Leaving a job within a few months of starting

Question

Hi all - I have an offer for a corporate finance role coming from an IB analyst background. I'm honestly not excited about the role, but figure something is better than nothing considering I was laid off a few months ago. How big of a deal would it be to accept this, start the job, and leave in a few months once I find something else? This company wants me to start towards the end of May, so I can't really just accept and renege before starting.

Really not sure how to play this situation. I have 3 other processes for traditional buyside I am going to try to accelerate, but not sure how that will go.

Really not sure how to play this situation.

notmymain · Accepted Answer

Hey man - similar situation to you. Accepted a corporate role that I wasn't excited about to pay the bills and give me some cover while looking elsewhere.

The way I'm approaching it is to keep applying and leave it off the resume. If I don't find something in 6 months then I'll add it on at that point. If I find something before 6-9 months then I'll just take it off my resume permanently and replace it with the new gig.

This is probably not a best practice, but just sharing my experience for perspective.

Good luck and I hope you find a role that you're really excited about.

notmymain · Answer

Original commenter here - I couldn't find anything better so I've been stuck in that job for ~2 years. I eventually updated my LinkedIn and resume after 9 months . Currently in a corp dev role that has since morphed into 100% "strategy" work - no deal flow and haven't looked at anything seriously in my 2 years here.

Market seems to be horrible so I haven't managed to find any decent m&a opportunities. Tried recruiting for other corp dev jobs but don't have strong enough prior m&a experience to make the jump.

Anonymous Monkey · Answer

OP, glad you landed on your feet.

Am currently in the same situation. An2 was let go of, unemployed for a few months, and now doing corp dev for a firm in my former coverage area.

The hours (~20-30/week) are really good for the pay (same base as banking but lower bonus) and I like my new team more. I am 2 months in and I feel like I am not learning as much as in my previous role and will lose out on the compounding comp progression of high finance.

Not sure how to proceed here.

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Leaving a job within a few months of starting

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Leaving a job within a few months of starting

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