Way too long out of job market

Hey, guys!
Is there anyone who stayed out of employment for too long (over a year) and made it back?
My story: I had some trouble I put myself in couple of years ago, mentally struggled from a terrible break-up consequences, and I totally screwed up my relationships with parents and friends - I simply wanted to stay away from people and the rest of the world.
So, I went travelling and spent 1 year on the road across SE Asia & Middle East. It totally relaxed me, I became less paranoid about my problems, came back to normal mental state of mind.
How do I explain this all to my potential employer? What would you suggest me doing in my situation?
Maybe, I should take some online courses to brush on my skills? ( I graduated from very top school in the UK with a top Economics departments, and I have couple of internships).
Don't tell me to go back to school for MSc as I don't have extra cash.
Any advice and tips will be appreciated a lot!

cheers!

7 Comments
 

I work in Corporate Treasury for a leading UK retail bank, and one of my colleague submitted his resignation to go travelling for a year. So i don't think employer will be surprised to hear about your experience. Just spin that around in a positive way and say you wanted more international exposure and prepare to talk about how it has made you a better person.

 

Guys, thanks a lot for getting back! (and excuse my typos in the initial post)

The problem I'm facing when applying now is that HR is saying I took a way too long break without an actual work experience (except internships) which shows a lack of my commitment. But as you mentioned here, I'm definitely v. hungry to succeed than ever before. I'll keep that advice on saying that I simply took a gap year. W wish, I travelled after, at least, a year of work experience, thought..but back then it wasn't an option.

 

thanks!

I did a volunteering work in one of the Asian countries that involved training the stuff the basic finance/accounting/valuations skills - I did it with other guys coming from first countries. So, I definitely put it. My other internship was in 2011. Way too old but still there. Then, I'm also putting my current employment at family business which is a real estate stuff - it's very recent, I'm not into it much but learning smh every day..

 

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