To turn down a high-paying job because I want to go travelling instead?

[Harishnayfoke]

I am just about to finish university in a few months and have been offered a job in a high-paying, quite intense business. I was always planning on going travelling for at least a year after uni and had planned to do lots of internships and volunteering whilst I do this to give me skills for the career I truly would like.

My dream has always been to work in some human rights related field or in international development as an aid worker. I'm not sure why I applied for the business job, it was just on a whim and I never expected to get it.

Now I have found myself really not looking forward to starting and fear that I will be setting off on the wrong path and will struggle to get onto a path I'm passionate about. I just worry that I'll be sat in an office wasting away my twenties when I could be off travelling the world.

Would I be mad to turn this job down? I worry because grad jobs are hard to come by and if the economy goes to shit after Brexit I may really struggle to find work and will kick myself for turning this down. But I really feel slightly gloomy at the thought of doing a job involving at least 50 hours a week doing work which I find boring and soulless.

I love travel, but I find that I don't need to do it for months on end, let alone a full year. Short busts of travel are actually more enjoyable (for me). I like the idea of getting some money and something meaningful on your cv, while using your annual leave strategically for short, interesting trips. If you regret you decision three months down the line, you can jack in the job, but if you've made the other choice, it's your decision is harder to reverse.

Honestly speaking, it's so easy to get complacent when a job practically falls into your lap (I understand you did the hard work too). Your travelling and volunteering won't mean much to employers and don't forget, once you come back after 12/15 months you'll be competing with the next class after you and you won't have your 'fresh graduate' smell anymore.Graduate jobs are not easy to find, a number of my friends are still jobless having graduated with 2i's from Redbrick uni's last year.

You'd be better off working for a few years and either securing a sabbatical or at least having some funds that will allow you to travel and do unpaid internships in your chosen field.

In the work camp. Only because you seem torn between both, and working for a year first doesn’t mean u cant then quit and travel after.
Whereas going the other way ( travel first, look for work after) May not necessarily work out ( and there’s been a few posters who work in the sector you are interested in)

I think take the job and gain some real business experiences.

Of course charities and NGO like to take on people from the private sector. Businesses can afford to take on graduates and train them up in work practices in a way not for profits cannot.

I don't think £5k is enough to travel with, and I'm not convinced by your plan to volunteer to make your way and gain experience is feasible. If you don't have relevant experience how can you help? charities need volunteers who know what they are doing.

Take the job, save, travel.

I took the travel path, as in moved out at 16 to experience life abroad and then never looked back. I have lived, studied and worked in 7 countries over 5 continents and visited dozens of countries. Traveling has opened many doors for me, it's given me languages (I currently understand 6 different languages and speak 3 at near native level), it's given me adaptability, it's given me international work experience in different fields and actually has made me quite marketable work-wise, as speaking several languages and being a quick learner is often very well seen by recruiters so never found myself struggling to find a job. That being said, I have put traveling above career and while I don't regret it, now that I am thinking about traveling less and starting new projects, having work experience in a high-paying field I could easily go back to would have been nice.

If you can work for a year I would do it. I have loved traveling and wouldn't change a thing but the more relevant work experience you have (and money) the better/easier your trip will be.

I would also say that if you do pursue a career in ID you will be mighty sick of travelling quite quickly (I found this idea difficult to get my head around but it is true; now I quite like to holiday in the UK so I don't have to go near an airport). So there should be plenty of travelling in your future- and before kids etc I often used to tag a week or so on the end of a work trip and use that to explore the country. You don't need to see it as a binary travel or work- you will be travelling with work in the future if all goes to plan.

As somebody getting close to half a century and did the “leave uni, straight into lots of money job, go travelling in a couple of years” thing. Go travelling. Now. Do not delay. I never did go. Once you get the money, you end up with a mortgage because you’ll meet someone and 30 years later you wake up to a life you never ever really wanted with a shit tonne of regrets. Money pah. I’ve got loads and I’d give it all up in a second to go back to being 25 and having the chance to make a different decision. Go travelling.

Oh and a mate of mine travelled for a year on 3k. Hostels and backpacker places. Had the best time. Met lifelong friends, husband and came back straight to a well paid banking job.

It depends on whether you want children. If you do then take the job. Children are very expensive and most people can’t really afford them, not woth government help at any rate and being dependant on your government to raise your children is not a position you want to put yourself in. You may not get a chance to start a well paid career again, at any rate you won’t gain anything from differing, you will just loose fertile years. Make your decision around what you want to do in ten years time not what you want to do today.

What a strange thing to write. A year out in your twenties isn’t going to impact your ability to have kids, afford them or get a well paid job. I have tonnes of friends who went travelling. All now have kids. All have their own homes and normal productive lives in a variety of decent paid jobs.

Take the job and work for 2 - 3 years while saving like mad so you have a safety net when you come back from your eventual travelling. But do go travelling - you might get a sabattical from work as well if they want to keep you. I wouldn't turn down a good job with all the Brexit uncertainty at the moment

I would absolutely take the job. You won't have the same offers when you come back if you don't.

Give yourself 2 years max, then go travelling. It will also help you to decide if you enjoyed that role or if it was a nightmare and you need to rethink what you want to go next.

That's what I did, and I am glad I had something on my CV when I came back.