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Career Resources
Based on the most helpful WSO content, your situation resonates with a recurring theme: the tension between chasing a high-status career path like PE and pursuing a passion-driven career like cooking. Here's some perspective:
Passion vs. Opportunity Cost: While pursuing your passion for cooking is admirable, it's essential to weigh the opportunity cost. As highlighted in WSO threads, careers like restaurant management or sous chef roles can be fulfilling but come with challenges—long hours, high stress, and often lower financial upside compared to PE. The restaurant industry is notoriously tough, with high failure rates for new ventures and demanding work environments.
Long-Term Vision: If cooking truly excites you and you see yourself thriving in the culinary world, this could be the right move. The restaurant group you're considering seems to offer a strong platform for growth, potentially opening doors to global opportunities. However, ensure you have a clear long-term plan. Do you want to eventually own a restaurant, become an executive chef, or explore other culinary ventures? Having a roadmap will help you stay focused.
Financial Realities: As one WSO thread points out, the financial returns in the culinary world often pale in comparison to finance. If you're okay with potentially earning less in the long run but gaining personal fulfillment, then this trade-off might be worth it. However, if financial stability is a priority, you may want to explore ways to balance your passion with financial security—perhaps by keeping a foot in the finance world while pursuing cooking on the side initially.
Emotional Clarity: It's worth reflecting on whether this decision is a reaction to your breakup or a genuine realization of your true calling. As one WSO user aptly put it, "Be honest with yourself." Take time to ensure this isn't just a way to distance yourself from your ex's world but rather a step toward your authentic self.
Leverage Your Background: Your experience in PE prep and work isn't wasted. Skills like discipline, strategic thinking, and financial acumen can be valuable in the restaurant industry, especially if you aim to manage or own a business in the future. Consider how you can integrate these skills into your new path.
Ultimately, this decision is deeply personal. If cooking brings you joy and aligns with your values, it could be the right move. Just make sure you're entering this new chapter with your eyes wide open, fully aware of the challenges and trade-offs. And hey, if you ever decide to combine your finance background with your culinary passion, maybe "Private Equity Pizza" could be a thing!
Sources: Private Equity or Pizza Equity?, Feel like I'm going to be stuck in this job, what do I do?, Employment Dilemma, Fork in the road: Career path in Asset Management, Offer on Table and Unsure if Consistent with Long Term Goals
If you have any even slight interest in PE, now is the time to explore it. You will never have the chance to even try out this career path ever again. There is also a very material premium that is given in non-PE industries (corporate) to people who have any amount of PE experience, so it’s worth doing even if you quit after a year. It’s the finishing school banking was supposed to be, but never was.
If you hate it, you can always quit and start over and do the cooking thing (hopefully with a bit more in savings to fall back on). Or you can do your cooking thing on your weekends if you’re at a slower paced firm and confirm you’re still interested in it.
That said, if you’re 1000% sure you’re done with finance and with corporate, then do whatever you want but you will not have these same doors open again.
Yea, experiment with it first, for example I did soup kitchens on the weekends.
What are your 6-7 fav recipes?
Drop them.
I advise many to not mix passion with a career or job. It's different to cook on a weekend for a 5-people gathering, and it's completely different cooking the same 10 dishes over and over 5 days a week 365 days a year for 5 years (until you burnout).
It's also different to do something with a touch of freedom/crativity/your style vs. having to follow a very specific way just because someone else or the client expects it that way.
your choice of career should have a will to mastery attached to it, which is to say that you embrace fully the monotony or misery for the sole goal that in 5-10 years you have the experience to be an authority in a specific field
A wise sage among us heathens
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