Many students graduating from high school and college are trying to determine what to do with the uncertainty of colleges opening in the fall or the job market in a time of increasing unemployment. Right now it is hard to determine when the virus will allow us to go back to a normal social life. Taking a "gap year" might be just the right fit for many young people now. Exactly what a gap year might entail would vary from person to person. Some might be able to take a volunteer role and others might be willing to take a job that they may not have considered before. Contact tracing jobs might an interesting job to be available in the future.
I had some experience with taking a "gap job" after graduating from college. I was unsure of what additional academic program I wanted to pursue. I had taken the Graduate Records Exam (GRE's) but I was tired of going to school and wanted a break. At the time I was a live-in staff member at a psychiatric halfway house in DC finishing up a combined psychology/political science degree. My friend told me that a DC hospital would hire anyone with a psychology degree as a psych tech in their psych unit. It seemed like a good choice to do for a year until I decided what advance degree I wanted to pursue. One year turned into two and another job in the hospital. During this time my experiences gave me a clearer idea about what type of additional education made sense. I could only have gained this clarity by the experiences I had during this time. With a renewed energy, focus and commitment my graduate experience was so much more valuable. It set up me to have a career that was meaningful from the beginning. Many people only have this focus mid-career.
The virus causing students to consider a gap year might turn out to be a blessing in disguise as it was for me.
P.S.
I bet a career as a virologist might be the new "hot" career. Dr. Fauci might be the reason for the future growth in this career choice.
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