I’m considering leaving my job to take a 6 month break due to personal/health reasons. I’m not sick, but want to spend time getting more fit and generally enjoy life with less stress etc. I have 15 years of experience and can afford to do this financially for 6 months. Would it be tough to get back to work after a break? Has anyone done this in the past and what was your experience? Do recruiters and companies see the break as a negative sign or are they understanding?
Do it! I did the same and didn’t have trouble when interviewing. If asked about the break, be honest.
15yoe and you only have enough money to last for 6 months, wtf? Shouldn't you be a multimillionaire by now and be able to retire early at will?
You need a lot more money to retire and live comfortably my friend. I could probably go for a year or 2, but I don’t want to lose a big part of my savings. 6 months seemed reasonable without causing a dent.
I disgree. 2M is more than enough to FIRE for anyone, assuming you'd move into a low CoL area and can live without excessive luxury. Invested in stocks that's $3k a month in dividends alone, about an average salary nationwide. In Europe you can even retire on 800k-1M just fine e.g. in Portugal
Thanks. Sounds reasonable.
If your skills are in high demand, maybe a month to find a new job. I went from no job to new job in 28 days once
I did it for 2.5 months. I was burned out and depressed so I made an appointment with a psychologist for counseling. She wrote me a reference letter and I took short term disability leave. Came back with a different perspective on how I look at my job and how to handle stress better. There will be a bit stigma if you come back to the same group so you might want to look for another job or a different group after this.
Agree with this recommendation. I had similar experience but mine was an unpaid leave. The time off (3 months) gave me my fire and mojo back, but my career growth stagnated over the subsequent 4 years. Lateral moves only. So, if you do have the option to go back, set yourself up so you land in a new team/role.
This looks like a good option, but I don’t have any visible issues except tired of work and no time and energy for anything else. I will explore this as well and see if it would work. I don’t want to return to my current team, so if I chose this I will look for a new job as soon as I return.
Absolutely explainable later as needed, while I’m sure others can give you better advice as to how to best position it at that time. I absolutely advise taking the break if you need it. I would consider whether I would rather, as a worst case scenario, look back at my life and worry I didn’t care enough for my career (sounds unlikely) or myself. As a matter of full disclosure, I wish my father had given himself a break before he absolutely had to, so I am admittedly biased on this question.
Thank you. I agree I really need the break!
Do what everyone else is telling you and find a new job with a six month away start date.
This is a great idea, but I’m not sure how easily I will find a job now, considering I have done no prep yet and I have not worked outside MS. I’ll give this a try before I quit for sure.
Make it your only option. Don’t quit till you have a job lined up for the future. It will take a ton of stress off your shoulders knowing when you quit your job you can truly relax without a worry in your mind.
Thank you so much for your comments and support everyone. It would be great to get additional insights from people about the challenges they faced when they tried to get back to work. Did everyone have a positive experience with the break, or did anyone find it hard to find a job later. I’m not great with interviews and I will need to prep really hard as I have only worked at MS until now.
One last thing wrt MS specifically. Have you thought about trying the sabbatical/other type of leave approach? That way you keep your job, but get this time off.
Try to get an offer somewhere else with a late starting date before leaving your current job and enjoy the free time before starting the new job.
Thanks so much. If I can pull this off, this would be the most ideal 😀