Table of Contents

“I want to do a working holiday” — this sentence contains a lot of different motivations. Some people genuinely want to experience a different way of life. Some want to temporarily escape their current job pressure. Some feel that “going to see the world” is inherently valuable. Others hope the experience will make their resume more competitive. EP669 of 大人的Small Talk breaks the question open: does a working holiday actually help? Without thinking it through carefully, you might just go in a circle and come back to the same starting point.

TL;DR

  • Working holidays themselves are neither good nor bad — the question is whether the experience will connect to where you actually want to go
  • The most common mistake: assuming “going abroad for a while” has inherent value without thinking concretely about what you’re getting out of it
  • If the motivation is “escape my current situation,” a working holiday typically just pauses the problem rather than resolving it
  • An effective working holiday has a clear purpose and a plan for how you’ll use the experience when you return
  • Ask yourself: “If nothing changes after the working holiday, am I okay with that?”

What Is It

A working holiday is a visa scheme that combines work and travel, typically open to people aged 18–35, allowing legal employment in a country for one to two years. Common destinations for Taiwanese include Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Canada. Jobs typically cluster in food service, agriculture, and retail — work as a means to fund the experience, not as the experience itself.

A working holiday is not the same as expat employment. The latter means using your existing professional skills to find a corresponding role abroad; the former is primarily about experience and travel, with work as the vehicle.

Why It Matters

A working holiday is a significant life decision — not because it’s inherently good or bad, but because its opportunity costs are real:

  • Time you could spend accumulating professional experience in your home country
  • Relationships and networks you could be building in your career trajectory
  • If you’re in a career inflection point — a promotion window, a transition period — the cost of pausing can be higher than at other times

These aren’t reasons to not go. They’re items to honestly calculate before deciding.

How It Works

Bryan and Joe’s analytical framework: whether a working holiday “connects” to your future depends on whether, before you go, you know what “connecting” looks like.

graph LR
    A[Want to do a working holiday] --> B{What's the motivation?}
    B -->|Escape current problems| C[Problem paused, usually still there on return]
    B -->|Want specific experience or skills| D{Does it connect to the future?}
    B -->|Want space to think about direction| D
    D -->|Connects| E[Effective working holiday]
    D -->|Doesn't connect| F[Circle back to starting point]
    E --> G[Return with clearer direction or capability]
    F --> H[Return and face the same situation]

The critical question isn’t “should I go” — it’s “what are you planning to bring back?”

Compared to Staying and Working

Working HolidayStaying and Building
What you gainLife experience, language immersion, exposure to different work culturesCareer continuity, professional depth, local network
What you give upCareer momentum at home, advancement windows, peer progressThe specific experience available only at this life stage
Right forPeople with a clear purpose who can integrate it into their careerPeople clear on their direction who want to go deeper

Neither is inherently better. The point is: choices have costs, and acknowledging costs is how you make a clear-eyed choice.

When a Working Holiday Makes Sense

You have a specific learning goal: you’re going to work in a kitchen because you want to understand the Australian restaurant industry before opening your own place; you want to work in an English-language environment for a year to build real-world business English. The experience has a clear “hook” back into your future.

There’s a natural pause point in your career: after finishing a degree, after leaving a job, after a project wraps — these are natural windows where the opportunity cost of pausing is relatively low.

You know what you’ll do when you come back: the plan doesn’t have to be hyper-specific, but the direction should be clear. “I’ll figure it out when I get back” usually means the working holiday becomes an expensive delay of a necessary decision.

When to Think Twice

You’re just trying to escape: if your current job is painful, a working holiday typically just suspends the problem. When you return, the same situation is waiting — possibly with the added friction of explaining a gap.

You can’t articulate how this experience will be useful: “going to see the world” is a legitimate reason, but if you can’t even tell yourself “I saw the world, and then what?”, the working holiday’s contribution to your career will be limited.

The timing is genuinely bad: if you’re in a genuine career inflection point — early in a high-growth company, on a promotion track, in a field where continuity matters — the cost of pausing is higher than at other life stages.

Summary

A working holiday is a choice with real costs — it isn’t “all upside, no downside.” Bryan and Joe’s core point: if the experience doesn’t connect to the path you actually want to take, you may just loop around and come back to exactly where you started — with a few stories to tell, but no career progress.

This isn’t an argument against going. It’s an argument for thinking through “what comes after” before booking the flight. If that next step is clear, a working holiday can be genuinely valuable. If that next step is foggy, clarifying it is more important than booking the ticket.

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🇺🇸 English

Here's the listening script.

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"I want to do a working holiday." Simple sentence, right? But underneath it, there are a dozen different things going on. Some people genuinely crave a different rhythm of life. Some are quietly trying to escape the pressure of a job they've grown to hate. Some just believe that going out and seeing the world is valuable in and of itself. And some are hoping it'll make their resume shine a little brighter.

Episode 669 of 大人的Small Talk takes this whole question apart, and the punchline is a little uncomfortable: if you don't think it through, you might travel halfway around the world, spend a year or two out there, and come back to exactly the same spot you started from.

So let's get one thing straight up front. A working holiday isn't good or bad. It's not inherently a mistake, and it's not automatically a life-changing adventure. The real question — the only question that matters — is whether the experience connects to where you actually want to go.

Quick refresher on what we're even talking about. A working holiday is a visa scheme that lets you combine work and travel, usually open to people between 18 and 35, letting you legally work in a country for a year or two. For folks from Taiwan, the classic destinations are Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada. And the jobs? They tend to cluster in food service, farm work, retail. Here's the key framing: the work isn't the point. The work is how you fund the experience.

And that's exactly what makes it different from going abroad as an expat professional. Expat employment means you take your existing skills and land a real role that uses them. A working holiday is the opposite — it's about the experience and the travel, and the job is just the vehicle that gets you there.

Now, why does any of this deserve careful thought? Because the opportunity costs are real. And I want to be careful here — these aren't reasons *not* to go. They're just items on the invoice you should read before you sign.

Think about it. That's time you could've spent stacking up professional experience back home. Those are relationships and networks you could've been building along your actual career path. And if you happen to be sitting at a career inflection point — a promotion window's opening, you're right in the middle of a transition — then hitting pause costs you a lot more than it would at a quieter moment. None of that means stay put. It just means: do the math honestly first.

So here's the framework Bryan and Joe lay out, and it's beautifully simple. Whether a working holiday connects to your future comes down to one thing — do you know, *before you leave*, what "connecting" even looks like?

Picture the decision as a fork in the road. You start with "I want to do a working holiday," and immediately you hit a question: what's the actual motivation? If the honest answer is "I want to escape my current problems" — well, that path leads to the problem just getting paused. It's still sitting there waiting for you when you get back. But if the answer is "I want a specific experience or skill" — or "I need real space to think about my direction" — then you reach a second, deeper question: does this connect to your future? If it does, congratulations, you've got an effective working holiday, and you come home with sharper direction or a real new capability. If it doesn't connect, the road just curls back on itself, and you land right where you began, facing the same situation you left.

So notice the shift. The critical question was never "should I go." It's "what are you planning to bring back?"

Let me put the trade-off in plain terms, going versus staying. If you go, what you gain is life experience, language immersion, exposure to a totally different work culture. What you give up is career momentum at home — advancement windows, watching your peers move ahead while you're picking fruit or waiting tables. If you stay and build, you gain career continuity, professional depth, a local network that compounds over time. But what you give up is that specific experience that's really only available to you at this particular stage of life. Neither one is better. That's the whole point — every choice has a cost, and being willing to name the cost out loud is what makes it a clear-eyed choice instead of a fantasy.

Okay, so when does a working holiday actually make sense? Three green lights.

First, when you've got a specific learning goal. You're going to work in a kitchen because you want to understand the Australian restaurant scene before you open your own place. Or you want a year immersed in an English-speaking environment to build genuine, real-world business English. The experience has a hook — something that grabs onto your future and pulls it forward.

Second, when there's a natural pause in your career anyway. You just finished a degree. You just left a job. A project just wrapped. These are windows where the cost of stopping is genuinely low, because you'd be between things regardless.

And third — this is the big one — when you already know what you'll do when you come back. The plan doesn't have to be laser-precise. But the direction has to be clear. Because "I'll figure it out when I get back" almost always means the working holiday quietly becomes an expensive way to postpone a decision you were always going to have to make.

Now the flip side. When should you think twice?

When you're just running away. If your current job is painful, a working holiday tends to suspend the problem, not solve it. You come home, and the same situation is right there waiting — now with the added fun of explaining a gap on your resume.

When you can't articulate how the experience will be useful. Look, "I want to see the world" is a completely legitimate reason. But if you can't even tell *yourself* — "I saw the world, and... then what?" — then don't expect the working holiday to do much for your career.

And when the timing is genuinely bad. If you're early in a high-growth company, on a promotion track, in a field where continuity really matters — pausing there costs more than it would at almost any other point in your life.

So let me bring this home. A working holiday is a choice with real costs. It is not all upside and no downside. And Bryan and Joe's core message is this: if the experience doesn't connect to the path you actually want to walk, you may just loop around and land right back where you started — with a few good stories to tell, sure, but no forward progress.

Three things to hold onto. One: the question was never "should I go" — it's "what am I bringing back?" Two: if your real motivation is escape, a working holiday pauses the problem, it doesn't resolve it. And three — maybe the sharpest test of all — ask yourself, "if nothing changes after I do this, am I okay with that?"

Because here's the thing. None of this is an argument against going. It's an argument for thinking through what comes *after* before you book the flight. If that next step is clear, a working holiday can be genuinely, deeply valuable. But if that next step is foggy — then clarifying it matters a whole lot more than buying the ticket.

🇹🇼 中文

「我想去打工度假」這句話，背後常常裝著很多種動機：想體驗不同生活、想趁年輕看看世界、想存一筆錢、想練英文。但這些動機湊在一起，未必能拼出一條清楚的路。

這集《大人的 Small Talk》，Joe 張國洋回覆了一位 24 歲讀者的來信。讀者的處境很具體，Joe 的回答也很直接：別把打工度假當成人生目標。

先說說這位讀者。他畢業於國立大學歷史系，成績維持全系前 5%，參加過國科會的研究計畫，也當過博物館的校園大使，原本很有機會甄試進政大、師大這些前段研究所。但接近畢業時，他發現自己不想留在研究室，反而對商業世界抱有強烈好奇，於是放棄了學術這條相對安穩的路。

他給自己設的目標是：畢業後一到兩年內，出國打工度假至少一年，把自己推進陌生環境，鍛鍊獨立生活和外語能力，最重要的是——存一筆錢。

為了存旅費、練英文，他畢業後換過幾份工作。第一份是線上英文機構的電話銷售，想同時賺高收入又蹭公司的免費英語資源，結果高壓環境加上近一小時的通勤撐不住，不到一個月就結束。第二份改當日班保全，打算值班時讀英文、領穩定薪水，結果案主對保全有歧視，即使他沒打遊戲、沒偷睡，也被剝奪讀書空間，一個多月就不歡而散。第三份是小型電商的數位行銷企劃，做到現在快滿一年。但這家公司是家族企業，人力吃緊、職務界線模糊，他除了行銷，還要支援客服電銷、拍影片、做設計，週末幾乎全員都被抓去展場做實體銷售。

更麻煩的是，大老闆習慣用權威、甚至人身攻擊的方式教育員工，對辦公室業務一知半解也不重視。年初的新考核制度又明顯偏重實體和電話銷售，讓他想深耕的數位行銷難以得到回報。有一次銷售演練，老闆嫌他話術太平淡，接著就一直施壓，逼他「承認自己腦袋不好」，讓他覺得非常不受尊重。

帶著這些，他問了三個問題：向上管理和情緒界限怎麼拿捏、明年該不該如期去打工度假、還有離職到出發前那 9 到 10 個月的空窗期該怎麼安排。

Joe 最想先講清楚的，是打工度假的本質。

它比較像是一段時間拉長的迪士尼之旅——你去體驗不同的生活方式、看看異國風景、交幾個朋友，然後回來。這是一段很棒的體驗、一段回憶，但它很難變成你職涯上的一塊磚頭，很難變成基礎。

換個方式說：把它當一筆投資，你投入的是整整一年時間，加上前期旅費；回收的是回憶跟照片。但在履歷上、在能力累積上，它能給你的其實很少。

那它適合誰？Joe 認為只適合兩種人。第一種，家裡經濟條件不錯的人——家裡不需要你趕快開始工作，24、25 歲出去晃一年，回來沒壓力，去體驗人生當然很好。第二種，家裡真的很缺錢的人——認真去賺那筆打零工的錢，本質上就是海外當外勞，賺一筆回來，這也 OK。

問題出在介於中間的人：家境不到優渥，又希望自己趕快讓職涯上軌道。對這種人來說，花一年做這件事，幫助非常有限。

接著 Joe 把讀者的三個出國理由，一個一個拆開來看。

第一，想存錢。澳洲打工時薪確實可能比台灣高，但你做的多半是農場採水果、餐廳洗碗、肉品加工，純粹用體力換時薪。關鍵問題是：存了這筆錢之後要做什麼？如果有明確目的，比如存錢回來創業、補一張證照，邏輯至少是通的；但信裡看不出後續計畫，那就只是打了一年勞力工，回來錢慢慢花掉，職涯還在原點。

第二，想提升外語。一年要讓英文大幅提升其實很難，尤其你是去打工不是去念書。在農場、背包客棧裡跟其他背包客講的英文，跟職場上的商業英文是兩回事。日常對話可能變流利，但這個程度在職場加分有限。要讓外語變成職涯優勢，需要的是專業場景裡的長期使用。

第三，想訓練獨立生活。這其實是個迷思——以為出國才算獨立。你在台北自己租房、自己煮飯、自己處理生活大小事，就已經是獨立生活了。獨立的核心是對自己負責、自己解決問題，在台北做跟在雪梨做，沒有本質差別，不需要飛到南半球才學得會。

而那些勞力工作，對長期職涯的加分也很有限。你不會因為在澳洲農場摘了一年草莓，回來面試就更有競爭力。站在商業世界的角度，這段經歷其實是一片空白，在某些產業甚至是扣分項。

講到這，Joe 拉回一個更底層的問題。讀者說自己「對商業世界感到好奇」，這個動機沒問題，但這個說法太含糊了，含糊到沒辦法幫你畫出一張地圖。

你回頭看畢業後的選擇：電銷做不到一個月、保全一個多月、再到家族電商做行銷——這些事情之間是弱連結，串不出一篇故事。電銷學到的幫不上保全，保全學到的也幫不上行銷，精力是散的，像珠子落了一地。而一地的珠子，需要一條線串起來，才會變成項鏈。那條線，就是你的長期目標。

所以下一個該回答的是：你到底對商業世界的「哪個面向」好奇？是行銷、業務、財務，還是營運管理？想清楚這個，後面的選擇才會開始有邏輯。讀者提到想當 PM，但 PM 也很吃產業——你想在哪個產業當 PM，同樣得先釐清。

回到那三個問題。

第一個，向上管理和情緒界限。Joe 認為這根本不是向上管理的問題，而是「要不要繼續待在這個環境」的問題。一個會逼員工承認自己腦袋不好的主管，代表他習慣用羞辱的方式管理人；這種本質不會因為你怎麼溝通就改變。今天你承認了，明天他會要你承認別的。在一個不健康的職場裡練向上管理，就像在一艘漏水的船上練習駕船——先把船換掉。如果你完全不在意自尊，只想讓衝突趕快過去，那承認一下確實沒什麼損失；但你顯然做不到，否則不會寫信來問。既然它困擾你，繼續待下去就會持續消耗你。

第二個，明年該不該如期出發。以現在的狀況，Joe 個人認為不該去。如果真想要一段「對職涯有幫助」的海外經歷，比較合理的做法是去念一個海外碩士——歷史系想轉商業、年紀又還輕，念一個好學校的商管碩士，比較有機會在履歷上加分。不過他也誠實補一句：到了 2026 年，這種加分也有限。但這跟去農場打工，是完全不同層次的事。Joe 認為只有兩種情況打工度假才合理：一是這段經歷能跟長期職涯連結，比如侍酒師去布根地葡萄園摘葡萄一年；二是家裡夠優渥，純粹去玩也無所謂。讀者兩者都不符合。

第三個，那 9 到 10 個月的空窗期怎麼佈局。Joe 說，這個問題本身就反映了整個計畫的問題。為了存旅費先做短期工，空窗期又找短期工，回來後又從零開始。把整條時間軸串起來看：畢業到回來將近三年，做過電銷、保全、家族企業行銷，再加一年海外勞力，回來可能 26、27 歲，履歷上會是「什麼都做一點、沒有一段超過一年、彼此也沒關聯」。等於畢業後花了近三年，存了一筆錢，去了一趟很長的迪士尼旅行，回來一切歸零、重新開始。

最後 Joe 誠實提醒：在商業實務的世界裡，一段跟職涯無關的打工度假，大部分時候不是加分、也不是中性，而是扣分——因為它告訴面試官，你在該累積專業能力的年紀，選擇去做一件跟職涯無關的事。除非你本身的技術跟資歷夠好，能彌補這段空白。

所以，總結三個重點。第一，打工度假的本質是拉長版的迪士尼之旅，它給你回憶，但很難變成職涯的基礎。第二，它只適合兩種人——家裡優渥去體驗，或家裡缺錢去認真賺勞力錢；卡在中間、想趕快上軌道的人，花這一年幫助非常有限。第三，也是最根本的：你的每一個選擇之間得有一條線串起來，而那條線就是你的長期目標。所以真正該先回答的，不是「該不該去」，而是「你最終想去哪裡」——想清楚那個，再來決定今天的每一步該怎麼踏。

Tags

#working-holiday#career-planning#decision-making#adult-small-talk

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