I can produce references for direct reports of senior members about why I left and to speak to my work ethic. But should I be worried? HHs say they can’t market me on a relative basis, but I personally think it’s bullshit. I have legitimate, non-performance related reasons for choosing to leave.
What’s normal perception, specifically for high finance on the buy side and corporate finance managers?
As long as you can spin it in your favor you will be fine.
Keep in mind that in the current working environment, switching jobs is considered somewhat normal; however, there are some people/recruiters who do not believe this is so. If you can produce references, show you are smart and have logical, thought out process for the moves, I wouldn't worry. And don't just say "I went her for more money, but my manager sucked, so I went here for more money." You want to have reasons for your switch, but you don't want the next hiring manager to think you are out the door within a year.
One final point, 3 years experience at 3 jobs you should have an idea of what you want to do, and the next job you NEED to stay their for a couple of years. 3 years/3 jobs isn't bad, but if those are your only three years of work experience, you don't want to get to 6 years/6 jobs, then you look like a flight risk.
Thanks for your thoughts. Very helpful and encouraging.
How come you have left 3 jobs in 3 years? Is there a logical linear progression, i.e. boutique -> MM -> BB, or something that generally makes sense? Especially if these are your first three years post- undergrad, as you already well know, you might be perceived or branded as either a flight risk, underperformer, or career-indecisive individual.
The issue isn't whether you have legitimate reasons. To you, your reasons will always be legitimate. The issue is how long it takes you to explain your reasons in an interview setting, and whether it "makes sense". If it's a two minute explanation, you're already playing catch-up. You lose the person's attention and lose the good faith they had; that's also two less minutes you have convincing your interviewer of your "individual value proposition". As I'm sure you know, you never want to be playing defense. I think the takeaway from my rambling is to find the fastest way to explain, and most logical way to spin, your circumstances.
Thanks for your candidness. Will certainly keep these thoughts in mind
did you switch because you............. bankedup?
On the surface, 3 consecutive jobs of 1 year each, does raise eyebrows. From the standpoint of the recruiter and hiring manager, some reasons are simply more legitimate than others. They include but are not limited to the following:
You need a coherent story and sell it effectively during the interviews. If you have a series of short stints, it simply become more difficult to tell such a story that is both plausible and convincing. I generally have a 2-year rule for any role, meaning that if I leave a role in less than that time, I come up with a list of compelling reasons of why I made that decision and market my story for each role I'm interviewing for.
I spent just over a year in a role right out of school, and its always brought up in interviews.
Usually a variant of "So why'd you leave after a year?" and I say because I found that I enjoyed X and Y rather than B and C during the year, and that I started to explore other opportunities that would give me the responsibilities I was looking for (X and Y). I've told myself that spiel enough times now that I actually believe it, but in hindsight I definitely left because I got another role that paid more.
I don't think you should be worried about it, because it is your reality now and you can't avoid it, I'd just spend energy thinking of how best to spin the reasons why you left because at this point it's all that matters. Just make sure it's a positive reason... like you learned everything you could learn and wanted to build on that knowledge/skillset... I'd avoid giving negative reasons but if I absolutely had to I'd say I was worried about the groups prospects and possible restructurings or even that the role was miss-sold to me at the outset.
All stoic and shit
Edit: So to actually answer your question, on the perception, yeah most will view it as a negative but WHEN you do get infront of an interviewer, spin your reasons for leaving well and knock it out of the park with the rest of the interview and IF they ding you based on the length of time you've been in those roles then fuck them, you probably wouldn't want to work there anyway. 'All is perception - Marcus Aurelius'
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