Ask the Expert: Is three years too early for a career break?
Life is for living and if you really want to take a year out to go to Australia, then there's a strong argument for doing it now while you have fewer financial and family responsibilities.
With three years' experience under your belt, you have a reasonable grounding and credit analysis is the kind of area where it is usually possible to find jobs - if you worked in private equity, say, or some other field where the junior jobs are like gold dust, you'd have to think much more carefully.
In order to maximise your chances of getting a reasonable job on your return, plan you trip carefully, lay some groundwork before you leave and think about how you will spend your time while you're away. Imagine writing your CV a year down the line. What would you like to be able to say about how you spent your time? What did you learn from the experience and what new skills did you acquire?
Also talk to your employer first. If they rate you, they might well offer you a job on your return. You are unlikely to get a guarantee before you leave, but if you've networked your way around several people in the organisation before going off, and got back in touch a month before your return, you'll have a much better chance when you get back.
Think about whether there is any relevant work you could do in Australia and make any contacts you can here before you go - does your employer have any offices in Auz? Even if there isn't a job for you, perhaps you could pop in for a visit.
Two words of caution: You must be prepared to re-enter the job market at a lower level than before and work your way up again. Secondly - you might find that the experience of being away for a year is such a life changing one that you don't want to work in investment banking at all any more. Often when people take a year out, the last thing they can imagine doing is what they were doing before.
A Reader Advises
Don't do it. Nobody is going to wait for you.You have been incredibly lucky to get into the system and might not have that luck again in a year. Headhunters won't help you because you will be unemployed, graduate programs won't work because you've already done one. You will have to rely on the manager who thinks that someone coming from a year off under the sun is better for the job that another guy at a competitive firm... As for the "is it too early?" question. What I just described will only get worse as you get older. The only difference is that you might know more people by then. Knowing people, however, does not mean that they will give you a hand when you most need it.
Next week's question: Does continuity of employment break if an employee gives written notice of termination and is reengaged again at the end of the notice period?
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