Examples of Quitting w/o Job Lined Up? Nervous breakdown at work
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I’m nearing completion of two years in IB (one year at EB, another BB). The past year amid COVID wfh and getting paired up with the worst Associate for “experience” despite slow voicing of issues to staffers has finally led me to a full on nervous breakdown. I’ve dealt with mental health improvements my entire life but never a breakdown like this one before and seriously quitting without a job lined up. Even at my previous job I never had to deal with so much consistent stupidity to serve an Associate. I’m privileged to have enough savings to easily last me a year after growing up poor and saving like crazy, but too scared I won’t be able to find the next job unemployed.
My question to you all - what was your experience or people you know of quitting without anything lined up but “figuring it out?”
Haven’t personally done it but have had friends/coworkers do it. They spent 1-3 months of really taking a step back and thinking about what they wanted to do. It seemed to work out for all of them given their experience banking/Corp dev. They either changed careers completely (ie teaching kindergarten) or found company in an industry that they were deeply interested in.
Wrong comment response --
Man, I'm really sorry to hear about what you're going through. Are you saying you already quit or you're contemplating quitting suddenly? If the latter and you're having a true nervous breakdown, my suggestion is you take a sudden personal or sick day, disable all email notifications on your phone and turn calls and texts to do not disturb to gather yourself. Then, the following day, tell your staffer what you're going through dealing with this guy and that you absolutely need to be taken off the deal or have the associate taken off given what's happening. Follow up the call with an email recapping the conversation so that there's some paper trail. Your staffer should restaff the deal as they do not want to lose an experienced analyst, especially now. If your staffer is any good, they'll likely also restaff another deal or two to give you breathing room. Use that time to find your exit and decide what next move you really want to make.
check out my post & comment history😎
I quit my non-finance job without having one lined up during 2020. It took me ~7 months until I finally broke into industry and had an offer in hand for the exact role I was looking for. I had plenty of interviews along the way, but without any directly relevant experience I consistently came in 2nd place. Granted, I was at home during that time, so my overhead was basically nil.
If you know what you want to do in your next role, I'd say go for it. Even if you dont, that is something you can probably figure out in a few weeks after some reflection. You're at the 2 year mark, so you've made it a long way. Time to do what's best for you!
Honestly just quit. If there is ever a time to quit, it is now. Unless people have been living under a rock, they understand what investment banking entails (thanks to the GS news) and are much more compassionate given how the pandemic has affected work / life / priorities.
Take a few months to decompress and reassess what you are genuinely passionate. Figure out what career path best suits you and then pursue that. Going into interviews in a happy state and after doing genuine self reflection on what you want to do will put you in a good place. As long as you can put a positive spin on it and have good reviews, I do not think you will have any issues. Everyone I know who has left has had no issues landing interviews or had any pushback. Landing interviews in high finance related jobs has not been an issue either.
Do whatever makes you happiest. If you are having nervous breakdowns and miserable, it might be tough to effectively search for jobs, bring your best self to interview or know what you want to do.
If you want to create a burner account I can PM you. I was in exact same situation and left. Much happier for it and happy to talk about the experience.
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