Your job

Gone are the days when a career break was viewed as a jolly. Today, the opposite is true, with employers keen to offer staff sabbaticals, and people like you using their career break to enhance their career.

This page has information on leaving your job and getting back into work, plus sabbaticals and taking a long vacation. This section also helps you with:

• Asking for a sabbatical
• National Insurance contributions
• Redundancy

Leaving your job

Easy enough, isn't it? Wanting to quit your job is one of the main reasons people take career breaks. Tempting though it might be to shout "Stuff you, and your lousy job" on your way out of the door, you may well need a reference when you come back, so be nice, work your notice and do a good job with your handover.

Keep your resignation letter short and to the point. It's usually a good idea to put something positive in too – even if you hated every minute of it, at least you can say you learned something. Get a sample resignation letter here. (this link opens in a new window).

Getting back into work

If you make a graceful and well-planned exit from your career, it will be a whole lot easier when you come back. If you're going into something new, you'll need even more time to plan.

Tell your clients, colleagues, suppliers and friends what you're doing and when you'll be back. Look at a sample email or a sample email if you're going into a new career. (Each of these links opens in a new window). Remind them when you're about to come back, with a gentle hint from you that might prompt them to consider you for a job, or recommend you to someone else.

Before you take your break, update your CV. You might even want to put that you're on a career break at the top, so people understand where you are. Email a copy of your CV to yourself, then it'll be there for you to send on if you need to.

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Sabbaticals

• Related links:
• Sabbaticals
• Asking for a sabbatical

A sabbatical is an agreed period of time off from your job. Sometimes they're paid, but unpaid sabbaticals are much more common. Many large organisations have systems in place to allow staff to take sabbaticals, but that doesn't mean you can't have one if you work for a small company - see the related links for how to go about asking for one.

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Long vacation

• Related links:
• Mini career breaks
• Mini career break organisations

If you have commitments, or can't take a sabbatical, you might find a shorter career break using just your vacation time might be better for you. Even a week or two can be long enough to do something different.

Explain to your line manager or personnel person that you want to take all your holiday in one go, and why. Point out the benefits to the company (you learning new skills, for example) and be flexible about when you go . If you haven't got enough holiday time to do this and have a couple of days off at Christmas as well, try asking for an extra week or two of unpaid time.

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• Where next?
• Search for a career break
• Order gap year information
• Show me a random career break

• Also in this section:
• Asking for a sabbatical
• National Insurance contributions
• Redundancy