Hey Folks,
It's been a long time since I was here and active on 2 wheels. Years ago I used to be very active here when I had my G/S but after being booted from ADV and losing my motivation network kind of let the passion wane. I ended up with a Ural but life happened and decided to travel in my Landcruiser 80 instead. While I would ask about this question over on Expo Forum, it seems the "overland" lifestyle is becoming a big fad and doubt I would get decent answers.

For those of you who take off of work for several years and once the trip ends, how do you manage to come back and pick up where you left off? How do you find a job? Settle somewhere? etc etc. We are planning on settling somewhere out west next year but do not know where yet or what we are going to do. We hope to make connections and fall into something...but not even sure how to make those connections.

Please help!!

95 views and no suggestions. That's too bad.

I can only speak for myself in saying having a trade or skill that is in short supply has helped me, I did an apprenticeship as a toolmaker and have always worked in engineering as a machinist or fitter. By being flexible and updating my skills I have always been able to find another job on my return often with a former employer several of whom I have worked for more than once. I have quit my job and come back about 10 times now.

Depends largely on your specific field....if you have one. Some lend themselves to short stints of work interspersed with time off, and some are perpetually seeking skilled and motivated workers. Sometimes, both are true of the same field.

OP's question comes up a lot, and not just on traveler's forums like this one. I gather that in some fields it's considered highly suspect to have taken long periods to travel, but I can't say it's ever gotten in my way. I used to do construction labor, then various skilled trades; I'd work three to twelve months, then take a month (or six) off. I lost ground financially, but I was never terribly ambitious in that realm anyway. It didn't stop me from progressing from the very bottom to somewhere within reach of the very top within my little world....following which I took five (5) years off to go to college, then grad school.

These days I'm a licensed professional. After my last long trip--a couple of years of intermittent travel and little honest work--I found a job within a few months of my return, and stuck that out for 3+ years before setting up my own business. Now, almost 4 years later, no one cares about any of that. Why would they? I'm measured by my performance--or at least, by my customers' beliefs about my performance.

It all changes if you're supporting other people, especially kids. It all changes if you return home to a major recession, or if you've chosen to live in an economically-depressed area, or if you're in a field for which there is little demand. And of course it's more difficult to get your footing in an area where you don't know anyone or have any previous employment history. But the main thing is the nature of your work and your level of skill. If you happen to be a skilled carpenter, you could probably move to my town and have a job within a week regardless of your travel history. If an art history major just out of college, maybe not so easily.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

For construction trades it's now easy pickin's here in Nor Cal. With the Fires in both Northern Cal and now Southern Cal, THOUSANDS are trying to rebuild houses. All related trades busy across the state. BUT Expensive to live here.
Many live in an RV or camper.

Cost of materials has gone way up and no one can get guys to work. Many tradesmen seem to be gouging a bit, but any skilled building trades ... or even laborers ... are getting work without much in the way resume' or real skill.

So, it's the Wild West again here. Tradesmen pull up to the job in their $60K 4 wheel drive truck with all the Bell's and Whistles. But trades can be tough and hard to find ones that takes you into your 60's and beyond.

The IT kids in San Fran and Silicon valley are killing it too. But very competitive from what I understand.

As said above, really depends on what skills you have. Also consider going down to Mexico or Cent. America and peddle what you have there. Boy, do they need "real" Plumbers and trained Electricians.
Good luck!

There is some good advice in this thread.

One life lesson I would comment on is, "Follow the Money." (To a certain extent of course) To follow the money you need to be flexible with your plans and not afraid of what others think.

There have been a couple times when I walked away from a potential opportunity because I was afraid about what others might think of me doing that career. In hindsight, it was a mistake.

It seems like a lot of people are afraid to relocate to a new state because they think it is a boring state. They stay in their same area where there is no opportunity and complain for years about it.

Another thing is to always measure the return on investment of the education. A nursing or physical training degree has a great return on investment. Other degrees have a pretty sketchy return on investment.

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http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)

Sadly, with the responsibilities and liabilities that come with setting up a house for a family and dealing with Loss and severe illness, I have not been able to leave for a long trip yet... But it does not stop me thinking about it, I have managed a week away on the bike a few times, for both business and pleasure. Now I am seriously looking at trying to go from the UK to India in 4 or 5 weeks. Now I am contracting again, so I can break up work between contracts when I need to so it allows me to ease in and out of a full-time job, keeping house, raising a daughter and being a husband, while trying to fit in the odd adventure!

I've been lucky enough to pack up and leave everything several times. I quit my job as a salesman at a car dealership, sell everything I own and leave a small suitcase of work clothes at a friends place.
Currently It's a great set up for me.
I'm able to save up enough money in 1 year of work and translate that into 2 years of moto travel around the world (se Asia, S.A & Mexico C.A.)
When I get back to the US I'm able to call my boss and say I'm back, I'll be at work tomorrow. I find a room to rent on craiglst 800-1000 here in so cal
I have minimal expenses. Spend most of my time working and thinking of the next moto destination
Still in my early.....errr mid 30's and I plan to keep this plan for the foreseeable future..... no reason to grow up

Thanks for the responses so far. My background is in conservation but know a lot of other fields.

Another question:

-How do folks approach the interview and pretty much say...
"I've been travelling for the last few years and I may take off again after working a year or two"

-How do get around the career blacklist of not having steady employment?

-Any suggestions on "selling" travel as a skill building expereince rather than a vacation?

@The Raven, for me it worked out well. I was "only" away for more than one year, while keeping my contract. But it actually may have had a positive effect. They asked me for a position where I am now communicating with customers all over the world, and sometimes travelling to the customers as well. With me they know that I can manage myself.

Now we are planning a new trip of "only" 6 or 7 months (we have young kids now) and will still be at the same employer.
As long as your employer is happy with you, this may work out. Like Catracho does.
But there has to be work.
For me it is a risk that I may not be able to do the same job as I do now, when I come back. I might have another job within the same company (because they want to keep the contract with me)
I work in a field where there is work enough to be done, so I'm not to afraid of finding another job if necessary.

I'm not sure how that is for conservation and other fields.

It may be hard what to expect. You shouldn't expect to much, but if you are okay with working in a bar or something (just an example), then it may be harder to leave that.

I guess you can promote yourself that all the travelling means you can handle unexpected situations, and that you are flexible in a lot of things. And like I mentioned, communication with foreign customers and travelling there.

Very topical and relevant to me this thread. I have to agree on many points given especially having a trade or skill to offer that is either in big demand or very specialised. The worry of potential employers looking down on you for having gone travelling and therefor very flighty can be got round by dare I say it but, 'Employment Agencies'. Not my favourite people and I dodged them for many years but now they have become my new source of employment. Employment agencies are hungry for your skills at that very moment in time when they call you up or you ring them. Your just a number or vehicle to earn them cash, a cash cow..!! Bite the bullet and start ringing them to get on their books IF you have a valued skill set that is in demand.

I myself am very lucky and have broken into a sector that has a projected shelf life that will see me through and probably several generations after. I also invested a lot of money in training to get me to this point and more than anything I had the goal of travelling set deeply in my mind to fuel and drive the motivation to achieve all this.

I think its fair to say, we all want to go off travelling, we all have our set backs holding us back so its great to read threads like this and chew the cud so to speak...!!

Hmmm… very personal question really, as we all have different backgrounds, jobs, experiences. Ok I will take the plunge although I work in an industry (as a pen pusher) that is very much hated… so I hope I won’t be flamed for that!

I graduated in Paris with a diploma in Econometrics, hoping I could do the competitions to become a civil servant. Those jobs are dream jobs in France. Job for life, easy life, lots of money… I failed the exams, but then I was up against candidates with multiple PHDs, unemployment in France was terrible (still is).
I spent 4 years doing stupid temp jobs at minimum salary, in Paris. I had no “piston” as they are called in French, nepotism is king in France. I worked stupid jobs in a lot in banks (by chance more than purpose!) , but was never made staff, it seemed I always had the “wrong profile”. Even to photocopy. Honest, one of my temp jobs was to spend my day copying documents! I also had a contract where I was folding a paper and putting it in an envelope, then the next paper etc… depressing years in my life!

Meanwhile the husband graduated with a bachelor in Chemistry from Loughborough Uni . He went to the worst school in England, so bad it closed down… he still managed! We met in Paris in 95. We both had similar poor working class background and were hungry for success (and not going back to council estate life!).
We move to the UK in 97. I found a job very quickly in a bank, at very low salary, first as temp, but I was made staff quickly! At last. We both buckled up and worked and studied to climb the greasy pole (or ladder?). Not easy as a woman in Finance, I can tell that for nothing. I quickly realised that knowledge is money. So I bought books, read and also went in as many classes and training that my companies would allow me.

In 2007 we left and did 1 year bike tour around South America. We were scared never to find a job again. We both found jobs very quickly (June 2008). The husband was contracting in oil and gas and me staff. I left the job (horrible place) in late 2009, and after a period of no work (it was end 2009 – 2010 there were no jobs) I contracted from mid 2010. For that, I moved into IT projects.

In 2011, one year later, we moved to Brazil, as my Husband’s company asked for volunteers to open an office over there. He put his name in the list with little hope, but he was picked! It was a great career opportunity for him. It was the time where Brazil was the Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. There was no pot of gold. For various reasons we were unhappy there. I could not work in Rio (no work permit)… one year later (2012), after 15 months of doing nothing in Brazil, I got offered a contract to go back to my previous company to work on a specific project. I created my Limited company and went back to London.

I contracted for about 18 months, then we ended our respective contracts (May 2014) and went travelling again for 4 months to Mongolia and back. Back home we looked for jobs, found contracts quickly and worked until Summer 2016, where, you guess it, we went travelling again (Russia and central Asia gain). Back in Sept 2016, we looked for contract work and I found it again.

Meanwhile, on my husband side, the oil industry has been down the crappers for 2 or 3 years. He was out of work for a while, but despite all contractors being canned, he still found a contract in Feb last year… with a company he worked before, and has been there since.

My CV has more holes that a Swiss cheese and yet I always managed to come back to work, without taking a massive pay cut either. Same for my husband.

It helps to have a very good reputation. Any industry is small. Words get round. Get the job done, well done, without fuss (keep your mouth shut!) , turn up at work, on time, be pleasant with everyone (even with those you would love to smash their nasty face!), and they will keep asking you to come back. In my opinion it is all about the right attitude. Both my husband and myself have been told several timesthat we are easy to manage and reliable. In another word become a manager’s dream employee.

Sorry long post!

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Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Spot on Maria.
Nowadays I am retired; I did count the number of "positions" I had during my time in various employments - that was some years ago - and it came to about 13, from memory.
The actual number doesn't matter so I am not counting again. The points you make are the truth of the world nowadays and there is no such thing as a job for life ..................

......................... nor should there be for anyone who claims to be "adventurous".

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Dave

Wow, I feel a lot better. Maria, it's great to hear that you were able to figure it all out.

I also love the idea of temp agencies. Not looking for a career...just some money to keep travelling.

My experience is somewhat different but in no way special.

I’m a Brit, left school at 16, started in the army at the bottom and left four years later...er...at the bottom.

I travelled overland to Asia and loved it but ran out of money so I started teaching English.
I’d work for three months and then travel the world for six. Teach, Travel, repeat.
I then started my own school and flogged it 17 years later.

There are thousands of expats teaching English in Asia and probably hundreds of thousands worldwide. Some have TOEFL type qualifications, some have none. All you really need is an open smile, some confidence and a native-English speaking passport.
Choose your country or region, go online and find some English teachers’ forum and ask around. We did it before the internet!

You can travel where you want, take months off and pop your head up anywhere people want to speak English. I know kids of 20 and old guys in their 60’s doing it.

If you base yourself in one region you’ll also learn a language.

Lastly, the expat life is great!

Good luck.