Quitting With Nothing Lined Up

No job on earth is worth your health, so if you feel like it is taking an irreversible toll on you then get out. Something will work out.

With that said, it is much easier to recruit for a job when you have a job so I would make quitting low on the list of options if there are any better alternatives. If you had done a full year or two then it may be different as you would have the "cache" of PE at that point and could afford to chill for a bit as well as alot more liquidity post bonus but at this point if you leave now your days of PE / HF at any large firm will most likely be done (nothing is ever definitive). I would pivot quickly to a startup role as that would be a "good reason" to leave this soon and will be much different than PE with just as much upside depending on the role. 

In this market all I can see is good luck, you'll need it. 

As others have said nothing is worth almost dying over / completely destruction of health & wellbeing

But with that said sometimes there is a way forward that you can’t see right this second. But might be able to see if you zoom out 3-6-9 months or more. I know easier said than done.

If it’s 0% and you’ve made up your mind then do it. But as others have said in this market, lateraling to another major PE/HF would be very tough, the lateral market is just so bad

Personally I would try to somehow gut it out for a year and/or keep trudging along while seeing if you can line up something up more entrepreneurial. It’s going to suck but if you take a deep breath and take it in baby steps it’s possible. Rather than quit on the spot. Best of luck soldier.

I left a very sweating banking group after 3 years without anything, chilled for 3 months, recruited for 2 and got a startup job that pays well and that I’m really liking 

As others have pointed out, qutting before having the next offer in hand will rule out anything else in high finance.

Should be fine to quit and find a startup role though - they’ll be more sympathetic to your reasons for quitting and won’t care as much about the potential resume gap.

Would echo what others are saying that you should start setting some boundaries. At minimum start carving out 4 hours on a Saturday for job searching, gym, etc. Try and jam a bunch of applications in on Sat and field any potential first round interview emails during the week.

Start trying to carve out boundaries like everyone else has said and half ass deliverables. When given something to do, think of what is the minimum amount of work I need to go to get to a directionally accurate answer. Aim to be a B to B+ associate. 

I would try to make it to the 1 year mark so you get some credit for your time in PE and so you can leverage this experience to get your next role. At the one year mark, you can likely quit with nothing lined up and still be able to claim you had “PE Experience” when looking for your next job. 

I would just quit man. It can be tough to break out of the mindset while you’re in it. But just need to clear your head and think about what’s right for you. Having a few months to recruit could actually be quite good for you to be deliberate about a next step

First off, you’re not alone. Most of us hate our jobs and want to quit. Sounds like you got unlucky with your group like you mentioned.

I myself quit my Associate PC job last year with nothing lined up and spent ~6 months unemployed. Elite tier 6 months. Your health, wellness, spirit, happiness all sky rocket.

Only thing you need to make sure is that you have the financial means / savings to live without income for 6-12 months (likely won’t be this long but you never know). Know your monthly burn rate and back into how much you’d need. Then, travel, spend time with friends / family, meditate, work out, date if you want, literally just find some peace and get right before doing anything else.

Know there are PLENTY of finance jobs, so worst case you get right back into the same field PE / HF / VC / IB even and probably have better balance than you do now so automatically a step up. Otherwise, you could buy a business (what I did), start a business, go corporate, join a startup, find a remote job, change industry / career path altogether. You have great experience, proved you can work hard, and likely some good references if needed. Headhunters will still want you. And pretty much everywhere wants hardworking, strong background dudes.

Long story short, don’t worry about what you’ll do next. Free your time, get healthy and breathe for a second. The rest will follow. Also, quitting seems scary, but it’s the most liberating feeling in the world.

do not do this the job market is terrible I've been unemployed 1.5 years (working for a startup in meantime) but for finance unless you're a rockstar for any kind of role/know an MD its super hard to even get interviews. I'd recommend against it, think of perspective atleast ur in the FO. I'm tryin to get trade support/ TA role for god sake and cant even do that.

Don't have much to add, but I think the general summary is:

1. Not the end of the world to quit without something else lined up
2. That said, it's far easier to recruit while you have a job, so think about that carefully. Job market and economic is kind of choppy.
3. Push back, as someone above said, what's the worst thing that happens? You get yelled at and fired? Great, maybe you pick up some severance then. When you're younger and/or getting crushed, it's easy to get caught up in the chaos of feeling like there is no way out. The reality is, what you're doing isn't life/death and if the people you work with are so unreasonable, then fuck em, be "unreasonable" back, tell everyone you have a significant personal matter to attend to and turn your phone off. Schedule a meeting with your VP/Principal and tell them you're drowning and need some support, see what they say.
4. Last thing, I'd think about the money you have saved and what your personal burn rate is. Assuming you're living in NYC or another major city. Could you go a year at current rent/expenses and not have that be too big of an impact? If so, great, gives you more of a reason to quit. If you're going to be stressing about your $6k/month apartment and after three months are going to be stressing over money, then you should maybe plan a bit as to when you'll need a job/income and how that all works out.

End of the day, a job isn't worth your health, as they say "a healthy man dreams of a 100 things, a sick man dreams of one" With that, I'd try a little harder to push back at work and at least give yourself a couple of months to earn a little more income as you search for a job. It's harder to fire people than you think, you typically have to be really bad, I'd try and quiet quit a bit so you can at least say you did a year of PE.

I did and I was landing interviews while in my IB job but ultimately my attitude/mood was so bad during my final months in banking I wasn't able to really interview all that well. Taking time off made it easier which really matters for non finance roles where people are more pleasant 

Bump, dealing with a very similar situation here, so if anyone can provide insight on this post, it would be greatly appreciated. 

I don't know if anyone else has felt this way, but I genuinely HATE my ASO class - they're all just a bunch of privileged trust fund hardos who could not run a fast food joint if their lives depended on it. What's also weird is that some of them came from schools like Duke and Dartmouth, which do not have undergrad business programs, yet they're some of the biggest hardos I have ever dealt with. They mostly majored in the humanities, yet these NPCs in my bullpen got NOTHING human about them. It's so sad that I have to see and deal with these soulless rubber people every single day. 

And the overall vibe at my firm? It’s like a morgue. Except everyone’s alive, but barely. You’ll feel like a zombie just trudging through the day in a haze of fear and micromanagement. Everyone walks on eggshells 24/7, terrified of making a wrong move, constantly being scrutinized by managers who couldn’t manage a circus, let alone a financial firm.

Trying to bolt to HF or VC or MM PE, but I am not getting much traction from the dead job market, which is so upsetting because I did EB IBD Top Group before this and graduated with honors from an Ivy before that. 

Any and all advice, and kind words, are much appreciated, as after writing this comment, I have to go back to dealing with my snake pit of an ASO class. 

Take a few minutes to apply to become a mentor for wso... I think with your background 95% chance we at least interview you for a mentor role within wso academy which has steady flow of mentee sessions ... If you have that in your back pocket and you are passionate about mentoring students looking to break in, that would give you at least some cash flow while you look for your next gig so you're not dipping way into savings... 

If you really love working for us, the program is growing fast and we're fully remote, and flexible hours... Of course the pay typically doesn't  hit PE megafund levels, but a lot of our mentors inside academy have used their passion for helping students and mentoring with wso to build a pretty great lifestyle. 

Either way, wishing you luck! 

Patrick 

Hey man just wanted to let you know I was at a Tier 1 firm in tech investing and I quit with nothing lined up and it's ok. As long as you have the self confidence to just look people in the eye when they ask what you do and say I'm unemployed and fuck what they think, you'll be fine. Plenty of job opportunities, people are understanding... I took more than 6 months off just to play video games and travel and catch up on time with friends. 

Five years ago when I recently finished my Associate program, someone asked this same exact question on the forum. I advised them to stay until the end of the two years because the benefits of staying are large. That is true. But the reality is that if you know you're out, you know you're out, and that's OK, and you'll be fine. This is perspective I could only have gained by taking the plunge myself.

With the paths you laid out, each one has a unique element to breaking in. With startups, you'll have to move to NYC or SF. With VC, you'll have to move to SF. Both of those require a completely different socialization. Think about all the friends you have from banking, PE, finance circles... you basically need to spin that up in the startup world and have friends and colleagues there. There are lots of ways to go about this, whether it's independent research, side of desk projects for startups while you find your way, throwing parties, YC, lots of different things at different stages.

To the people who say it rules out anything in high finance, that's just not true, I can tell you that myself having done it. People are willing to take the call if you explain yourself, have legitimate interests in what they're doing, and position yourself as a real human being who is capable and motivated in their strategy. It's a completely different game than headhunter driven processes. It involves meeting people, developing expertise, and positioning yourself in a way that people say yea I get where this guy is coming from and he is worth engaging with. It's just a different avenue of recruiting and it may be harder but it's available to you.

Actually quitting by handing in your resignation is a suboptimal approach. You are much better structuring some type of off-ramping or severance package. What I would do:

• Speak with your peers to see how they are feeling in general. See if you can align PTO (you take some time they take some time, etc). Low probability but worth a shot.
• Approach your boss (would go straight to MD if possible) and say that you have some family events scheduled and PTO allocated and gauge the reaction. Be firm that you are taking time and confirm it again in an email prior to taking it.
• Clear your head during PTO, see how you feel. 

Next steps if PTO is not granted or completely ignored, which seems likely

• Re approach and say that you are disappointed time was not honored , etc and you need time off. When can you have it?
• If never, just say you are taking it anyways (which you are entitled to). If that is met with huge resistance then just take it and come back or say you are willing to work on an off-ramp.
• Document everything and involve HR as necessary

Basically, be firm and force their hand to either i) grant PTO ii) sever you iii) work on a transition plan