Navigate the Credit Crunch

20th of May 2009

Find out how taking The Leap can enhance your employment chances

Graduating 2009? If the credit crunch is effecting you maybe it’s time to take the leap...

Rumour has it there are no jobs, universities are oversubscribed by 30,000 places and life could look quite gloomy during this ongoing credit crunch.  So we've teamed up with the leap to explore this gloom and doom and see how they can help. We've been talking and exploring to find out what university admissions tutors and graduate employers look for, what do they respect, who will they give the time of day.

The bottom Line…

Soft skills Over-riding everything else this is their common theme, to even get a second glance you need to demonstrate commitment, initiative, teamwork, good organisation and the ability to communicate effectively.  Soft skills developed through a challenging experience such as volunteering abroad will make you more mature, more enthusiastic about life, effective contributors and real committers.

“…….. an experience that enables a young adult to immerse themselves in a different culture, to deal with challenges and return more confident and mature can only be beneficial.” Celia Brayfield - University Lecturer Brunel University

“…….. it is essential that young adults entering the workplace understand the importance of ‘soft skills’, firstly in obtaining employment and subsequently succeeding in their chosen careers.” Charles Money-Kyrle, Managing Director

So how can The Leap help sharpen up your life skills?

Initiative & Organisation To start with you’ve researched, raised money and committed to volunteering abroad and secondly you're entering the developing world where even the small task of catching a tuk tuk is a day's work, let alone teaching an unruly class of African children.

Team work. Now this is what the leap is renowned for – they do teamwork in a big way. Firstly they send teams of volunteers all over the world, many of whom have never met each other before and are from all walks of life. Leapers have to live and work with each other often in challenging and uncomfortable surroundings and one of the most important jobs for the team is to learn to work efficiently and look out for each other.

Courage. More often than not you’ll pitch up at Heathrow to meet your fellow team who you’ve only met once at our training course (and on face book)….big deep breath moment! And some Leapers have never ventured out to a developing country before - overcoming culture shock is not to be underestimated.

Commitment. Leapers commit to 6 or 10 weeks where they will be tackling different projects in contrasting environment. Some phases can be more physically and emotionally challenging than others but it’s sticking it out that counts and having the resolve to push through the pain barrier.

Communication. The Leap take you off the tourist trail to meet tribes and experience cultures any normal tourist would never have to opportunity to meet. Many of the children have never seen a western face before, let alone a camera or even a pair of trainers! A recent mini leaper went to the Ecuador Amazon, an avid ‘Explore’ client he thought he knew what off the beaten track was all about. Well, The Leap still had a few things to teach him – he learnt sign language; trekked with local hunters, built a community centre with not one word of English or Spanish spoken!

So if you are experiencing imposed free time - we can strongly recommend taking the Leap to make your time count. We would be delighted to write a reference to this effect on your return.

So our message to you is: DON’T DESPAIR AND GET LEAPING.....

More Information:

Visit The Leap website

go back