Small Business Banking or Investment Management

I've been a credit analyst for 6 months at a small bank (~$2B in assets) in a major southern city. I spend my day "analyzing" loans--I use "analyzing" lightly as there is such a lack of rigor and depth required. I thought I would like the easy-going, 40 hr work week and the pretty straight-forward career path. I even thought I would like and respect small business owners. I was wrong. My days are slow, and the lenders I support are the least interesting people I've ever met. I spend more time thumbing throw tax returns than I do anything else. My job could be reduced to a computer program and some kid with an associates if management would make the investment in IT. The amount of asinine regulation heaped on banks doesn't help either.

After a few particularly long, slow weeks peppered with putting together loan packages for $500K home construction loans and $100K lines of credit, I decided to look around on LinkedIn for a new gig. I know that leaving a job (particularly a first job out of school like this one) after 6 months is career suicide, but I decided to look around anyway.

Cut to a few weeks into my search and I stumbled across a posting for a small investment management firm. Their AUM is $250MM to $350MM. The firm has around 10 employees. I interviewed and, pending a background check, will get an offer this week. I'm more certain than not that my salary and benefits will not be negatively affected by this switch.

My issue is this: The market is not looking strong. If it does take a dive and AUM shrinks, then I would be the first fat cut at the firm. My current employer is strong enough to weather a pretty severe storm without laying anybody off. Would making the jump now, given the uncertainty of the market, be a foolish move? And, would having a 6-month job be detrimental to a job search in, say, 5 years?