Think twice before taking a mental health breeak

In this issue:

• Think twice before taking a mental health break

• Some reasons as to why & how

• A story of how it’s going wrong with a good friend of mine

We’ve had a rough ~2 years, especially those working in tech.

Layoffs are occurring seemingly every day. The folks that weren’t laid off are stretched think working their a**s’ off because while headcount is down, company’s revenue & growth projections are only getting hired.

This is a recipe for burnout.

There are quite a few of you out there probably wondering to yourself if it’s worth it to take a few months of a mental health break to reset & recharge yourself before heading back to work and hitting the ground hard.

While that’s great in theory, I have one piece of advice: think twice.

While I personally don’t think breaks & gaps don’t matter, not everyone shares that same opinion.

Especially in an employer’s market like today, hiring teams are being pickier and pickier and have the ability to pick and choose whatever candidates they want. Unfortunately that effects the types of resumes they want to interview.

So do be a favor and at least consider the other side of the coin.

Here’s why 👇:

1: We’re in an employer’s market

Simply put, employer’s have the advantage right now. This is the first time in ~15 years that they’ve had more leverage than tech candidates in the job market. There are simply more candidates available for them to choose from than there have been since ~2008-2009.

So this means they can afford to be pickier now more than ever. They are willing to wait for the right candidate, not just the first candidate that fits.

There are many employers out there that will hold a gap against you. Not menacingly - but if there are two equally talented candidates to choose from, one is currently working and the other has been out of work for 6 months, they are more likely to move forward with the first one.

2: Your skillset matters

More in-demand skillsets are able to get away with gaps than others.

For example, more technical skillsets like a jacked up SWE will always be able to find a job eventually (assuming their expectations are in check).

But in this market, functional skillsets like PMs, are getting hit hard, as well as middle/upper management like managers and directors.

So keep this in mind as it relates to point one. There are more candidates available in the market place, so stay cognizant of this before you do choose to take a gap.

3: We’re likely almost out of the woods

In my opinion, we’ll be back to a candidate’s market within 12-18 months max.

Market sentiment seems to be picking up. Wall Street is predicting a few rate cuts from The Fed this year. M&A activity in 2024 is starting off with a bang with Capital One & Discover, and Walmart & Vizio. More companies are thinking about their IPO.

Those are all great indicators that tell you that the tech market is slowly, but surely, coming back.

So consider taking your mental health break when the market does come back so it’s easier for you to find a job then.

4: Cash Reserves

Make sure you have extra cash piled up if you do end up going this route.

You never know how long it will take for you to find your next gig in this market. So if you’re planning on a 3 month hiatus, have 6 months of cash reserves.

If you’re planning on 6 months, have 9 months just in case.

If you’re planning on taking 3 months break, start interviewing after 1.5. If you plan on taking 6 months, start interviewing at 4. This way, by the time your “break” is coming to an end, you’ll likely land something by the time it’s done.

5: Work on your network beforehand

The best time to network is when you don’t have to. This way, when you have to tap into it, or build it, it doesn’t feel like a job.

If you wait until the last minute to network to find a job, it feels like a job in itself, and the networking part doesn’t come naturally, and you just come off as a beggar.

Networking is meant for the long game where people introduce you to opportunities because they know and trust you, not because they just met you last week and you asked for an intro.

So if you see yourself taking a break in 6 months, start networking today, so by the time you take your break you have a solid network and can tap into it when the time is right.

Story Time:

As we know, layoffs are ripping through the tech market, and they’re especially effecting functional skillsets as well as various levels of management.

A close friend of mine was a Recruiting Director for a direct competitor. I was close friends in college with one of her friends and that’s how we met. We hit it off because of the obvious relationship we had with the same girl, and also the fact that we work in the same industry.

She was a top biller at her firm, but really loved the coaching, mentoring, and strategy aspect of the job so she naturally rose up into leadership.

She was feeling a ton of burnout after having her foot on the gas for almost 10 years and ended up handing in her resignation in the summer. She planned on taking a break until Thanksgiving and landing a job by Xmas. Figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find a gig since she had a great background, great references, and great skills.

Well…she was wrong.

No one is really hiring recruiters right now because there’s not that many jobs to fill. And if recruiting companies do have jobs, they want to make sure the current recruiters in their orgs are “well fed” before they bring on outside help.

No one is really hiring Recruiting Leadership, because again, companies aren’t really hiring right now and there’s still the emphasis of orgs wanting to become flatter and leaner.

So we’re coming up on 3 months since she started looking, and 6 months since she took her break.

Since her skillset isn’t “in demand”, each day that gap grows wider, and may or may not look less attractive compared to a candidate with little to no gap coming straight from another company.

Luckily she still has some cash reserves or else she’d have to make some drastic decisions.

She will eventually be fine - but the moral of the story - while mental health breaks seem like great ideas at the time, just think twice and have your ducks in a row before pulling the trigger.

……

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