eFinancialCareers

If the misfortune of selecting Lehman Brothers as your employer straight out of an expensive MBA course weren’t enough to deal with, some members of Lehman’s associate class of 2008 say they’re now being stung for the $40,000 sign-on bonus the bank paid them when they arrived. The requests are allegedly coming from PricewaterhouseCoopers, which is administering Lehman’s estate in the UK. “More than 60 percent of my class received this... Read more

A public library program on researching companies and potential contacts tops our weekly rundown of low-cost and free events of interest to financial professionals. All the following events take place in New York City. *** New York Public Library's Science, Industry, and Business Library (SIBL) offers free classes to help job-seekers research companies and locate individuals to contact for job leads. Tuesday, Nov. 24, 3:15 p.m. "Job Seekers Contact Research." Science, Industry, and... Read more

Are complaints that Goldman Sachs overpays its employees finally trickling from Main Street up to Wall Street? Yes, says Friday's Wall Street Journal. Some of the firm's largest shareholders have urged Goldman to reduce the size of its bonus pool, the paper reports. "Their complaints in private conversations with the company and at analyst meetings show how anger over its big-money culture is spilling into the ranks of investors who typically... Read more

John Mack, the Morgan Stanley chief executive who'll become non-executive chairman six weeks from now, has created something of a stir by saying he loves being under Federal Reserve oversight. "We have probably 15 to 20 Fed regulators in our building 24 hours a day," Mack said Wednesday during a panel discussion hosted by Bloomberg News and Vanity Fair. "They test our models. They question everything we do. I’ve never been... Read more

Compensation at U.S.-based private equity funds is declining broadly for the first time in more than a decade, a new report shows. The 2010 Private Equity Compensation Report by Glocap Search and Thomson Reuters finds pay growth "has come to a halt with total compensation now trending down" across all segments of the market – including buyout/growth equity, venture capital and private equity fund of funds. Among specific findings: - Established... Read more

While careers related to restructuring corporate debt have been in the spotlight, Thursday's Wall Street Journal spotlights an ongoing hiring boom for the retail equivalent: jobs restructuring home mortgages. Bank of America, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo have collectively hired almost 17,000 people this year, mostly to work with financially ailing homeowners, the Journal says. More important: "With the number of defaults rising, many are planning to keep adding... Read more

Networking your way to a job is hard, but it works. A CNNMoney story this week offers a road map. The article traces the path to re-employment for Ebony Blue, a 24-year old Ithaca College graduate laid off from Citigroup's investment banking division in December, 2008. Although she made contacts through a diversity network, the essential tactics she used can also help job-seekers who lack such access. Blue put in heavy-duty... Read more

Securities industry employment in New York City bounced strongly in September, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says in a report issued Tuesday. However, the reported pickup apparently stems from a statistical adjustment that isn't performed on similar data covering states and cities published each month by the U.S. Department of Labor. Citing a strong profit recovery by Wall Street, the comptroller's report forecasts job losses in the securities industry in... Read more

The prime brokerage business is broadening out, creating career opportunities as smaller U.S. brokers enter the space. The sector is groping toward a new structure more than a year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers led to months in limbo for billions in client assets Lehman had administered. Counterparty risk remains a major concern, which makes for a natural affinity between the largest fund firms and the largest and financially strongest... 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