If you have spent a couple years in the space, you probably have fantasized about just quitting your job and taking a few months off. Generally, the one major hangup for motivated, type A people, is the perception that it is nearly impossible to get a good job if you aren't currently employed.
I recently left my PE associate role, traveled overseas for several months and returned with no job / plans. It has been a tremendous experience and I figured I would share my key lessons for anyone who might be considering such a move. Particularly because the conventional wisdom is that you need to have a new job lined up before you take any time off to travel between jobs. So I definitely was going against the grain.
Here is the timeline: I finished my second year as an associate at a upper MM firm in New York and decided to spend several months traveling / backpacking overseas. After about 4 months of travel, I returned to NYC and ultimately took around another 4-5 months to find a job. While it took a long time, I was happy with the conclusion of my job search, securing a mid-level investment professional role at multi billon $ fund.
Here are some things to keep in mind if you want to go off the grid for a while:
- It is a little harder to get involved in headhunter processes if you're currently not working
- Some funds just won't be interested in hiring someone with a 4 month gap on their resume
- That being said, if you do take the time off, you still will get a fair amount of quality interviews (I came from a pretty solid shop before, however)
- The kinds of funds that would consider a candidate with this background is likely to be more open minded, less hierchical / prestige foused. Might be a bit tricky to get a job at a top end place like KKR, Carlyle etc
- You will get iced by a few headhunters who just don't want to get involved with someone with a vacation gap on resume
- At the firms I interviewed several rounds, the view of my time off was a) finding it funny / they are jealous they never had the chance / balls to do that or b) dont even care
- Looking for a job when you aren't currently employed requires a fair amount of confidence and patience
- Will need confidence to stick to your plan and hold our for right job
- Patience needed as sometimes you wait a week to hear back in some processes without the distraction of work to make the time fly.
Just trying to share the lessons learned. There aren't many resources out there discussing this sort of extended vacation, and figured this can be used as a resource. Feel free to DM directly with specific questions
Have you started your new job yet? If so, have you found a renewed interest in PE (or finance in general)? I've certainly thought about leaving for a few months and try to come back into finance. But always hesitated partially because it's a ballsy move, but also because I'm not sure that just cause I took a break for a few months, I'd find enjoyment in finance again. I suppose that's all the more reason to take time off and figure out what I'd want to do, but I'm not sure randomly taking a few months off would give me that clarity and it is quite scary thinking about leaving with nothing lined up.
Either way, congrats to you for taking the leap sounds awesome.
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