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

First came asset write-downs. Then came bailouts. Now, the U.S. government is taking a large, voting equity stake in Citigroup. The chain of events pulling significant pillars of the financial industry from shareholder to government control is coming to look increasingly inexorable. But what does nationalizing a bank do to the careers and compensation outlooks of professionals who work there? Constrained upside will drive producers and senior executives to seek... Read more

The good news: Booming Middle East markets are cushioning investment banks' head counts. The bad news: To keep your job, you might have to move there. For years, bank executives have focused expansion plans on emerging markets. Now, as record oil prices propel Mideast wealth while prospective deal business in Europe and the U.S. slows, the bright spot on management's globe is revealing a dark side for some Western bankers' career... Read more

A study by The Wall Street Journal indicates the days of an Ivy league degree being the key to success everywhere may be over. But not on Wall Street. Ivy Leaguers remain perched atop the pecking order. Jobs in investment banking, for example, are still dominated by those from elite academic institutions. A Harvard MBA or a degree from Wharton remain the best way to gain entry into firms like Goldman... Read more

You are nearing the end of an interview with a potential employer. It has gone well, in the sense that there were no questions that made you sweat or stutter. At this point, you are suppose to ask the interviewer some questions which bedazzle her with such insightfulness that she will not let you out of the meeting without your signature on an employment offer. But let's for argument's sake assume... Read more

Plenty of people say they’d love to jump into finance from another field. Sarah Krass did just that. It wasn’t the first time she leapfrogged from one unrelated industry to another. The Los Angeles based financial coach walks us through her divergent career path. After I graduated from Columbia University, I went to L.A. with plans to get into the entertainment business. After a few years as an assistant I landed... Read more

Finding a great job in the financial markets can be challenging in the best of times, but when Wall Street firms announce the kind of headcount reductions we’ve been seeing lately the search becomes down right daunting. And according to a survey eFinancialCareers conducted this month with financial professionals, recruiters may not really help job seekers all that much either. The survey found that while nearly four out of five (78%)... Read more

The market meltdown combined with high-profile hedge fund swindles are giving personal financial advisers a heavy dose of the pain their clients feel in their portfolios. Cratering asset values directly compress fee income for the large universe of personal wealth managers who charge clients a percentage of the assets they manage. In other cases, clients hit with shrinking net worth are asking advisers to reduce fees. And a tidal wave of... Read more

The expected cost of new regulations being implemented from financial reform was cited at the SIFMA Dodd-Frank impact Analysis conference as one reason banks are reluctant create new jobs. "There's a capital strike going on in corporate America," said Larry Kudlow, economist and host of the CNBC program, "The Kudlow Report." Speaking at the conference, Kudlow went on to say banks are "afraid to take the risk of hiring until... Read more

Douglas Bisio, president Greenwich Fund Services, a hedge fund administration firm based in Greenwich, Conn., says those born between 1979 and 1995 are plagued with qualities that are tough to stomach. Click to Watch Bisio, who graduated from college in 1995, sees an immense disconnect between his contemporaries and younger colleagues. "Today people don't have the patience to learn what it takes to really be successful in a job," he said to eFC... Read more

"Since Obama was elected, we don't have a diversity issue anymore," one HR consultant I know said recently. She was being sarcastic. And, indeed, a number of black professionals continue to face high hurdles as they search for work, even when they have experience with top firms and degrees from top schools. Between January and October 2009 the disparity in joblessness between whites and blacks with college degrees was more severe... Read more

If you have at least three years of experience working with clients, as well as experience in financial planning, Bank of America is looking for you. As we reported yesterday, BofA is building up the unit, known as Merrill Edge, which services its mass affluent clients, those with between $50,000 and $250,000 in investable assets, by hiring over a thousand Financial Solutions Advisors, or FSAs. David Giancola is BofA's Merrill Edge Southeast... Read more

Though the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 1.2 percent rise in U.S. securities industry employment during the second quarterbig banks simply aren't the best place to look for new spots right now. The reason: They're continuing to retool post-meltdown, says John Mazzei, managing director and head of the financial institutions group for Rand Thompson Consultants. “The large global banks aren’t hiring just yet, as they’re coming to the end of... Read more

The ranks of Charter Financial Analysts in Canada are growing. More than 9,990 are registered to take the CFA exam in June, up 68 percent from 5,914 in 2006. Bob Johnson, deputy chief executive of the non-profit CFA Institute, says that's a sign of growing interest in the certification by employers, and the greater availability of training at colleges. Moreover, Johnson says, the number of candidates taking the exam for the... Read more

The CFA Institute recently released results for two levels of the June Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams. If you're already in or thinking about signing up for the CFA program, what do the recent and historical pass rates for those exams say about your prospects of making it through the program? Really, not much. During the past five years, roughly 40 percent of candidates who took the CFA Level I and... Read more

The idea of taking a pay cut is anathema for all working professionals—especially for finance execs used to handsome compensation packages. But many are finding their paychecks and pocketbooks to be much leaner this year. For those impacted by a slash in pay, unlike before, most are choosing to stay put, says Ken Murray, president of Mercury Partners, an executive search practice for front office finance professionals. He says it’s... Read more

Wealth management CEOs are looking for a few good client-facing private bankers. Well, make that more than a few. PricewaterhouseCoopers recently joined the drumbeat of authoritative voices warning that an industry-wide shortage of capable private bankers threatens the growth of the private wealth management sector. In its bi-annual survey of 265 private banking/wealth management firms released last month, the worldwide business services firm emphasized that the need to recruit and train more... Read more

This week, the business of financial advising seemed to take the first steps toward reviving itself as Morgan Stanley and Citigroup unveiled a joint venture of their brokerage operations. Those who work for the newly constituted firm - or BofA/Merrill Lynch, or any other firm helping individuals manage their money - should be prepared: Your clients are skittish, and they may decide to work with a portfolio of advisers to... Read more