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Download Career Break Secrets Fact Sheet
About Career Break Secrets
Career Break Secrets provides video guides and advice for career break and around the world travel adventures. Through the power of video and internet, Career Break Secrets shows people what the travel adventure and experience looks like through first-hand reporting. The travel video guides are fully downloadable via the web, are available in High Definition (HD) quality and can be carried around on your portable device. The guides will be available for purchase in the fall of 2010.
The company was founded by Jeff Jung after he took his own career break trip in 2007-2008. Inspired by his experiences, Jeff wanted to help make it possible for more people to have the chance to take their own break and reconnect with their personal passions.
We believe that life is out there in the world and we hope to inspire people to take the steps necessary to make their dream of a someday travel adventure a reality today.
Initial launch of the company happened in the Fall of 2009 with the website, blogs and travel resources being offered to readers. Also in 2009, the filming for the first season of Video Travel Guides was completed and will launch in September 2010.
What is a career break?
Essentially, a career break is a time in your life when you put aside your career to pursue your personal passions and interests. While it can mean time for you to make a change in your life and figure out a new career direction, it often means just putting your career aside for a brief time. A career break can last as short as one month, but can last for up to a year or more. For most, it lasts three to six months.
People often use the terms sabbatical or gap year to describe what they are doing. But, a career break implies that you already have a career and are going to be returning to it in some form or fashion. We prefer the term career break because it is more precise in its description of what the person is doing and why they are doing it. The term sabbatical is often too closely associated with religious or academic meanings to apply to the working professional. And, gap year is often too closely associated with students just leaving their undergraduate studies.
Facts about career breaks
- Also called “adult gap years” in some circles, career breaks are growing in popularity and becoming more accepted in the American culture.
- The United States, Australia, and Canada are emerging markets for career breakers to originate from, while the UK market is more developed.
- While adult “gappers” range in age from 25-70 years old, industry leaders indicate the two expanding segments are “career breakers” ranging in age from their mid-20s to their 40s and “next life gappers” who are typically 40+.
- The integral component of a career break experience is travel; some travel domestically, but the majority of career breakers are choosing to travel overseas.
- Besides travel, the second most common component for career breakers is volunteering. The most popular of these include: teaching, wildlife and environmental conservation, and social programs that help disadvantaged people or communities.
source: Adult Gap Years - International, Travel and Tourism, Analyst No.12, July 2008; Mintel International Group Ltd
Download Career Break Secrets Fact Sheet
Jeff Jung’s bio
Jeff hosting the Season One episode "Navigating the Patagonian Coast" in Chile
Jeff grew up in the United States and had his first taste of international travel at 16 when visiting Adelaide, Australia as part of a short-term exchange program. At the age of 18, Jeff went to South Africa as a Rotary exchange student. It was during this exchange program that the travel bug really set in. He returned to the US for college, obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree from Georgetown University and a MBA from Rice University in Houston, Texas. After college he worked climbing the corporate ladder first as a management consultant and then as a marketing director for a medical device company.
He found some time to travel during those corporate years, but found it increasingly difficult to balance work life with personal interests and passions. So, in 2006, he left his job to prepare for a career break starting March 2007. His career break started in South America because of his passion to explore the continent and his goal to become fluent in Spanish. In addition to South American, his 2-year long career break also took him to Europe, Turkey and Egypt. After two years on the road, it was time to start thinking about what would come after the career break. In January 2009, he moved to Bogota, Colombia and started planning what he would do next. He knew he wanted to explore a new direction, and hoped he could incorporate his love of travel into that new career. It was through this process that Career Break Secrets was planned and created. Career Break Secrets was born out of the recognition, his personal experience, that few good planning resources exist for career break travelers.
To read a little more about Jeff’s career break see: Case In Point, an article about his experience he was asked to write upon returning and, Jeff’s Career Break Blog a series of re-posts from the blog he wrote during his career break.
