Returning to IB -- When does the door close?

When does the door close on returning to the industry after leaving IB? Let's say you were a senior associate with 5 years of experience (A2A) when you voluntarily left, and you went off the radar doing non-finance stuff or nothing at all. Intuitively I would think the door closes around the 1.5 - 2 year mark which is pushing it. Probably job market dependent though too; in a scorching hot market like today with bananas deal flow, banks would still be desperate for mid-level talent. Thoughts?

4 Comments
 

I think in this market they would bring you back on as a senior associate/early VP level for another 5 years at least, maybe even more, as long as you had some explanation for what you were doing in the meantime. They won't hire a 50 year old VP1 20 years later, but you don't just lose the skills especially after only 2 years, and senior aso/VP level has a ton of turnover and few experienced people looking for a move.

 

I've seen a few VPs/Directors leave for Corp Dev/Strategy type of hybrid roles and eventually coming back to the same firm or another firm as a junior MD. Seen it at one particular EB but I don't think that MD is there anymore. Granted this may be exception because they were in one of the strongest names in their industry vertical and probably had a list of great contacts through networking in corporate.

 

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