With over 20 years of experience researching gap years, Bull has seen students work everywhere from outdoor-education centers to Scottish castles to elephant sa

With over 20 years of experience researching gap years, Bull has seen students work everywhere from outdoor-education centers to Scottish castles to elephant sanctuaries. Let's be honest about what types of job opportunities there are for an 18-year-old with just a high school diploma, especially in this economy. Working with elephants in a Scottish castle sounds great, but I think the odds are a lot higher that you'll be cleaning the bathrooms at IHOP. To be clear, it's not just the lack of education that's an issue, it's the lack of experience doing anything. 18-year-olds are a freaking liability to work with a lot of the time. They're often have unreliable schedules, unreliable transportation, and with no real work references, it's hard to know anything about their work ethic. Add on top of that that with these gap year kids, you know they're only going to be working for you for a year, so it's hard to justify investing too much in them.