eFinancialCareers

Successful career transitions are the topic for the first entry in our updated lineup of low-cost and free events of interest to financial professionals. All the following events take place in New York City. *** The Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York (CBSAC/NY) presents a program on career transitions. Two former sell-side analysts and two former buy-side analysts (all from top Wall Street firms) will describe how they leveraged their... Read more

Reputation-wise, credit rating firms were among the worst casualties of the recent financial crisis. Now, structured credit deals that briefly accounted for more than half the ratings business are showing glimmerings of life – but rating firms aren't invited to the party. While an ominous signal for rating companies, the budding tendency may be good news for individual credit risk professionals. This past summer Credit Suisse reportedly sold an unrated residential... Read more

Good news: Get ready for your largest year-end bonus since the credit bubble burst. Bad news: The credit bubble burst the year before last. So while most sell-side traders, capital markets bankers and support staff on Wall Street will get a fatter payday than they did in 2008, even those categories' average payouts will fall short of 2007 or 2006. Many other business segments – including asset management, wealth management... Read more

Amid generally sluggish demand for corporate accounting and finance professionals, the hottest skill-sets for 2010 are tax, compliance, credit management and collections, according to global recruiting chain Robert Half International. On average, starting salaries for accounting and finance roles are expected to creep up just 0.5 percent nationwide, Robert Half's 2010 Salary Guide says. Positions whose average salaries are expected to increase or hold steady include: - Tax accountant. Effective tax management... Read more

Just a few quarters after risk became a dirty word, there are growing signs investors again fear missing the train more than than they fear the danger of another train wreck. One such sign is a modest revival of commodity hedge funds. Yesterday, Bloomberg News reported a new fund called Flintlock Commodity Opportunity Partners LP, led by Tudor Investment's former commodity whiz Steve Mathews, is set to open in January, "as... Read more

The reopening of credit and speculative debt spreads returning to pre-crisis levels is helping buyout firms and lenders alike emerge from the past year's turmoil. But LBO funds are largely shut out of bidding for troubled financial institutions at this time, due to the rise of strategic acquirers (other banks) and regulatory restraints on private equity. Those are our takeaways from a Wall Street Journal Q&A interview with the two... Read more

Hiring of trading-desk quants and engineers is up and is expected to rally further with the start of the new year. While recruiters differ about the scale of the pickup and in their confidence it will continue, several tell eFinancialCareers News that demand for financial technology pros is gaining steam within both sell-side buy-side shops. "The amount of hiring that's going to take place is going to be fairly large, and... Read more

That's Bloomberg the data vendor we're talking about – not Michael Bloomberg and his surprisingly close re-election Tuesday to a third term as mayor of New York. Net sales of Bloomberg terminals have been on the upswing since June, after holding in negative territory from November through at least March, according to BusinessInsider. That's good news not just for Bloomberg LP – which continued to add headcount in the first... Read more

Keeping your career on the right track can require more than staying on the good side of your boss and immediate co-workers. It can also mean heading off a budding conflict with a person in a different department, such as human resources. An enemy in HR is especially dangerous, observes office politics expert Vicky Oliver, author of Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers, and Other Office Idiots. That's because if layoffs happen, HR... Read more

A recent story showcasing recruiters' complaints about "crazy" candidates seems to have hit a nerve among many of our users. Several comments draw a link between overeager job-seekers - who recruiters may view as pests - and uncommunicative recruiters whom sincere and well-behaved job-seekers may label rude and unprofessional. The question of whether recruiters should be more responsive to candidates who've been eliminated from a client's interview process (and those job-seekers... Read more

The longer this recession goes on, the more transitioning professionals will stumble into the "overqualified" pit. Too much of a good thing is wonderful, said Mae West. But that's not how hiring managers see it. Relevant work experience, advanced degrees and credentials - while prerequisites for many finance jobs - can disqualify as well as qualify. If a candidate previously held a role at a higher level than the one she's... Read more

Picture this: You’ve just lost your job and you’re scouring the job boards, looking for something - anything - that matches your professional qualifications and experience. Suddenly, you spot a position that looks too good to be true. The job title is perfect, the responsibilities are right up your alley, and the firm is… Oh, wait a minute. It's your former employer; the one that just handed you a pink... Read more

Even as the finance industry writhes amid recession and restructuring, some jobless professionals are having trouble adjusting their expectations to the new reality. A column in Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer details the saga of one Byron Wilson, a former investment advisor, insurance company vice president and Big Four CPA. In 2007, Wilson left a steady job to build his own investment advisory business at Smith Barney, leaving little time to build a... Read more

Kerry Jordan, CFA, has been out of work since January 2008, despite 14 years of experience at FBR Capital Markets, Bank of America, and NASDAQ. You'd think her work in new business development, strategic planning, risk management and raising capital would have left her well-positioned to land a new job quickly. But here's the rub: "Everyone is in retrenchment mode and the few positions that do become available are filled... Read more

Hopefully, you'll never need this step-by-step guide to surviving a layoff. But if you do, following these steps will put you on your way to a new opportunity. 1. Negotiate a Good Deal It may be possible to negotiate at least some terms of your layoff. Employers often budget substantial funds for such purposes, but exiting employees don't realize they can negotiate or they are too traumatized to ask. As soon as... Read more

From London, Sarah Butcher writes: With more and more people pursuing fewer and fewer jobs, recruiters say some candidates are exhibiting strange and unusual behaviors in an attempt to catch their attention. These apparently include: Sending in their CV for every single job going: “These are the serial appliers,” says Recruiter A. “They apply for everything we advertise across every function.” Repeatedly sending in their CV for the same job: “If someone sees... Read more

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. has hiring plans. According to Investment Dealers' Digest, the New York-based company plans to hire 100 people for its fixed-income business alone this year. Already, the firm's hired 20 specialists for a developing high-yield bond business, and is bringing on as many as 25 investment bankers, along with sales and trading professionals. "The talent pool out there is very deep right now and the opportunity to grow... Read more