while still competitive to get, are great in number and more diverse meaning instead of competing against hundreds for the primo spot, you might only have to stand-out among a handful.

Employers are often more flexible.  If you land a paid internship position, be prepared to treat it as a 40 plus hour per week job that includes the occasional evening and weekend.  After all, they are paying you and therefore expect you to be available.  With an unpaid internship, employers understand that you need to have some sort of an income to pay your bills.  They will often allow you to customize your schedule to accommodate a part-time job.  Maybe you only come in three days a week, or maybe you just work mornings.  This flexibility will allow you to gain the workplace experience and networking opportunities you need and hold down a second job that will pay the bills. 
 

You are getting paid.  You may not be receiving any financial compensation in the traditional sense of a paycheck, but you are getting paid.  You are being paid for your work with experience, the chance to network, the opportunity to learn from industry professionals, the long term financial gain of landing a high paying entry level position, etc.  As long as you are willing to embrace the definition of “payment” that extends beyond money, it is easy to see how even with an unpaid internship, there are significant gains and a return on your invested time.

There are many great internship positions available out there.  Don’t be turned off of the idea just because you see it as a financial black hole.  If you are interested in participating in an internship, consider contacting International Career Studies to see if they have an internship that suits your interests.

For more internship related reading check out Internships Equal Jobs; Simple Math Anyone Can Do and Internship Attitudes You Need to Ditch.

Internships Equal Jobs; Simple Math Anyone Can Do

It is that wonderful time of the year again for college and university students.  Exams are done.  It is time to celebrate, let loose, burn those text books and find a menial summer job in order to pay for gas, beer and a cute summer wardrobe. 

Here is my question to those students though: are you kidding me?

You are paying thousands of dollars for your education (or maybe your parents are) in order to start a career that you are excited about (or at least your parents find acceptable).  You have a good knowledge base, you are young and a quick learner yet you are still going to spend your summer working behind the bar of some downtown restaurant?

You might not have graduated yet but chances are you have learned something at this point.  Every student from first year to post grad have something to offer in terms of a fresh outlook and critical thinking.  And guess what, the industry has something to offer you too and that is an internship.

Many baulk at the idea of doing an internship before they graduate because they are under the impression that the only reason to do an internship is to get a job and since they plan on returning to school in the fall, there is no point because a job is unwanted.

These students are failing to look at the bigger picture.

Here is a list of some of the things internships offer that often get overlooked:

1. Job Experience

Okay, so this one is pretty obvious but it deserves to be at the top of the list because it is the most important reason to participate in an internship whether it is paid or unpaid.  Have you noticed that even entry level positions these days ask for 1-2 years of previous experience?  No one is going to hand you a job on a silver platter.  You have to earn it with valuable work experience and the more you have the better.  This means that if you want to be a journalist for example, you will intern as a Jr. Copy Editor at a local newspaper this summer, a Media Planner for a magazine next summer, and travel abroad as an assistant to a foreign correspondent for a news station the summer after that.  Actual job experience is valuable beyond measure for landing your dream job.

2. Networking Opportunities

Maybe the place you land your first internship is not the place you want to spend the next two to three years of your life.  That’s okay.  Aside from the job experience that you are getting, you are also going to have the chance to meet and connect with other people from your industry.  Now that might not sound exciting because they obviously work in a place where you don’t want to work.  But guess what, they have other friends in the industry who might have jobs in a place where you do want to work.  If you make a good enough impression on your more senior level co-workers, they are going to be more than willing to make an introduction for you that could lead to the job you do want.

3. Career Test Drive

Are you absolutely 100% positive beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is the career you want to spend the next 47 years of your life doing?  If you are, congratulations.  You are one of the few students who are and won’t end up switching majors or career paths at least three times before getting out of school and into the work world like a large number of your peers.  While university and college may give you an idea of what the industry is like and what to expect from your future job, there is still a level of disconnect between the classroom experience and the real world.  An internship is a practical tool to use when investigating your career path.  If you think you want to pursue law, consider an internship at a law office.  If you are interested in pursuing a career in advertising, I can tell you from personal experience that an internship is invaluable because if you do decide that advertising is for you, you will still need to decide whether you want to go into media buying, accounts, sales, creative, marketing, public relations and the list goes on.  Consider your internship a chance to test drive your career options because the good news is that if you don’t like it, you can find out before you graduate and switch.

4. Demonstrates Initiative

When potential employers look at your resume and see an internship, it tells them two things. One, you have some work experience which makes you more valuable as a potential employee.  Two, they see a person that has taken the initiative to actively participate in an industry that they are quite possibly passionate about.  They see someone who is interested enough in their field to go out and work, potentially for free, before society expects them to contribute in a small yet meaningful way.  Employers like to see this.  They obviously enjoy what they do and probably enjoy talking about it as well so you’re at an advantage if you have a few of your own anecdotes to share.

5. Internships Actually Create Jobs

No, really, they do.  Some might think that internships actually make it harder for some people to find work because there are students out there willing to work for free.  After all, why would a business pay someone to do a job when they can just slap the label of “intern” on it and get someone to do the same task but in an unpaid capacity?   The fact is that by hiring interns, employers are assisting in the training and development of the future workforce.  As the current generation of workers age and retire, the economy is going to need to replace them with qualified new people that have the training and work experience to be successful and stimulate the business, driving growth across all sectors.  This is perhaps the most compelling argument for why employers should offer internships and the most important reason why young students should take those opportunities to learn.

To sum it all up, internships lead to jobs.  Period.  Whether your internship employer hires you, gives you a great reference that lands you a job with another firm or provides you with the connections to be successful with your job hunt, very few interns leave their internship positions feeling as if they have wasted their time.  The main point is that the conversion rate of interns landing full-time paid jobs is increasing.  In this article, The National Association of Colleges and Employers claims that the conversion rate of interns to jobs actually rose 8.5%. That is hard proof to ignore.  So if you are one of those lucky students who have the summer off unlike most of the working world, don’t squander it.  Make the most of the next four months and invest your time in something valuable.  Perhaps a teaching internship in Thailand?

Career Development 101

Whether you have just graduated, are stuck in a dead-end job, are switching careers or just want to move up the corporate ladder a little, career development is something a lot of people struggle with.  They are either under the illusion that it is something that “just kinda happens” or they don’t think it is possible for them.  Or maybe it just isn’t possible right now but whatever their mindset, they neglect to make a plan and look for opportunities to get them the career they have always imagined. 

Career development is not a passive thing.  It is active and ongoing and something that you are going to have to invest some time and energy into.  And it can be complicated but only if you make it complicated and are unprepared to handle the process.  But it is doable; the millions of successful people in the world are a testament to that, so don’t give me any excuses.  I’ve broken it down into five easy stages and though this isn’t an exact science, it should get you off on the right foot.

Know Where You Are

I am pretty sure I have said this before but trying to get somewhere in life without knowing where you are starting from is pointless.  Even Google maps realize this and won’t give you directions unless you provide the search engine with a Point A and a Point B.  My mother doesn’t understand this concept as she constantly calls me from the road, asking for directions, but since she has no idea where she is, I can’t help which is why we got her a GPS last Christmas.

The same is true for you with respect to career development.  If you don’t know where you are or what you have to start with, getting to where you want to be is a shot in the dark.  Make an inventory of your career related skills.  Did you go to school?  What courses did you take?  Do you have any previous related career experience?  Do you have any industry contacts that could point you in the right direction?  Why do you what to go into a particular career?  What motivates you?  These are all important things to consider when plotting your career development if for no other reason that your potential employer will care and you need to have the answers.

Also, when writing down your experience, make sure it is career specific at this stage.  If you have to stretch your imagination to find a link then chances are it isn’t a strong enough asset.  Building up your “relevant work experience” may lend you confidence, but you are only fooling yourself.  For example, when I was applying for a high school summer job at a coffee shop (Tim Hortons, if you must know), I put the fact that I had my lifeguarding on my résumé.  Unless people were going to be falling in and drowning into the ice cappuccino machine, this experience was irrelevant to my ability to serve a cup of coffee in 16.2 seconds to surely morning caffeine addicts.

Know Where You Want to Be

This makes sense if you use the direction analogy again because just like I can’t give my mother directions without knowing where she is, I also can’t help her get anywhere if she doesn’t know where she wants to go and neither can her GPS.

Where do you see yourself in one year? Five years? Ten years even… If you had the time, money and connections to find your dream job, what would it be?

Feel free to dream big here, however, also remember to keep some realistic expectations in mind.  Not everyone gets to be the Queen of England, Leader of the UN or the first person to land on Pluto.  But don’t let that intimidate you. Even if your dream job is outside of your current career trajectory, there is no reason why it still cannot work out.  You have options and there are very few limits that cannot be overcome (except for my mother’s inability to read a map).

Know What You Need to Get There

Time for a reality check.  You now know where you are and can compare it to where you want to be, the gap between the two places can now be measured.  This is not the time to be underestimating the difference because you will only be short-changing yourself.

Consider a variety of different ways to get where you want to go (sleeping your way there is not an option).  Do you need to go back to school?  Do you need to get some more work experience? Would an internship be useful?  Many people use internships to get their foot in the door somewhere they really want to work.  Are you willing to take a potential pay cut?  Is it going to mean travelling more?  Do you have the right contacts and if not, who do you need to connect with to make things happen?  What time frame are you looking at?

Knowing what you will need to bridge the gap between the “here” and the “there” is a critical stage because this will become your road map or in my mother’s case, the GPS.  And as long as you avoid driving into the lake metaphorically speaking, there is no reason why you won’t be able to develop your career as you desire.

Write It Down

After you are done all this planning and strategizing, write it down.  Writing it down will make your plan concrete and give you a visual representation of the steps and milestones you need to reach in order to get your dream career. 

A useful tool would be a work-back schedule.  If you are not sure what that is, feel free to click the link and read up on it some more but basically it is a schedule that starts with what you want to accomplish at the top and works backward detailing every single step needed to get there along with specific actions, tools needed and deadlines.  If you do it right, the schedule will look quite daunting.  However, by breaking everything you need to accomplish into tiny, manageable chunks and outlining what needs to be done to accomplish that small goal, you will be surprised how quickly things get checked off the list.

Having an actual list will serve the purpose of keeping you goal-orientated and on track as you can always refer back to it if you stumble, take a detour, or just need a reminder of what you are striving for.

Do It

And last but not least, you have to do it.  Many of us spend all our time planning and not actually doing.  It is great to have goals and an action plan but if you never get around to executing it, it isn’t worth the paper or hard drive space you wrote it on.

Career Action Plan - About.com

Creating a Career Action Plan for Myself - Workopolis

Your Résumé: The Translated Version

Other than your tax return, your résumé is probably one of the most important and time consuming documents that you will ever write.  You carefully analyze your word choice to ensure that it conveys the correct meaning and frames you in the best light.  You list your skills, your experience and your education.  You delete, you tweak, you move things around until you are satisfied.  Then you have someone else edit it and repeat the process.  The final document consists of precisely chosen verbiage representing everything you have done in your life that would make the company want to hire you.  At least you hope.  You sit by the phone and wait for a call.

The process sounds familiar.  Everyone from the 16 year old high school student to the 55 year old who is considering retirement has written a résumé at one point in their life.  We’ve all applied for jobs and understand that an excellent résumé is key to getting that interview and getting a foot in the door of the company you want to work for.

But what is the company you want to work for isn’t local?  What if it is global?

Your résumé is still important and you are likely to go through all the same steps that you would normally go through when applying for a local job.  But the rules have changed.  Dun dun dun. (Cue the menacing death march music).  All of a sudden you are competing against other individuals that probably have a similar work or educational background (which is typical) but more importantly is that these people are probably local to the company.  If the company is in Thailand, then the fact that they already know the language, know the culture, are familiar with the people, best business practices, customs and all sorts of other affairs naturally makes them more suitable for the job at hand because they are the people that the business is going to be targeting.

So other than taking some extremely intensive Thai language lessons and Googling how to build a résumé that won’t completely throw the HR department for a loop, making them wonder what on earth you were thinking, what do you need to do to ensure that your application doesn’t just get a few chuckles and then end up on the top of the pile of office memos bound for the paper shredder/incinerator?

Well first, you do need to do some serious research about how to act professional.  You may think that professional courtesy is universal but with that mind frame you are definitely not going to get a call back.  What is professional in one country might be unprofessional in another.  Some cultures value getting right down to business while in others, it is expected to spend the first few minutes asking about each other’s personal life.  When accepting another person’s business card, never put it directly in your pocket or handbag or what have you in a casual manner that in America, wouldn’t get a second thought.  In fact, when interacting with someone of Asian descent, it is customary to accept the business card with two hands, examine it carefully before placing it in a hard cover folder of some sort to ensure that it does not get crushed.

Next, you must demonstrate your professional personality.  If they are going to go through the trouble of contacting an international job applicant, they are going to want to know what to expect from you in a professional setting personality-wise.  Are you going to clam up?  Are you often nervous?  Do you approach problems with a cool and collective mindset?  Do you stay goal orientated?  Can you resolve conflict before it gets blown out of proportion?  These are all assets that you are going to have to figure out a way to sneak into your résumé with your choice of wording.

Probably the most important thing to do when applying for a job outside of your locale is to know how to sell your cross cultural skills.  Do you speak a second language?  Have you spent time working with teams of culturally diverse people?  Can you put yourself in the shoes of a minority group to assess what sorts of needs they have that could be addressed?  You need to let potential employers know of any unique experiences that you have had that would benefit their company.  It is a good idea to mention things such as cross cultural work experience, whether you have a positive attitude with new work environments, project successes that focused on multicultural customer segments, volunteer experiences abroad, facility with respect to picking up new languages, travel experience, etc.

International internships, if you have done any, are a great thing to highlight.  And if you already speak a second language, even if it is not their own, you should still mention it as it demonstrates your ability to focus on a complicated task and see it through to the end.

If working internationally is something you would like to do down the road but are not quite sure what you want to do quite yet (after all it can mean a really big move complete with enormous shipping crates and insurmountable rolls of bubble wrap), consider looking into acquiring some of the above mentioned cross cultural skills so that when the time comes, you are prepared. 

Have you ever wanted to work internationally?  What is holding you back?

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0609/international_resumes.shtml

http://www.english360.ca/internationalcareerstudies


http://www.black-collegian.com/international/global_resumes_0706.htm 

Je ne parle pas le français... o español

Ok, so the title of this blog post might be a little confusing since in essence I am saying that I don’t speak French or Spanish in French and Spanish.  My secret?  About two years of high school French and the Google Translate web tool.  I figure being able to tell people I don’t speak their language is one of the first things in any language I should learn how to say just so that I am covered no matter where I travel.  Genius no?

Why am I writing about languages today?  Well, for the first and rather obvious reason is that this is a travel/education blog and language falls into both of those categories.  As much as we North Americans would like to believe that English is the dominant language everywhere in the world, we are quite often largely mistaken.  Yes, it is true that many larger tourist destinations will have some form of communication set up to cater to their English speaking guests but when you crunch the numbers, English is not the language with the highest number of first-language speakers on this planet.  In fact, it isn’t even the second.  It actually ranks third behind Mandarin Chinese and Spanish according to Ethnologue Languages of the World.

It is obvious that learning a second language can be beneficial when travelling.  Heck, picking up a common phrase book from your local Chapters.Indigo.ca would be more than useful though you are going to look like a complete tourist as you walk around with your nose buried in your phrase book hopelessly trying to ask for directions back to your hotel.

Some people enjoy learning a new language just because the study of languages interests them.  A 20 year old Oxford student named Alex Rawlings from the U.K. explains in this video how he became interested in learning new languages and eventually became fluent in eleven of them including Spanish, English, Greek and Russian.  Learning Arabic is next on his list.  Apparently is becomes easier over time and though I completely believe him, I am not worried about the ease at which I will learn language #12.  I am worried about the hassle that learning language #2 is going to be.

You’ll notice though that many of the languages that Rowlings learned first were languages that he was surrounded with and got to practice on a daily basis. 

Many people find it easier to pick up a language when they are forced to practice it on a daily basis.  High school students frequently choose to participate in a language exchange program because it is an exciting way to learn a new language at a much faster pace than they could in the classroom. But why do schools encourage students and offer incentives to those that choose to do exchange programs and take a second language all throughout high school instead of just for the first year which is often mandatory?

This question brings me to the second reason why I am writing about languages today.  Schools recognize that having a second language is extremely valuable to students as they mature and pursue a career.  Having a second language often opens up a variety of job positions that list multiple languages a requirement.  But why would a company want its employees to be able to communicate in multiple languages?  Globalization.  I’ve posted a few blogs in the past [ here and here ] that talk about this subject that you are free to refer to so that I won’t have to go in depth on the matter but the gist of it is that the workplace no longer fits in a neat little, local box.  Your suppliers, your partners, and your clients are all from diverse international backgrounds and it is important for a business to be able to communicate effectively and efficiently across all channels without having to use a third party.  Because as convenient as Google Translate is at times, its Mandarin and Thai leave a lot to be desired.

Having a second, third or fourth language makes you incredibly more valuable to an employer that is thinking on an international scale.  And even if they are not, having another language listed on your résumé communicates to employers that you have the dedicated work ethic and focus needed to learn a new language which favourably translates over into other aspects of your work.

Leading back up to the first point, learning a new language is easiest when you can practice on a daily basis and easier still if you can interact with people who also speak it fluently.  People who travel frequently often pick up bits of a language faster than others because their level of exposure is higher.  If you are serious about learning a new language, consider ditching the phrase book and participate in an international internship or exchange program.  Your age does not matter as there are a variety of programs out there that are not associated with any schools and are therefore open for anyone to participate in.  These programs range from 1 to 8 week educational travel programs and 3 to 12 month internships with many choices for combining and strengthening the language component in order to earn an individual certificate of completion.

A Logical Excuse to Participate in Edutourism

You have sold your soul to your company for the past six years and the ten vacation days that you were originally granted has been boosted up to fifteen in exchange for your continued loyalty (and your first born child).  You do the math and quickly realize that fifteen days basically amounts to three weeks as long as you include the weekends.  You haven’t had that much time off since Christmas vacation your final week of university!  You start to get excited.  Three entire weeks basking in the warm glow of the sun down on some beach in the middle of nowhere, far away from cell towers, internet connection, your e-mail inbox and the lady in your office that wears too much perfume sounds divine.  You just go on Expedia, book your trip and in no time at all you are sitting on that pristine beach (with about 5000 other tourists), enjoying the scent of the tropical breeze (and that big guy’s coconut suntan oil on your right) listening to absolutely nothing but the soothing waves against the shore (and the frat boys to your left shouting “chug, chug chug”).  All that aside, sitting back in a lawn chair is actually quite relaxing.  Until you get to day three and realize you are bored out of your mind and burnt to a crisp. Maybe you should ask that big guy if you can borrow his suntan lotion...

Now before you go and do the rational thing like splitting up for vacation time into three different getaways and booking your hotel during hurricane season to avoid the crowds, consider another equally rational option.  Edutourism.

My last post attempted to explain the new concept of what edutourism is exactly so I encourage you to go back and take a quick look at it so that you are all up to speed.  I’ll wait right here.

...

Back?  Perfect.  Moving on.  Edutourism experiences can range anywhere from one to four weeks depending on your specific program but the reason I bring it up is because these informal learning programs are perfect to keep you A-type personalities busy during your vacation.  I don’t mean run you off your feet busy, but adequately involved in the culture and local surroundings of your destination so that the boredom doesn’t sink in after three days of doing absolutely nothing but shaking sand out of your underwear towel.

Benefits for Your Vacation Experience

I’ve probably mentioned most of these already but I will quickly recap just because I think they are worth mentioning and are probably some of the more convincing reasons to participate in edutourism.

• Whether it is informal or formal learning, edutourism programs are a stimulating alternative to sitting on a lawn chair that will keep your mind occupied and your body moving.
• Many tourists come, they see and they go.  If you are going to travel abroad, you should make the most of the opportunity to take something more out of your trip beyond some nice photos.  Your destination is going to offer up a whole new culture and perspective for you to explore and the best way to experience this is to actually become involved with the people.
• Learning a new skill such as silk weaving, glass blowing, cigar rolling or any other is going to provide you with a unique vacation experience that you can brag about when you get back to reality.  And let’s face it, if we are going to take three weeks of vacation, we had better come back with a better story than “the resort was so beautiful”.

Benefits for the Destination Country

Maybe you aren’t really into the idea of edutourism for the “learning” part of the available programs but you are interested in what edutourism can actually provide for the region itself.  Few tourists are actually aware of the high impact that their vacation has on the economy and development of a particular location.  There are a few countries that base their economy heavily upon the revenue brought in by tourism.  But at the same time, these countries suffer because they are losing what makes them culturally unique as they seek to provide “westerners” with all the comforts of home and must conform their societal structure to be more accommodating and familiar.  Listed below are some of the ways that edutourism benefits the country.

• Attracts a wide base of consumers who are less satisfied with “package” vacations
• Has the potential to create a socially and economically sustainable tourism product that benefits both the region and its visitors.
• Edutourism can help rejuvenate tourism throughout the world, celebrating cultures and the intermingling of residents and visitors.
• It can provide great support for preservation and conversation of the local environment and culture and provide more meaningful opportunities for residents and visitors.
• Once of the most obvious benefits of edutourism is the sustainability aspect of it in that the local population is being more actively involved in the direct and indirect benefits of tourism.

Benefits for Your Career & Resume

Hold the phone.  I can’t be serious.  How does a vacation look good on a resume?  Well, to be specific, a vacation doesn’t but an edutourism program quite possibly could. 

• Choose an edutourism program that relates to your career.  Are you in the fashion industry? Learning to weave silk in Thailand could be a differentiating and noteworthy experience to put on your resume.  Or if you are in into sports journalism, travelling to Cuba to play baseball might also spark some interest from potential employers.
• International perspective is always a good thing to weave into your resume.  With the marketplace expanding to encompass the entire globe, employers often want proof that you will be able to adapt if you are put in a situation where you have to interact with a different culture.  Demonstrating that you were fully engaged in Japanese culture for three weeks while completing an in depth tour of temples, shrines and symbolic gardens proves that you have an interest in broadening your horizons and understanding of another peoples’ heritage.
• And at the very least, put your edutourism experience under you list of skills and interests and it will make for a good conversation piece during your next interview.  Everyone puts that they love to travel, read, play sports, etc.  You toss Elephant Mahout in there and people are going to take a second glance just to make sure they did not misread that.

http://www.edutourismconference.org/whatisedutourism.html

http://www.english360.ca/edutourism

http://entplanet.blogspot.com/2010/11/edutourism.html

Edu-What?

If you follow me on Twitter or have bothered to check out my company’s website, then you have probably noticed that I toss the term “edutourism” around quite frequently.  No, it is not a spelling error that I keep making over and over again thank-you- very-much Microsoft spellchecker so you can put away your little red squiggly line that I find rude and obnoxious every time I type out my middle name.

“Edutourism” was born through a quirk of marketing activity.  Having developed a new kind of travel program, and failing to find a word that currently existed in the Webster dictionary to describe it, “edutourism” was invented.  A basic definition of edutourism is when someone travels to a unique location for the purpose of formal or informal learning.  If Webster was to pick up this new word though, I imagine the entry would look something like this:

Edutourism - [ej-oo-toor-iz-uhm]

Derived from the Latin word ēducātiōn from which English gets its’ word for education and the combination of the Greek word tómos meaning circle from which comes the word tour and Greek suffix –ism which when used with a noun denotes an action, edu-tour-ism is the action of travelling with the intended purpose of learning a new skill or engaging in an activity that is otherwise unfamiliar with the goal of gaining educational and cultural insight into the occupation.

And for those of you who do not enjoy etymology (the study of words), here is the Urban dictionary definition:

Edutourism - [ej-oo-toor-iz-uhm]

The act of being a tourist and actually learning something about a skill or activity found locally in your destination instead of walking around completely oblivious to the culture that surrounds you.

Examples of Edutourism

•          ecotourism
•          agricultural tourism
•          medical tourism
•          cultural/historic tours
•          language courses
•          culinary training
•          short/long term academic programs
•          internships
•          courses, conferences, seminars, colloquiums
•          sabbaticals or employee exchanges
•          sports tourism
•          special interest tours

Edutourism, though it sounds similar to “ecotourism” is actually quite different since people who choose one type of travel program over the other have very different outcomes in mind.  Ecotourism focuses on travelling in a green conscious manner in order to enjoy the scenery and landscape while leaving behind the lowest ecological footprint possible.   Edutourism, while it can involved ecotourism, is all about engaging in the local culture and activities.  It is about travelling abroad in order to gain new skills and insights.  Instead of being a passive observer with a camera ready to take snap shots of whatever happens to come along, edutourism is about digging in and getting your hands dirty metaphorically and literally speaking to create photo worthy moments that you can remember for all times as you go back home and proudly demonstrate to your friends and family just how to do the “crane” as part of the water ballet routine you learn while down in Cuba alongside professional synchronized swimmers.

Now, since it is a made up word that has yet to entirely catch on (I think I am the only one who uses it frequently and my efforts to make it a trending topic on Twitter failed miserably) there are very few travel companies that offer edutourism programs. 

But for those companies that do, here is what you can expect. 

• Choose your destination. Destinations can be anywhere in the world that you were already planning on visiting so it isn’t like you are going to have to make a special, unplanned trip to participate.

• Choose the skill you would like to learn.  Skills vary by country and typically feature activities that are local to that area such as silk making in Thailand, porcelain making in Japan and mixed drink artist in Cuba.

• Choose your program length.  You need to spend at least a week completing your program as most programs go deep into the cultural traditions and history behind the skill that you are learning.  In Thailand for example, you won’t just make the silk, you will learn how the silk worm hatcheries work, how the material is harvested, dyed, woven and then sewn into elaborate kimonos. 

• Expect to spend the first few days in your destination country learning some of the language basics just so that you will be able to get around the country without too much trouble and random hand gestures.

• And do expect some down time where you will get to play the role of tourist.  Edutourism programs are designed to allow you plenty of opportunity to be a tourist and engage in the local customs, culture, eat the local cuisine, meet the people and relax.

 What types of edutourism programs would you be interested in participating in?  Have you ever participated in a similar program?  I’d love to hear about your experiences so drop me a comment.  We might get “edutourism” into the Webster dictionary after all.

http://www.edutourismconference.org/whatisedutourism.html

http://www.english360.ca/edutourism

http://entplanet.blogspot.com/2010/11/edutourism.html

[ Edited: "Edutourism" has officially been added to the Urban Dictionary.  The definition for edutourism can now be found here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=edutourism ]

You’re Retired, Now What?

Building off my previous post entitled “Boomers are Getting Schooled” which talked about why some active boomers are not settling into retirement and their walkers right away, I’d like to talk about some of the preferences that these adults have when considering an active and engaging lifestyle.  And it is not all about travel and keeping oneself entertained while fighting off society’s push to put you on the bench.  Older adults are changing the face of adult education as they go back to school and as they seek to be engaged.  And just as any confident adult, these stubborn strong-willed boomers know what they want and they are not about to settle.

To Recap: What Motivates Boomers

Borrowing from another entry, I will quickly recap the motivation that most people have to pursuing further education within their industry, beyond their career or even into their retirement years and what is probably (in my limited perspective at least) going through their heads.

• Burnout – Another stress filled day at work... and I get to do the same tomorrow. Yay?
• Excess & Affluence – Am I really putting all that I have to good use?
• Sensory Overload – I need to take a step back and get some perspective.
• Depression & Trauma – I don’t want to die without ever having experienced...
• “Danger Age” – When did I get old and how do I make it stop?
• Freedom from Responsibilities – The kids have moved out; I can finally have a life.
• Turning Fifty – My life is half over and what have I got to show for it?
•  Retirement – I’ve got way too much time on my hands.

So what are these people motivated to do?  Well, I’ve already answered that a few times but just to be clear: they want to do something, anything that will convince themselves and the people around them that they are not yet dead in the ground.  They want to learn.  They want to try something new.  And it just can’t be any ol’ “something”.  It has to be exciting and something they never would have had the courage to try before.  And it had better be stimulating. 

Facts about Lifelong Learners: Their Preferences

Some adults actually choose to literally go back to school in order to learn and branch out.  Of the 16 million college students in Canada, over half a million of these students are over the age of 50 (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2006). For you younger generations, that means that for every 32 students in your college business class, there is probably going to be one “older” person sitting at the front asking a lot of questions.  (I’d highly recommend sitting next to this person as they probably study the most, take impeccable notes, and being associated with them will automatically put you in your professor’s “good” book). 

And all this does not even take into consideration the number of lifelong learners who are enrolled in non-credit and other lifelong learning courses sponsored by adult education programs.

Older students going back to school in pursuit of lifelong learning typically have a preference for:

• community or junior colleges, where 50 percent attend, because of the convenience and outreach programs
• intergenerational classes, where they can learn from younger students and share their knowledge with them
• avoiding programs targeted at senior citizens and older adults. They prefer lifelong learners or third generation learners, because it implies continual learning
• classes offered on main campus or branch campuses. However, there is an increasing number who prefer online courses because they are comfortable with technology
• programs such as health services, teacher education, fine arts/humanities, human service and counselling, and entrepreneurship. They also enrol in both credit and non-credit continuing education courses.

Courtesy of David R. Wetzel. [2005] Why Older Adults are Going Back to School. Continuing Education Suite 101. http://david-r-wetzel.suite101.com/why-older-adults-are-going-back-to-school-a266406

Your Options

Going back to school is not the only way that lifelong learners can feel more engaged with life.  The 50+ crowd makes up a good percentage of the global population (you boomers are all advertisers talk about these days).  So it makes sense that in the past decade or so, thousands of programs have sprung up specifically tailored to make active retirees feel like they are still on the ‘up and up’ and haven’t been put on that aforementioned bench or back burner or whatever you want to call it.  Below is a list of some of the more popular options and links to programs that you might consider looking into as they all cater to mature demographics.

Go Back to School

Ryerson University

George Brown College

City of Toronto

ICS Internships/Apprenticeships

Volunteer

OASIS

City of Mississauga

Work Part-Time

Work Less, Live More

ICS Work Abroad

Askville

Travel

ICS Edutourism

iTravel2000

Boomers are Getting Schooled

As an educational travel blogger that works for a company that primarily offers internships to 20-some-odd year olds, you might think it’s weird that today I am going to be talking about Boomers or what basically amounts to my parent’s generation, 50 to 60 plus people that are nearing retirement or have already down shifted to a more relaxed lifestyle.  What purpose do Boomers have for an educational resource?  They are retired; they are done learning.  They are past their prime.  You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. It is time they sat down, pulled up their walkers and stayed there just to be sure that they don’t break a hip stepping down off the sidewalk.

Now that I have offended every person over the age of 50 without enough of a sense of humour to know I’m kidding, let me set the record straight.  You are never too “old” to learn.  In fact, for the rest of this post I will not even use the “o” word because it does not describe this demographic accurately at all.  My father is 56 and still plays basketball three times a week, is currently doing his own basement renovation, jogs down along the shoreline with the dog every day, shovels his own driveway with an actual shovel and still finds time to beat me at chess when we get together for dinner.  He is the definition of a Boomer and he is thriving.  He might have a few grey hairs dispersed through what is left of his hair and a few more laugh lines but he is never opposed to learning something new.  As a teacher at the local high school for the past 30 years, he embraces learning and actually taught himself a new architectural computer program so that he could add it to the curriculum for students.  He learns new “tricks” all the time and I don’t foresee anything slowing him down any time soon. 

Retire ≠ End of Life

Not many people actually reach retirement age, quit their jobs and then plunk down on the couch until they die.  It is A) not practical and B) gets boring/dull/mind numbingly brainless extremely quickly.  You are going to go crazy if you transition from working 40 or more hours a week at work to having absolutely nothing to do other than cut your lawn with a pair of nail clippers.  It might seem relaxing for the first few days but eventually you are going to be pounding on your children’s doors begging them to let you babysit just so that you feel like you are contributing to society again.  Many folks don’t ever even completely retire just for that reason.  In fact, according to Stats Canada, 13% of retirees were going back to work in 1994.  And the trend is not declining.  By 2010, almost 22% of retired individuals were returning to work either full-time or part-time.  Some return to work for financial reasons but many return to work simply because they still have the ability to hold down a job and are unable to adapt to life in the passing lane so to speak.

Retirement does not have to be boring.  I have good news; you don’t have to go back to the workforce in order to feel fulfilled. 

Go back to school instead.

Ok, for those of you that stuck with me through the erroneous stereotypical rant back up at the beginning; hang in there just a bit longer for me to redeem myself on this comment as well because you are probably thinking I am just blowing hot air.  School is for young whippersnappers that wear their pants around their ankles and go out partying every Friday night.  I am not even going to bother to address that misconception at the moment since in some cases it is partially true and those students give me a bad image.  But consider that I am not talking about school in the formal sense.

School does not have to be a four walled institution with desks, blackboards, homework assignments and long cafeteria lines. 

School can mean a building full of teachers and students and jammed printers but it can also be your downtown community centre or book club or if you are really adventuresome, a monastery in Thailand where you spend the day finding balance and wisdom in community with other like-minded Zen individuals.

School is anywhere where you find learning.

If you are heading towards retirement, it is probably been something you have been looking forward to ever since you got out of high school.  There were so many things, namely work, that held you back from experiencing the world around you.  There are so many things that you have wanted to do.  Sure it would have been great to stay up to 3:00 am to watch the World Rugby Championship but you probably had work in the morning and could only catch the highlight reel.  It would have been fantastic to be able to drop everything to take advantage of last minute discounted plane tickets for an impromptu trip to Australia to visit with the kangaroos but you had that report to finalize.  And travelling anywhere when you have three teenagers still living at home is a nightmare unto itself. 

But you will soon be free and you will soon be bored.  So what are your options?

A)     Go back to work – This is possible but probably the least favourable option because you don’t work towards retirement your whole life just to jump back in.  That’s like being freed from quicksand and just turning around and stepping back in.

B)      Be bored – Again, this is not advisable but it will be relaxing.  You can sit back and relax into a vegetable as you cease developing your experiences and knowledge base.

C)      Travel – Travelling is always a popular idea for the retired folks out there because it represents the freedom that they have lacked while tied down to a job with minimal vacation time.  It represents spontaneity and can be revitalizing, relaxing and full of adventure as you travel around with only your passport and a map you picked up at the airport to keep you on track.

D)     Learn something – This is also a popular plan for those who want to continue to stimulate their minds and boast about new skills.  You could take a pottery class or learn photography.  Perhaps you could also learn how to salsa like a pro or maybe you’ve always wanted to learn a new language.  You have the time so why not commit to something challenging, eye opening and perhaps a bit obscure just so your stories are a bit more worthwhile.

You caught me, options A and B were not really serious options.  But C and D definitely were but here is the catch...  There is actually a secret option. 

Option E. Travel and learn.

You’ve always wanted to visit Cuba but you’ve also always wanted to learn to dance.  Well, as you may have heard, Cuba is a hot spot for the mambo, salsa, and a wide assortment of fast stepping, hip swinging dances that are sure to add some bounce to your step and flare to your skirt.  Sign up for a few weeks worth of lessons that you can squeeze in among sightseeing adventures.  Or maybe you have always wanted to travel somewhere in Asia like Thailand but you are nervous because you don’t know the language and being one of those lost tourist sounds like a horrifying experience.  You’ll go after you’ve checked out a few audio books from the local library and taught yourself.  Guess what, there are people in Thailand that speak Thai and English and who are willing to teach you. Forget the audio books.  It is easier to pick up a language when you are immersed and forced to practice and use in everyday conversations anyways.

As for the educational travel opportunities that will make your friend’s eyes pop, consider learning how to train an elephant like a professional mahout over in Thailand or craft fine Kimonos like the skilled silk makers in Japan.  Bring back souvenirs of glass blown figurines that you personally made and prepare authentic sushi just like the master chefs so that everyone will begin drooling in unison.

The Government of Ontario even has resources set up to help people retire abroad completely if that interests them but I love Canada so I encourage you to come back every now and again from your travels.

What it comes down to is there is absolutely no reason why your retirement can’t be as rich and stimulating as your professional career full of challenges, learning and boundless opportunities for self improvement.  Broaden your horizons and become an international jet setting student.

For more education and travel opportunities, check out the websites below.  Also, please leave a comment regarding any “edutourism” opportunities you have experienced or would like to try.  Because chances are if you want to try it, so does someone else.

http://cubaplus.ca/Volume20/index.php

http://www.internationalcareerstudies.com

http://blog.smithsonianstudenttravel.com/