Thursday, October 09, 2008

What I’m Hearing…Take a Vacation, Get a New Career

Learning vacations are one of the hottest trends in time off. Instead of sitting poolside for a week, participants in learning vacations try their hand at a variety of activities, running the gamut from archaeology to yoga.

Vocationvacation.com takes the adult learning experience a step further by allowing participants to get a preview of what it’s like to have that “dream job.” Want to test drive being an alpaca rancher? How about a sword maker? Or a country music singer? Here’s your opportunity to try something new in a relatively risk free environment. According to vocationvacation.com, 20% of participants switched their careers as a result of their experiences.

I’ve always been a fan of learning new things, so the idea of a “working vacation” appeals to me. Reading about vocationvacation.com got me thinking about 2 broader possibilities for the HR space:

1. What can we as HR professionals offer through the vocationvacation.com process to others who might think of our organization as a dream job?

2. How can we capture the excitement a learning vacation offers in our own organizations? Mentoring is a start as we look to even broader experiences.

Given the choices on vocationvacation.com, it’s a tossup between Forensics and Meteorology for me. Something to think about for starting that second career after retirement.

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