Is Career Jumpiness Socially Acceptable?
2nd year analyst here at a lower BB - honestly I have NO fucking clue what I want to do in my life. Every time I hear about a different field I am so fascinated by it but, how else would you know that it's meant for you unless you try it?
I really want to work for a HF, but also wouldn't mind working in consulting and exploring PE Ops. I also....kind of think secondaries are interesting? I also....kind of want to do ECM?
I just want to try out a bunch of shit to see what I like. Is that cool? I feel like I've seen so many 30 year olds that have 1-2 year stints until they figure it out.
I'm 28 and have worked in 4 different companies now trying out different things. Worked in 2 of the big accounting firms in different areas, went into corporate development and now in PE.
I've always been told it's not the amount of moves, but do the moves make sense i.e. if your just lateralling into the exact same position at a different company over and over then that looks bad, but if you do something like go from PE to secondaries to ECM to HF, those are different fields and you can explain that through a story about finding what you like.
so I jumped around a lot, various industries and jobs. different regions as well and completely different companies.
It helped me secure promotions and I can explain it, but hiring managers generally dislike the fact I have only stayed a short amount of time at each employer (max 2 years).
My network is great, money is good, titles were/are good. but future hiring will be tricky.
I get rejected often when applying for jobs.
Can I ask what fields you worked in?
Finance-commercial, finance-consumer, tech-consumer, OEM-transportation, finance-commercial, entertainment, finance-consultancy (corporate global strategy), finance-PE, VC and more
Only the biggest names you can imagine, all of these companies are leaders in their respective industries. But due to the number of jobs and short tenures, no dice when I want an interview. Also difficult to network with people who I have only worked with for less than a year or so.
There are potentially two exit options if you have had significant exposure to an extremely diverse roster of clients:
1) consultancy (if not too old and they like you, plus if education is a fit)
2) gov work
Most important thing is finding a career/role that you will find fulfilling long-term. So, if that's what you are pursuing, then that matters most.
You do run the risk of people not wanting to hire you due to percieved lack of loyalty. This is a very real thing.
As an anecdote, I have a contact who did 2 years banking, 2 years PE, 2 years MBA, 2 years at a second PE fund, 2 years at a hedge fund, and then left for another hedge fund where they’ve been for 4 years now. It doesn’t seem to have hindered their career at all
doesn't seem out of the ordinary for finance careers?
The 2+2+2 is standard, the 2 year stints after that are maybe a bit jumpy, but that’s exactly my point - they’ve had a successful career and it hasn’t hurt them that they hadn’t been somewhere more than 2 years until the 6th move
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