Is a career break really that bad in this country?
I am 26M with close to 3 years of work experience and a MBA from a tier 1 college. I make decent salary, however I am not really enjoying my job. I am also depressed from working very hard the past 5 years with graduation, Covid and job Etc. I just want to take a few months off and focus on my mental/physical health. I also want to prepare for Product roles and try out some business/freelancing ideas I have.
My concern is how Career gaps are treated like a stigma in the industry. Like what was the use of working so hard and getting qualifications, if I cannot take a few months in between jobs to focus on myself. Can someone help me get some perspective?
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I have a gap in my resume as I quit a toxic workplace. I work as an individual contributor (tech), and the vast majority of product companies never care or ask about the gap in the interviews. It's not a career ending mistake.
Career gap doesn’t work in India. It’s respected abroad but in India, it’s not looked down upon by HR but also by family members. Don’t ever take a career gap voluntarily. If it’s due to health issues, then it’s okay and can be convinced to HR. But for the sake of free time, hobbies, volunteering, or soul searching purposes, it’s a career suicide.
Don't know where you're getting this information from. I have personally taken multiple 1+ year job breaks, and it wasn't difficult at all to find a job again.
And because I studied well for interviews during the breaks, I ended up getting higher paying jobs every time after a break. It's not a career suicide at all - quite the opposite, it can be a career boost if you utilize the break well to enhance your skills.
Don't know about MBA folks but for us technical folks, I won't say that it's a career suicide. I took a 2 years break due to depression and got a job after that. Honestly, there are alot of companies that will not consider you but there are also those companies that don't mind it at all.
It’s absolutely fine
No stigma at all. But the question is 3 saal ke kyun thak gye.. you just started
Emotionally drained from Toxic workplace, constant pressure from family to study/work hard and hospitalization of a close family member.
Gap in resume is close to career suicide. I wanted to take 1 year after working for 5 years. My worst decision to date. That 1 year break turned into 18onths. And I joined after creating a fake experience of having a startup.
I don't know about technical jobs but for us MBA, any chance of getting back after sabbatical is a lottery.
I have taken multiple career breaks ranging from 6 months to a year. Have always been able to step up into a better role (analytics to product). There is no black and white answer to this, the opportunities you get depend on your pedigree, network and your skill sets. If you are good at what you do / have a niche skill set then you won’t have problems and recruiters won’t even raise this in the discussions.
I have taken 1 year+ long breaks multiple times. It was not difficult to find a job again, but you do have to justify the reason for the break in interviews. I even ended up getting higher paying jobs after the breaks.
Study well during the break, and smash the interviews when you start looking for a job again, and you'll re-enter the workforce at a higher salary, than your previous job before the break.
Not that bad especially when the market is rough. U can always claim that you got laid of due to a restructuring and HR doesn't bother after it. I did the same thing and got into a good role with a small hike also
As long as we stayed uptoodate with the market trends in technology and sell yourself through LinkedIn and active on it.career break is a myth