IB Analyst Year 1 Who Quit for Family Reasons - How Much Time to Take Off?
In February, I faced the difficult decision of leaving my 6-7 months old job as an IB analyst in NYC to take care of my parent who was diagnosed with cancer. As I reside on the West Coast, it added to the complexity of the situation. Right now I am in the middle of taking a few months off to travel, spend quality time with my family, and recharge myself, as I feel the need for a mental health break and quality care with my parent before embarking on a new journey.
The only issue is that my ideal start date for a new opportunity would be in July or June, and I am aware that most jobs hire as needed and immediately, which makes me wonder when and how should I approach recruiting. Any advice on how to navigate this situation would be greatly appreciated. Also, how much will this gap matter when looking for new opps and in my career overall?
I would like to note that I am still interested in investment banking and potentially other options in high finance if available. I still liked what I was doing but it was difficult to see your parent struggling when you're so far away in NY.
Completely understandable. Any chance your old group would take you back if you would want to go back there?
Wouldn't be an option, but would want to work for a new firm regardless. Didn't enjoy it the most.
I am really sorry you’re going through this right now. To be honest I wouldn’t worry too much about the gap, it’s such an explainable reason. Please don’t get caught up in the rat race right now and be with your family.
Sounds good. Any tips on what to do to recruit again - just reach out to HHs?
I would be honest with your employer, and let them know what's happening. Tell them that you have a very ill family member and need to attend to them. If they understand, they will commend your decision, and they'll be more than happy to let you "interview" back again. If they don't care/unhelpful, fuck them as people. The reason I recommend this is because lets say you resign with them and they don't take it well without you giving them the reason you stated, they still won't be the best for a reference anyways, right? So that's why I would be honest, tell them it pains you to do this but this is important right now.
I just want to say that I commend you, OP. Any reasonable group will COMPLETELY understand when it's time to cross that bridge and re-join the workforce. So take the time now to be with your loved ones.
I think applying through online portals may be difficult with an early gap, but any networking email that mentions you took some time off to care for an ill family member will be well-received. (I wouldn't mention the mental health break / traveling, keep it to that one reason)
I'd start looking around sooner than later if you want to start this summer. If you need more time, take it. But processes take a while to move and background checks alone can take 3-4 weeks. I'd plan on at least 3-6 months to find a new job once you start looking.
IB may be tough just due to 1) limited time in the job, won't be competitive for lateral analyst vs. others with a full year of experience and 2) more importantly, next to no junior hiring market right now. But I see plenty of analyst opportunities in other areas of finance. Most of these do not go through HHs and just recruit directly. Start spending an hour or so a day on LinkedIn seeing what postings or careers interest you, and track down someone in that group to hop on the phone.
Thanks for the advice! Do you have any examples on non-IB roles your comment would apply to?
While I am planning to look soon, another worry of mine is that most roles now are as-needed and they would probably want me to start sooner rather than later if that makes sense but I still want more time to be with my family.
Cast a wide net right now - asset management, FP&A, strategy, corp dev, IR etc. It's a bit tricky with 6 months experience because you're more or less a grad analyst but will be competing with more experienced analysts for roles.
I agree but roles that are just starting applications now will have multiple interview rounds with a week in between... background check takes another month... I think you will very easily get to June start date if you applied right now. I also think you will need to expect it will take you a bit longer, few places really have analyst 1 openings so it may take a while for you to find a bunch of jobs you're even interested in.
Dude I don't want to be this guy, stop worrying about this right now, and please focus your mind on your ill family member. IB will always be here and it will also get rid of you on a bad day -- even knowing about your ill family member. Everyone on this forum will be here in six months. Forget about this man. Perspective.
Not a helpful comment, but hope your family member is doing ok.
Thanks, appreciate it.
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