Will I be able to get a job again if I take a sabbatical?
Currently burnt out second year associate due for a senior associate promo in a few months. I've been the "go to" associate for my group for high probability deals which has given me reps but also a lot of lingering stress. I know the traditional thing to do in this scenario is to go to b school and come out as a refreshed VP, but that seems to have extremely high opportunity cost with an increasingly shitty post-MBA VP recruiting market. I'd like to travel the world on the cheap for 6-12 months and pick up the job where I left off if possible. Entering my late 20s and it seems like once people have wives, kids, etc., that kind of thing just simply isn't possible.
Gonna be a tough sell but you should do it tbh
More helpfully, a way to do this might be to ask if you can get some operational experience by working at a portco for 6 months or something. Before you do that, you back channel and get the support of someone at the company and ensure that it can be a remote thing for a large portion of that. The thing is you are mortgaging your reputation as a high performer to afford this and it comes with risk. But that’s showbiz
Have you asked your fund for a sabbatical?
In the same boat, has anyone pulled this off in the past?
Just make some shit up about taking care of a sick person or you got sick or whatever. Don’t sweat life
NGL, we get so many resumes I auto-ding anyone who isn’t currently employed or outside 2 months of graduating b-school. But who knows what things will look like a year from now. It’s a definite risk.
So just put years then lol? 2022-2024 for e.g.
I’m a little confused here why you haven’t tried to talk to your current firm on taking the sabbitcal and going back to them … do you really need 6 months or would you actually need like 2-3 months in reality? If you’re a strong performer and forgoing business school, some firms would certainly not be opposed and in fact I believe many have that built into their asc -> s asc program.
I think you’d get bored for that long. 1.5-2 months would be perfect I think. You could also switch jobs and delay start for new job by that long as well
Get a portco gig inside your portfolio to “round out your experience.” Negotiate a 6-8 month employment window that also gives you 2-3 months of downtime before starting.
Depending on your relationship either fund, you can either be open about this leading up to the SA promo, or ask for it after you get it. I tend to believe that transparency is best, and if they like you enough they will appreciate it and understand where you are coming from. If they’re not receptive, I do think it’s a flag that the things aren’t gonna get better so I’d look for an exit somewhere.
You can go corp dev / finance manager at a sponsor backed company for a year or two to get operational experience and see if the PE market has rebounded by then.
Agree on some what's been said - you should ideally get your MD to bless you taking a short break (1-3 months, not 6-12), or volunteer to work at a portco for a few months and try to get that done remotely.
One thing worth considering is what your reentry into the PE market might look like (if that's what you want to do). I'd consider waiting another 6-12 months so you can work show future firms that you were good enough to get promoted.
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