Gap years are no longer the preserve of wide-eyed 18-year-olds, fresh from A-levels and hungry for adventure. According to a report last year by GapYear.com, a website dedicated to taking time out, the fastest growing gap-year market is 25-35-year-olds, and the second fastest is pre-retirement. GapYear.com founder Tom Griffiths says taking a break from work is a positive thing and employers are coming round to the idea.

"We're the portfolio generation," he says. "Every three to five years you think about what you want to do in your life. Our parents were the generation that said 'get a job and settle down', but there's more to life than being part of the London set, owning a house and a flash car and going out for nice meals. More people are taking time out."

Gary Slann, a 29-year-old hotel and catering manager, is using his gap year to make the transition to a career in social work.

Through CSV online, Slann is working as a volunteer in Hackney on a mentoring project for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

"It's a real eye-opener," he says. "It's making me assess my own life and face up to some of society's problems."

Slann's charges include youth offenders as well as people referred from social services. "I was in Crown Court recently as the responsible adult for one of the boys I work with, supporting him while he was up to answer two counts of robbery."

Slann feels he "fell into" the catering trade and stayed within the industry for 14 years, gradually working his way up. "But it was never my long-term goal," he says.

"When I was researching careers in social work in the local library, I read that doing voluntary work helps you gain the right kind of experience.

In September I'm starting a two-year diploma in social work at Manchester University and believe my time in Hackney will prove invaluable."