If you must lie, tell them you were on sabbatical or you were backpacking thru Asia or something. OTOH, whats the deal with the harda$$, unforgiving employers who look down upon anyone who steps out of the "career track" even for a moment? Jealousy?
Don't even worry about returning to work. You've got the perfect setup for a trader to go independent. Just maintain your focus and discipline at this point, STAY POSITIVE ... and the rest will come. Best, Jimmy
You'd be surprised. Only entrepreneurial companies would value your entrepreneurial spirit. I found out the hard way that bureaucratic companies aggressively persecute entrepreurial-minded employees within their ranks. The best advice for job-hunters is to find a company whose values and organizational culture matches yours. Since most traders are entrepreneurial types, it's likely that they would hate giant megacorps and would prefer smaller, fast-moving entrepreneurial shops. Hell, most of us probably turned to trading BECAUSE of the bureaucratic companies we hate working for.
Check danoXP's posting. He is right. Even in the European market, where I am. And I might add one more reason: after two years are you still good at your job? The longer you stay out, the less your experience counts. I would stil consider 2 years fairly safe, though Managers are simply scared, and they tend usuallly to play safe. They also tend to avoid people who talk too much (even if this is something that I believe many very bright people do), and people who change too often. In a market where they can probably find someone else who is "safer", they will probably choose that one. Is he better? Not important: he just has to be good enough
I made sure to lessen this risk by getting out of college with an MSEE instead. Bachelors degrees are like high school diplomas nowadays. While everyone in 1999-2000 was jumping for joy at getting multiple job offers.... I hunkered down and dove straight into grad schoool instead. A good decision now that I look back. But even still, in reality, BSEE.. MSEE... doesn't really matter most of the time. BUT what you do get from having a masters is the benefit of the doubt in many situations, and maybe a raised eyebrow or two when you really need it.