Career Advice - Burnout and Exiting IB

Hey guys - thanks in advance for taking the time to read and opine. Hopefully this can a helpful discussion and reference point for people who are currently burned out or unhappy with banking and are evaluating next steps.

For background - I'm a current analyst at a MM bank (BMO / Stifel / Piper). I made a post on WSO a while back about dealing with mental health issues in banking, and the responses I received regarding mental health and burnout were incredibly helpful and motivating, so I'm hoping that I can gain some similar insights as I evaluate next steps in my career

Despite wanting to quit late last year, I managed to push through a few more months to focus on recruiting. The advice that I received from friends, family, and WSO all agreed that it's easier to find a new job while still being employed, and that I should only quit with nothing lined up if I had no other options. I took this advice to heart and tried to push back on staffings, reduce effort / work quality, and in general "phoned it in" while still employed so that I could focus on recruiting.

After a few months of interviewing, I received an offer for a corp dev associate role. I was also involved in some other processes for corp dev, credit, and niche private markets investing roles like secondaries, but nothing panned out and this was the only process that yielded an offer. At first I was over the moon that I had a new opportunity that would allow me to leave banking and able to pursue a more normal lifestyle where I could focus on improving my mental health; however, I've recently been second guessing myself and whether to take the offer, especially after discussing with mentors and friends in the industry who have cautioned me not to jump on the first lifeboat out of banking. Below are some considerations:

Pros / reasons to take the offer:

• Get to leave banking asap and rebuild my physical and mental health with a more manageable schedule

• C-Suite exposure and opportunity to learn how to grow a business organically / inorganically. Hopefully would be valuable pre-business school experience

• In theory, more interesting / meaningful work that will still be relevant for my career and allow me to build an M&A skillset. My experience at my bank has consisted almost entirely of building PPT presentations at all hours of the day, and I'm not sure if another 6-12 months would materially improve my skillset  

• Have time for hobbies that I appreciate. Would start foreign language classes, volunteering in the mental health space to try to help others struggling with similar issues, and have time to start rebuilding my social life

• My bank's brand is not super strong and a better exit in the short term may not be attainable considering market conditions. I'm concerned that I'll be hit with a heavy wave of work and could end up finding myself in the situation I was in previously (i.e., wanting to quit with nothing lined up in a terrible job market)

• Was about to bounce with nothing lined up a few months ago and have a nasty resume gap where I wasn't gaining any skills, experience, or money, and I can now avoid that

Cons / considerations:

• Branding of new company is not as strong as desired. Long term, would be interested in working for a large tech company like Amazon/Google in one of their corp dev teams, so would consider trying to lateral if the opportunity doesn't pan out / when I get my ducks in a row in my personal life

• FOMO from leaving "the path" and potentially reducing optionality or complicating ability to move to an investing role down the road when I have a stronger grip on my mental health 

• May reduce my desirability for certain finance roles by moving to a role like corp dev at this point in my career

• Meaningful comp discount relative to other improved WLB investing jobs that I'd been exploring like secondaries, credit etc. 

• Company has not been highly acquisitive historically and may not get to work on many deals

• Have heard from some friends who have exited that the corporate world can be "too chill", with some frustrated by comp and career progression

FWIW, have gotten a range of opinions from mentors and friends in the industry with most leaning towards taking it, but I wanted to get the forum's thoughts.

With these considerations in mind, does anyone have advice for navigating this type of a decision? I am super reluctant to turn down an offer given recent events in my personal life and the desire to leave banking, but I also don't want to feel like I'm making decisions purely as a result of hating my current job. I worked my ass off to get into my current seat, and there's a part of me that feels like I'm doing a disservice to my career by taking the first thing that I get.

I'm thinking that the worst case scenario is I don't love the role, and then have to network/interview to join a bigger CD platform in the technology space with better comp and branding, but curious to hear other's experience when leaving banking due to burnout/mental health/etc.

Any advice would be much appreciated!