Taking a few months off before starting new job

Guys,

I decided to take a few months off prior to starting my job as I am completely burnt out by my current job and just wanted to devote a few months to do things I am passionate about/ interested in.

Would the new employer be bothered by this or they would not care less? How should I speak with them to make sure they are ok?

Thanks guys!

26 Comments
 

Wow, that's exactly what I wanted to do when I was changing jobs. Had a hard time finding a group to do short term volunteering.

Can you hit me up with where you got involved? Would be great for the next job change.

 

It depends on how urgently they need you to backfill a role. This isn't like your first job out of college where you have a few months off before working. For experienced hires, hiring manager will usually want you to start ASAP unless you have a good reason. Think about it - they won't want to make you an offer and wait 4 months for you to start (people reneg all the time so if you decide 90 days into your break, the hiring company just wasted 3 months and needs to start over). Similarly, you're also leaving yourself exposed that your open position disappears while you're on your extended break so keep that in mind as well.

 

Take. the. time. Take the time. Learn from my mistakes - I always worked right up until the next job, worked right up until the start of business school, and worked internships during school. Stupid! Take as much time as you can whenever you can.

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.
 

If the hiring date is already set, and you're not planning on moving it back to do this trip, just don't mention it to them until you've started. Unless your volunteer work is "euthanizing children while wearing company swag", it's none of their business what you do with your free time, anyway.

"There's nothing you can do if you're too scared to try." - Nickel Creek
 

MBA programs will like either. I was surprised by how much they asked about "global experience" in essays. This would be a universal positive and a differentiator versus all of the undergraduate-->Banking/Consulting-->B-School routes.

If you left a role and had a resume gap and weren't either fired or useless during your break.

Nothing short of everything will really do.
 

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