A2 Quitting with Nothing Lined Up
Summary in the title - I'm a 2nd year analyst at a large bank with over 1.5 years of experience. I've been interviewing for the last 2 months and have gotten close on some corp dev / startup processes but nothing has materialized. I think a large part of this is trying to recruit while working banking hours (I can only half dedicate to prep and interview while exhausted / stressing about making up appointments). Work hasn't been that bad but paired with recruiting its burning me out.
I'm confident I don't want to do banking / PE in the future (dread all staffings and not interested in deals at ALL). I've been told many times by several people on the team that I'm well liked and do very good work. I don't care for the work but I always put in good effort despite that. Our team is short on experienced analysts and has had departures with others going to different firms outside of banking.
Basically, I'm tired and want to quit. This is not out of the blue though. I've been thinking about this for a while since before receiving my first full-year bonus. I've got a deal that will announce soon and 100k+ in savings with 2-3k a month in expenses including rent as I'm not a big spender (also worst case I can live with my parents and not pay rent). Next bonus won't be till the end of the year - is it unwise to just quit? I feel like I could really use the time to bounce back physically, mentally, decompress and focus on interviewing - I'm already in some processes and given my hit rate recently i'm not overly worried. I know my team will try to keep me as soon as they find out there's no offer but I just don't see a solution to stay any longer given I am completely disinterested in the work and need balance. Any issues with bringing this up and quitting on the same day or will I be forced to stay 2 weeks - I really don't want to. Also despite being liked on the team, is there a way to not burn bridges (incase I encounter anyone in the future). Appreciate any insight or experiences.
Wait till you get your bonus in summer don’t blow half a year accrual of bonus
My bonus cycle is in December so it's ~9 months away! Just collected a full bonus this past december.
was a joke ;(
Looks like we’re in the same point of our banking careers. Analyst 2 is the worst year. We’re expected to carry a lot of responsibility, be independent, produce consistent high quality work, be proactive, able to handle tight turnarounds and fire drills, do the technical and ambiguous work on deals, etc. Which is all fine and good, except some Associates might make 2x+ your comp while not adding half the value or productivity. I feel your pain.
To your question: you hate your job, you’re burned out, you know you want nothing to do with IB/PE long term. Also, you’re well liked and appreciated in your group, just recently clipped a full year bonus, and aren’t giving up any bonus payout by quitting. Unfortunately, the jobs you’re applying for all commonly have IB as a pre-requisite, so being employed puts you in an advantageous position compared to being unemployed. If you can dial back the effort at work and coast based off your reputation until you get an absolute home run gig lined up, absolutely do that. If you absolutely can’t handle it, then in your case it makes sense to quit. It sounds like you can survive 3-6 months unemployed while you look for an acceptable job. Unlike most posts on this site, this is a cost-benefit decision with no clear right answer. Last thing I’ll say is it takes crazy grit and ability to wade through metric tons of shit to make it through 1.5 years as an IB analyst, the worst is behind you, maybe you have what it takes to go just a little further….
Thanks this is helpful. I'm not necessarily at a breaking point but I also don't want to get there. Just want to optimize and prioritize health, happiness and relationships especially if I can end up at the same outcome as recruiting while working.
Curious, what's the difference between being employed or unemployed and recruiting for the same roles? I'll still have my current years of experience and skillset to talk to (assuming this is in the next 2 - 3 months after which there'll be a noticeable resume gap to talk to).
I’ve seen this play out before. There’s a quote from Cooper in Mad Men, “A man is whatever room he is in.” Right now, you’re an IB analyst, a role that everybody automatically has pre conceived notions about including hard working, highly paid, smart, well connected, resilient, reliable, fast, likely to thrive in <insert exit opp>. That is the room you’re in.
If you quit and move into your parents house, that is the room that you’re in. Within a month, you’re an unemployed kid living in his Mom’s house. Yeah you *should* get 100% credit for your IB experience but it doesn’t always play out like that. Now what pre-conceived notions do people have with people with no job that are living with their parents?
Again, I’m not saying don’t do it. I’m just saying there’s a trade off and you will be competing with other guys that are currently in IB (assuming you’re going for a desirable position). When you’re unemployed there’s extra resistance you have to go through to get some people comfortable. This is what I’ve seen with my own eyes several times, but also, many times people that quit do end up (3-6 months later) getting a job that they’re very happy with that propels their career and life forward, but maybe not a traditional target exit opp.
Mentally check out and start looking elsewhere.
You’re not at a breaking point so stay until you get a position you want. 1. Easier to get a job while employed even with the hours dedicated to the job. 2. You aren’t married with kids so I get you only have you to support but you also don’t have too much going on outside your job and seeking a new job to worry about. 3. Keep making bank. 4. You’ll feel less compelled to take the first job you’re offered.
Second this. I was a burned out A2 wanting to quit with nothing lined up but I grinded it out and now I'm a burned out A2A with 7 months under my belt as an associate. It's tough, but a LOT (and I cannot emphasize that enough) of jobs want to see at least 2-3 years of banking experience. The closer you get to 3 the better, but staying truly does open up more doors and makes recruiting much easier. I'm currently recruiting for buy-side roles (think VC, Family Offices that do direct investments, etc.) and have yet to be denied a first round interview with anyone I've applied to. It's very easy to stand out with more experience, but I would caveat and say that you need to be careful not to stay too long because then you really do start to pigeon-hole yourself into more experienced roles which makes it more difficult to pivot into a new area of finance without relevant experience.
Just curious, what kind of comp are you targeting in Corp Dev / startup positions?
Impressed you could save that much money so quickly. Lower COL area?
He has that saved for now until he pays his 22 tax bill lol
You really think you can quit with no notice and not burn a bridge?
Why would you even consider doing that? Sounds like your main issue is you're bored, not that you're burned out. And you really think it's wise to quit and leave the same day, instead of sticking it out for two weeks with no pressure (because you will know the end is very near)?
When making decisions in the future, I suggest you put yourself in another person's shoes before deciding what to do.
To reiterate, quitting and leaving on same day is understandable if there's a mental health issue. But doing so just because "you don't feel like working anymore" is really bad form.
And I can guarantee, most of that goodwill you've built up with your team the last 1.5 years? Will be gone in a second once you quit-and-leave.
I'm not too sure how IBD exactly handled layoffs but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a you lose access to everything day of and find out through an email type of situation. The megacorp can screw you over at any time with 0 empathy.
In this situation I agree with you. Not like OP has another offer lined up that could get rescinded at moments notice. In this scenario it doesn't make a difference if OP gives 2 weeks notice or not so might as well give 2 weeks notice. Everyone will know that you are leaving so you could just coast those last 2 weeks anyways
I saw two sides of this coin. When I was laid off late last year, had no computer access immediately and left the office within five minutes. Had a colleague quit that same week and he stayed to finish out his last two weeks. I think OP would retain the most goodwill by offering to work the two weeks and might not be required to anyway considering the confidential information involved in most deals.
Slave
Thanks for the helpful life advice intern.
Keep looking for a job while you're still employed. I just spent the last few months looking for a new job. Just found one and it would have been much easier if I had still been employed while looking. It makes a big difference in interviews when your story is "I'm looking for a change of pace from current bank" versus "we had broad layoffs" or "I quit for XYZ reason." Completely understand why you'd want to leave IB but I think you'll have a better shot at a good exit by staying a little longer to line things up. Best of luck man
I would strongly advise against quitting until you have something lined up, and that something is a signed contract for a job that you can be reasonably confident will make you happier, taking into account your work, comp, colleagues, location, hours, commute, career path, etc.
Job market is incredibly bad during this time. I was in the same boat and left right around the two year mark to recruit for other jobs outside of PE and IB. I thought I’d be a shoo-in for so many easy jobs but nothing at all has materialized in the last few months. Competition for these open roles seems to be a lot tougher than before, just be cautious before making that decision.
Which jobs would be shoo-in? Corporate stuff?
Yeah, Corp strategy, basic financial analyst roles, etc. Not even able to get HR calls for most jobs I’ve applied to. It’s tough out here
Quit with nothing lined up after my year 1 bonus and was the smartest decision I’ve ever made. Would have gained nothing staying in IB (except maybe getting laid off, continuing to grind on meaningless bs, and then getting a dog shit bonus). instead I got to take a few months off and commit to recruiting for companies and jobs I cared about. Ended up landing an offer at a great startup with the same/if not more pay then analyst 2 pay (prob more given way bonuses will play out this year).
Will caveat this with the fact that recruiting does take some luck, but the time I had to reflect deeply on what I wanted to do with my career, what I liked and was good at etc was extremely invaluable and was something I couldnt have done during a brutal IB stint. Also, it’s just pretty satisfying to bet on yourself and take a risk and have it pay off if you work hard enough (you will be fine as you have 100k in savings). There’s pretty little downside and tons of upside imo. Everyone in finance is pretty risk averse so take advice with a grain of salt (including mine) but just sharing my experience in case it provides a different perspective compared to the others here.
TLDR: I did this same thing with even less banking experience and it worked out better than I could have imagined. No one cares at all outside of the services industry bubble about quitting IB (most people in tech actually respected it).
What resources did you use to find your start up or start up(s) to interview for?
It sounds like you’re just apathetic to work (like most people in banking) and your team isn’t toxic, so I would suggest to keep doing what you’re doing and leave once you secure an offer.
You’re super young with no real dependents or responsibilities, life just gets harder to juggle. So I know quitting will seem freeing, but in the event you don’t land a new job quick, life will get boring and you’ll have to eventually explain to people a growing work gap on your resume. I feel like upside to quitting is capped, whereas the downside is unlimited. I’d compare the risk to shorting a stock, huge downside risk.
Most replies you will get will say mental health is paramount, quit as soon as you want and life is too short to work in toxic banking.
Just keep in mind most people giving you that advice are your age, and have zero perspective from a long life or career. So just be wary of quitting with nothing lined up. It’s adding unnecessary stress and risk.
As to quitting and not burning bridges, if you say you are not going to a competitor bank and leaving for health reasons, no one will begrudge you at all. So that’s pretty easy to navigate.
Any chance you can try to take a vacation in the coming weeks? Will both give you something to look forward to, knock out another week of work, and (ideally) help refresh. Even if you do a staycation (I did this between banking and PE just to catch up on life), which won't be too expensive (to help you save) or exhausting. You could even prep for interviews during it.
Sounds like you are starting to burn out (as I had after banking + PE), which is totally understandable. There are definitely methods to help stave off burnout (Therapy, anti-anxiety meds) that you can explore at your own pace. They definitely helped me take my mind off of work and compartmentalize / separate work from life.
That leads to my next point -- try to take a step back from work a bit. Allow yourself a little more time to respond to emails, push back on deadlines / requests a bit more, plan things during the week (even if it's just a night in to rest up) that help break up the week and help you have things to look forward to in the week.
Now that you're a second year with a good reputation, associates will be more likely to give you leeway on these types of things. None of this all is meant to be a perfect answer or cure all, but should help you carve out more time for recruiting and hopefully increase your longevity in your current role. Who knows, maybe you'll wake up and it'll be August and that last bonus is a lot closer than it feels. Or, you're able to find a role by then. I guess this sounds like 'quite quitting' but I prefer to think about it as setting more boundaries and creating a more healthy WLB, which you've earned through your 1.5 years.
Hope this helps.
Don't ring the bell. Keep grinding until you secure another job.
(don't know your background info), but assuming your health is not suffering (i.e. mentally) from work, I suggest to tough it out.
1.5 yrs in IB is literally nothing, and highly recommend to tough it up until you land your next gig.
Not trying to be an ass, but 1.5 years experience, no exit opps yet, no interest in finance, and yet you want to quit hoping quitting will help you land an exit opp?
I got new for you kid, a lot of these "Exit opps" outside of finance, are far less stimulating..
suggest to look both internally (i.e. hobbies, interests out of wide) and externally (coaching, mentor, outside help) to push you forward in IB, but also set you up for life later on. Yes you don't like IB, so what next?
Hey, just curious from a partners perspective how would you look at someone for an associate job that did 2 years in MM M&A then went in the army and was in special forces for 4 years. Then wants to come back to PE as an associate? Say the guy is like 28 years old.
Bro, go to europe for 6 months. Travel, live life. Assuming you’re 24-25 you have the rest of your life to work.
Straight up quit and book a flight to Europe or South Am and just use some savings for some you time.
Awful advice
Easy way to doom your future and set yourself back 5 years or so
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