Took 8 month career break post IB. Took a quick Corp Dev Job to pay bills, 2 months in. Now have interviews for my dream role. Do I include my new job on resume?
Left IB due to severe burnout after 2 years. Left and wanted time off. Took a career and mental health break, and traveled a bunch and was so glad I did, even though I know it was not super ideal.
I took this break for 8 months and now just recently 2 months ago started a Corp Dev M&A strategy role. I took the job as it was my first offer and just needed to earn again so I can start paying rent. I was unemployed for 8 months.
Issue now is my story. I have been networking like crazy for VC (my ultimate dream goal) and have 3 interviews all next week at different funds. None have seen my resume yet, I got these interviews through networking and inperson events. All 3 are in person and I am bringing my resume in next week.
Now the big question: Do I include my new Corp Dev role? It will only show for 2 months. Big issue I am thinking is wont they look at me very poorly / question why I am already shooting for a new role 2 months in? Reality is that I just accepted it to pay rent and get back in the work force ASAP but I know this will not fly in an interview obviously.
Or is my other option to not even include it / talk about it at all, and just now pretend I am finally recruiting again and looking for work?
Thank you.
Bumping for visibility. Good luck!
Wow I also quit IB, took a 6 month brake to travel, got a Strategy offer and then pivoted immediately got a dream offer at a VC. Hope it goes well for you🤙
For OP’s sake, what did you do in this situation? Did you put it on your resume?
Was interviewing for both at the same time, so didn't have OP's problem. Was able to leverage offers against each other. Maybe he can leave it off his resume but lie and say he has an offer instead.
Assuming you didn’t do nothing, talk about how you took time to volunteer, spend more time with family, etc. (don’t lie though). It’s not unheard of these days
Yes I would include the Corp Strat role - easy to sell the story that your ultimate goal was to move into VC if you are able to convey your passion for it in the interviews. What is the alternative, having them think you are still unemployed?
This might sound out of touch, but the idea of voluntarily quitting your job and taking 8 months off of work to travel because of burnout seems terrifying. Is this because you couldn’t find a job at all, or because you were taking your time, or because you have a lot of cash reserves from wealthy family, or something else? I understand taking 1 week vacation after a shocking layoff to clear your mind ahead of job search sprint but thinking about more than that puts me in like crippling financial anxiety territory. Voluntarily signing up for 0 cash flow in vs lots of cash flow out including travel expenses for 8 months? How?
Apologies if my first generation immigrant is showing. If I lost my job I would spend 100% of my time looking for a new job like a stray dog fighting for his life and accept the first (or one of the first 2-3) immediately. How does one have the confidence to approach it any other way? Do you not fear losing everything and becoming homeless?
I don’t mean to be critical, I just don’t understand this and I want to understand. I have also suffered from burnout in my IB career but have pushed through because I genuinely have no other option, I need income to survive. Are other bros in a completely different situation?
To answer your question with my personal opinion, my stance on this is to tell the truth. If you had accepted the role and were going to start in 6 weeks that’s one thing, but you’ve been in this role for 2 months, and trying to hide that is stretching it too far. I would own that. It might cause some friction in the short run, it might require some time crafting an explanation, but honesty and humility might be the answer here. A career and stage presence with a foundation of integrity will shine through in an interview, and even if it doesn’t get you the job this time, it’s the right type of person to be in the long run. I think the type of firm that hires you, is happy about the decision in 6 months, and that you succeed in, is probably going to be the type of firm that hears your (finely crafted and optimized) true story and has it resonate.
So at what net worth would you start to feel comfortable about quitting your job and traveling full time for 8 months ??
I have this exact same story (9 months break after 3.5 years in IB) except I am actually trying to get a Corp Dev gig now. Could you provide some advice on how long you took to get this Corp Dev role (from the time you started sending job apps to time you landed offer), what did you tell firms for the reason of your gap, how did they perceive the gap, and any comments on the overall Corp Dev market?
I started applying in October and got the offer in May.
I took time off / sort of relaxed, if I full gun to the wall mass applying for hours everyday and networking, probably could have had an offer in Feb / Jan. But do keep in mind it is tough out there so do not get discouraged.
I told jobs I left IB for personal / family reasons, and no one questioned it or dug deeper. Seems like the gap did not matter that much, as I obviously had it on resume and I ended up getting so many different interviews (corp dev, PE, IR, accounting, FP&A, etc).
Corp dev market seemed fine, I had around 10+ different interviews in corp dev all of which I would gladly take (meaning all super good companies and lots of hiring was going on). Market for corp dev is not amazing and on fire but there are many many opportunities out there (found most on linkedin).
On your end, why did you quit banking and why you targeting corp dev? For me it worked out amazing, making $220k all in this year, and I work probably 35 hours a week with 0 weekend work.
220k all-in for 35 hr weeks after 2 years of IB sounds amazing. Can you say what type of company it is (large public or PE portco etc) and was applying directly through Linkedin postings enough? Did you use any headhunters for the corporate side?
First of all brother, thank you for the reply. Like I said, exact same story as you copy pasted: "Left IB due to severe burnout after [3.5] years. Left and wanted time off. Took a career and mental health break, and traveled a bunch and was so glad I did, even though I know it was not super ideal."
I'm targeting Corp Dev only. Reason is mainly while I hated the advisory aspect of banking, I didn't mind the M&A part of the job at all, and actually enjoyed the intellectually stimulating work. Literally just wanted the same job, but less hours, so thought to do Corp Dev. Would love to hear your take on why you aimed for this as well. And obviously, yeah the 220K all in, 35h week sounds pretty fucking great lmao.
I actually started full gun to the wall applying in mid September, treating it as a full time job (what else am I gonna do). It's great to hear you giving the window Feb / Jan of when you would have expected to land if you did that too, so I guess for me I should land something by Jan / December?
A month in and yeah I echo your observation, none of the interviews I've had had asked me too deeply on the gap, but I guess they already saw the gap on my resume before extending me the interview.
I want to ask:
I'm asking a ton here but only because It's super rare to find someone in the exact same scenario as me on this forum lmao.
Aliquid incidunt ea odit quo. Facilis qui sed optio vitae.
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