In Finance, Recent Signs of Hiring

Institutions are hiring again, albeit modestly. Recruiters cite improving financial markets & increasing investor confidence as catalysts. They say some firms that laid off too many workers at the start of the recession now want to take advantage of the large amount of talent available. Most desired are proven performers skilled in areas such as credit, refinancing, wealth management and restructuring.
"People are starting to unlock the doors & talk to us about wanting to hire," says Richard Lipstein, managing director at executive-search firm Boyden World Corp. in NY. His firm recently won an assignment for a high-level position at a private wealth-management firm that delayed filling the opening for months. He points out that finance companies are picking up the pace of hiring as slowly and cautiously as they did during past economic downturns. "All the signs that proved to be the case back in 2002 & 1991 are starting to appear here. Having been through this before, you can smell the psychology," he says.
The limited hiring is a bright spot amid continued job losses in financial-services sector. The Labor Dept. says financial-services firms shed 30,000 jobs in May & lost nearly 600,000 jobs since Dec. 2006. Hiring is "by no means at the level that it was at early last year," says Adam Zoia, founder & CEO of Glocap Search, a NY exec-search firm. "But it's definitely up materially from the trough."
Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase & TIAA-CREFare currently advertising on WallStJobs., a job site that specializes in the financial-services industry. Positions listed include private banker, credit manager, financial adviser & analyst. In general, employers are hiring most actively in areas where demand for a particular investment strategy is growing, he say. "It's not for prospective business but existing business," particularly in wealth management, he says.
Recruiting is somewhat robust in restructuring, says Tim Holt, partner in the financial-services practice at exec-search firm Heidrick & Struggles International in NY. "More companies are in distress now, and the need for restructuring expertise has far outpaced other sectors," he says. Another relatively strong niche is credit, says Pete Deragon, Dir. of the North America financial-services practice at exec-search firm Stanton Chase International. Credit specialists are in demand as banks work out problem loans and derivatives tied to those loans, he says.
While Bank of America of Charlotte plans to eliminate up to 35,000 positions thru 2011, to avoid redundancies following the Merrill Lynch acquisition, a recent increase in mortgage refinancing "has led to the addition of several thousand jobs," says a spokeswoman. She says the bank has made "a significant number of strategic hires" in its Merrill Lynch unit, including financial advisers and investment bankers.
In the past 2 quarters, J.P. Morgan hired roughly 950 loan counselors to help distressed borrowers, according to a spokeswoman. "We're doing selective hiring," she says, adding that the bank continues to eliminate some jobs & redeploy some workers. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group says it's "seeing a moderate uptick" in new hires, compared with six months ago.
Some midsize and large firms are hiring in part "to replace lost DNA," says Peter Gonye, a co-leader of the investment-banking & private-equity practice groups at exec-search firm Spencer Stuart in NY. As firms shed thousands of jobs, they also lost valuable, productive employees, he says. Top on employers' most-wanted lists are proven performers or "revenue generators. Demand centers on those professionals who have a book of business with Sr.-level client contacts or those who repeatedly demonstrated a track record as profitable traders," Mr. Gonye says.
In March, 53-year-old James Solloway joined SEI Investments, a publicly traded asset-management firm in Oaks, PA, as a portfolio strategist. He was laid off 10 months earlier from a similar role at Morgan Stanley, where he had worked for 10 years. He says his job search started slowly. But between January & March, he landed interviews for 6 jobs, including the position at SEI. He says his new job's base salary is comparable to what he was earning in his previous position.
Some firms are trying to take advantage of the large number of experienced people who were let go, says Deborah Markus, founder of Columbus Advisors, NY exec-search firm. "They're beginning to open their eyes & think more strategically in terms of hiring," she says, adding she is hearing from twice as many companies compared with a year ago. "There's much more of a positive mood."
Josh Liebman, who was laid off from an executive-director position at J.P. Morgan in Feb., says he is more optimistic about the job market because he sees more financial-services listings. In recent weeks, Liebman, a 36-year-old certified public accountant in Livingston, NJ, says he landed interviews for two jobs, one at a large financial-news provider, the other at a large money manager. He was invited back by each for 2nd interviews. Meanwhile, he is doing consulting work for a European bank.