> It seems like usually you job prospects and negotiation power are much better when you are already employed Definitely, but it tends to be less significant i

> It seems like usually you job prospects and negotiation power are much better when you are already employed Definitely, but it tends to be less significant if your move isn't finance -> finance. Having GS on your resume for several years will get you in any door. People have a distaste for finance due to recent events, but it's a pretty huge industry with highly transferable skills. A shrink in the finance sector is rarely a shrink of available jobs to employees in that sector. Employers in other sectors tend to acknowledge how demanding an industry it is. For example, I worked as a discretionary equities trader for half a decade. As more and more algorithmic trading encroached on my territory, I moved to software development. I was hired for back end development at a point in which the extent of my programming skills was data munging in R. 4 years later, I still struggle to adjust to a work atmosphere that continually tells me to chill out and go home. Sure, I took a pay cut. But it's not even close to the % reduction in hours worked.