Bridging the Gap: When does it pay to take a year off?

June 7, 2017

Summer is upon us, so what is a newly minted graduate to do? Head into the workforce? Immediately immerse his or herself into the next level of study? Or maybe take a break, for a gap-year? Sure, goofing off on a beach sounds good, but that will not help your career. So what exactly are we talking about? How does a gap year help you get a job?

Employers want well-rounded workers, and increasingly are placing value on students who have completed structured gap year programs. Employers say they want more than just grades. They seek a motivated applicant, confident, with life skills who can work positively in any environment.

Over the years, the gap year concept has changed. We used to think of it as “dropping out for a year.” Now, the options are endless. Many students want to make a difference by going overseas. If you are seeking ideas, look no further than Gapforce.

Based in London, Gapforce is dedicated to helping students make the right choice, organizing overseas volunteer projects that enable young people to become global citizens and make a real impact on the world.

Here in the US, look no further than AmeriCorps. More than 80,000 Americans participate each year, many using their service opportunity to help pay back student loans while giving something back.

A year to try out professional endeavors or explore new areas of the world is a good thing. But do not discount the obvious, a gap year really can be a well deserved breather. Whatever your choice, it’s important to recognize that taking a gap year will be seen as a plus by future employers.

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.