Tracking Jobs in a Bear Market

8/8/2019 Tracking Jobs in a Bear Market

1/6Page 1 Copyright 2009, TheLadders. All rights reserved.

What did you think of this package?

Got a story of your own to tell? Have ideas for future cov-

erage? Please write Editor-in-Chief Matthew Rothenberg at

[email protected].

Page 1

JOB SEARCH

The freeze sent hiring into an early and prolonged hibernation, but there are still signs of

hiring activity and hints of new demand.

Tracking Jobs in a Bear Market

By Kevin Fogarty

ONE THOUSAND APPLICANTS FOR ONE POSITION. RonDadina couldnt believe what he was hearing. The job

wasnt an open call for an entry-level position; it was a senior

nance position at The World Bank in New York. But

Dadina was hitting the market for a job in nance at aterrible time.

He was laid off in June from Bear Stearns, where he wasthe managing director of the companys International Debt

Capital Markets Group. By the end of summer, thousands of

nance executives had joined him in the ranks of the unem-ployed and applying for jobs like the one at the World Bank.

The World Bank called in Dadina and 12 others to inter-view for the open position. He didnt get the job. For any

job these days, Dadina told TheLadders, there are not just

a few dozen but hundreds of people applying.

Unemployment in the nance industry soared 75 percent in

2008, rising to 540,000 or 5.6 percent in December 2008 (themost recent gures available), up from 315,000 or 3.2 percentin December 2007, according to the U.S. Bureau of LaborStatistics. Since December 2007, nance lost 19,800 jobs in

New York alone (mostly in securities, commodity contractsand investment banks), according to New York states De-

partment of Labor.

So Dadina and many like him nd themselves at the top oftheir eld but out of work and vying for scarce jobs in whatappears to be a shriveled employment market. But Dadinafound work as a managing director and senior credit ofcerin micronance, a new branch of the industry that he consid-

ers more resilient than the larger market. (See story, Page 2.)And hes not alone. Interviews with nance-industry workers,recruiters and hiring managers conducted by TheLadders

since September and a review of employment statistics from

TheLadders and external sources show a constricted springof jobs but pools of hiring at companies in specic elds,functions and specialties.

There is denitely hiring going on, said ClarkChristensen, chief nancial ofcer of PS Energy Group

Inc. in Atlanta. There is a lot of churn; people are landing

[in new jobs] all the time. I dont think it will expand, but itsgoing on.

The hiring wish list

Even in nancial services, some specialties offer richerhunting than others, said Harold Laslo, a stafng specialistat Alden Troy Group, a recruitment rm in New York that

focuses on nance. Auditing, security, debt remediation and

other crisis-focused jobs have been on the increase sincesummer, recruiters say. Jobs for IT-related roles in nancial

IN THIS PACKAGE:

Hired! New Opportunities in MicrofnancePage 2

Scoring and Acing Your Finance InterviewPage 3

Editors note:This article was originally available to attendees o TheLadders fnance-industry careerevent held in New York on Feb. 9, 2009. For inormation on uture career events rom TheLadders,[email protected].


2/6

Page 2 Tracking Jobs in a Bear Market

services are also proliferating, as is anything that involves

generating revenue, Laslo said. Companies have made up

their wish lists in this market.

While the mortgage industry felt post-apocalyptic last year,

recruiters expect anyone with experience structuring mort-

gages and mortgage-backed investments to be a hot com-

modity as rms attempt to untangle the mess of the housingcollapse. Any skill set related to the puzzle of how to revalue

complex assets based on consolidation

of sub-prime mortgages and other risky

but popular investment vehicles is a

valuable line on your resume, recruiters

told TheLadders.

Obviously a lot of people are hav-

ing difculty with mortgages, so banks

need to analyze a customers economic

situation and gure out what modica-tions have to be made to keep those

loans as viable as possible, said Mark

Viego, vice president of the Manage-

ment Resources division of Menlo Park,

Calif.-based recruiting giant Robert Half International. Its

there and in health care that were seeing the employment

picture get better.

Specically, RHI has seen increased demand for loan pro-

cessors, loan underwriters, customer service representatives,

credit and collections specialists, and mortgage-operations

specialists. Pretty much anyone connected with loan modi-

cations or loan renancing, were seeing increased demand

for from nancial institutions, Viego said.

The bottom line

What businesses need more than anything else right now isto make money, said Laslo of Alden Troy.

Sales roles, IT roles anyone who can be a revenue pro-ducer, particularly if they have a book of business to bringfrom a company that went out of business anyone who

can create revenue and be up and running

when they land is a good candidate.

Companies are very bottom-line

focused right now, Viego said. So the

advice I would give is to highlight (on your

resume or elsewhere) everything youvedone that had any kind of bottom-lineimpact, whether that means increasing

revenue or cutting costs.That includes technology leaders who

save money in unexpected places and audi-tors who can go through a large companys

purchase orders and identify purchases in

which the buyer didnt get full advantage from bulk discounts,

tiered pricing or other potential cost cutters, Viego said. And

anyone with tax expertise who can nd rebates, or any kindof tax advantage a company can take, are also in demand,

he said.

Layoffs at nancial-services companies were so drastic that

many may need to hire some of those executives back. Some

Highlight (on yourresume or else-where) everythingyouve done that hadany kind of bottom-line impact.

Mark Viego, Vice President,

Management Resources Division,Robert Half International

When Bear Sterns went out of

business, Ron Dadina found

he had much to offer a young

hedge fund with a socially

responsible twist.

By Kevin Fogarty

BEAR STEARNS FIRST groanedunder the weight of bad invest-ments in June 2007 the rst signsthe investment bank would ultimate-

ly collapse. But inside the 83-year-old

institution, one of the largest and

seemingly strongest nancial housesin the world, Ron Dadina, managing

director of the International Debt

Capital Markets Group, was con-dent the company would hold.

I was not in the Mortgage

CDO group. I was very much in

the emerging-markets group, andwe were doing well, the Finance

Ladder member recalled. We had agood plan of deals, so I thought we

New Opportunities in Microfnance

HIRED!


3/6

Page 3Tracking Jobs in a Bear Market

may hire consultants or staff who specialize in debt-reme-

diation and business turnarounds, as is often the case near

the bottom of an economic downturn, according to Sherry

Brickman, a partner at recruiting rm Martin Partners

in Chicago.

Whats wrong with this picture?

The market is the worst its ever been for senior-levelnancial-services executives, and many dont want to addto the misery. Several FinanceLadder members reached

by TheLadders declined to be interviewed on the record,

largely to avoid adding more negative news to a market they

see as being held back by fear and negativity. I just dontsee any value in adding to it, said a corporate attorney with

a specialty in mergers and acquisitions, who was laid off

after his rm lost several large customers to bankruptcy

and cutbacks.

Recruiters agree, and many claim the perception of misery,

aside from spreading bad news, has articially repressed theemployment market in nance.

The problem is that even companies that are doing well

are so inundated with negative news about layoffs and

the economic situation that its causing them to pause. If

nobody else is hiring, whats wrong with this picture that we

have this need? Laslo said. So they hesitate even when

theres no good reason to.

Other companies, aware that hiring has become a buyers

market, are being so unrealistically picky about both the

See JOBS Page 6

would weather the storm and things

would be OK a few months down

the line. But unfortunately, it was notthe case.

Bear Sterns collapsed in March 2008after months of bruising decits tiedto losses in the the Mortgage CDO

(collateralized debt obligations) group,

and the company was acquired byJP Morgan Chase for less than 10percent of its peak value. JP Morgan

Chase would eventually initiate deep

layoffs, including Dadina, who was

let go in June when prospects lookedmost bleak for the unemployed in the

nance industry.

Despite a competitive job mar-

ket, Dadina found work and a morepersonally rewarding livelihood as the

managing director and senior credit

ofcer at Minlam Asset Management

LLC. This New York investment rmputs a unique twist on micronance,one corner of the nancial sector that

is still performing well. Micronancefunds are for-prot organizations thatmake small, low-interest loans for nocollateral to needy groups or indi-

viduals, usually in emerging markets.Minlan manages a hedge fund that

invests clients funds in micronanceengagements. It provides nancial

solutions for emerging markets, where

Dadina is able to capitalize on his

previous experience as someone ableto structure and manage comprehen-

sive deals.

Its a job he never considered, and

his was a pedigree Minlam never

pursued, but a recruiter paired them.

His experience turned out to be what

Minlam needed, and micronanceafforded Dadina a safe room amid

collapsing nancial houses.

There are many wealthy individuals

who want to invest money, Dadina

said. They are not donating money:

they want to invest money and makea good return, but at the same time

Scoring and Acing Your

Finance Interview

How do you grab a constricted brass ring of employ-

ment in the nance sector? Here are a few tactics to

avoid fumbling the interview.

By TheLadders Staff

CONSIDERING THE state ofthe nance industry, everycompetitive edge counts when

youre preparing for that interview.

Recruiters and job seekers

offered TheLadders insights intothe dynamics of interviewing in

nance today.

Art Romero is managing director

and owner of Academy Recruit-

ing, which is based in Denver but works with nance clientsnationwide. Hes both self-effacing and assertive about the

importance of his discipline to nance job seekers in a tight

market. Certainly, its biased. Being a recruiter, of courseIll say that the best way in a door is through a recruiter,

said Romero. But the obvious dynamic that the nance

See INTERVIEW Page 4


4/6


it has a social aspect to it. This, ac-

cording to Dadina, places Minlam ina sweet spot.

Crowded market

When Dadina, of Dobbs Ferry,

N.Y., entered the job market in June,he encountered a crowded pool of

job seekers and few jobs. He ap-plied for one job at the World Bank,

where he was told more than 1,000

candidates had applied and only 12,including Dadina, were interviewed.

For any job these days, there are

not just a few dozen but hundreds

of people applying, he said. There

are times when things are tough and

you feel like you are never going toget a job. But if you keep at it, it willcome to pass.

Finding the right job is seldom a

straight line, he said.

The main thing is to explore

every opportunity, he said. Dont

leave any stone unturned in terms

of nding a job. Things come to a

head. For it to build up, it takes time.But once you have the momentumgoing, once you try to corner things

from different angles, there comes a

market is shrinking and the pool of candidates is growing

means that any company with an opening will be oodedwith thousands of resumes. No hiring manager has the time

to go through all of those, so they hire recruiters to weed

through them.

They want a recruiter to hand them the perfect candidateon a silver platter, Romero said.

Making the right approach to the hiring manager is also

key, according to Esther, a member of TheLadders who isusing the service in conjunction with her networking skills tond a new job as a lawyer in nancial services.

I try to read between the lines and see what theyre really

looking for, beyond the bullet lists of requirements, and

analyze what that implies for the rm, Esther said. My ap-proach is to create my own job by understanding what they

really need, then showing them how I can add value.

Recruiter Romero extends that advice to the initial phoneinterview with a recruiter. Too many candidates take these

too lightly, either taking them on their cell phones with spottyreception or while theyre running an errand. You need toconvince me that youre a good person for me to put in front

of my client; that youre not going to make me look bad. Not

taking this call seriously is not going to do that, said Romero.

A few more basic reminders from recruiters who workin nance:

Very often [candidates are] more interested in toot-ing their horn or beating their chest and regaling the

interviewer with their accomplishments in regards to

the positions that theyre going for, when they may not

relate to the role at hand.

Harold Laslo, a stafng specialist at the Aldan TroyGroup in New York

One mistake thats happened a couple times is thatwhen they get to the nal interview which is often

just a formality candidates assume the job is already

theirs. Instead of asking about perks, theyre jokingabout the accommodations they were put up in. By not

ghting for the job, they dont get it.

Art Romero

I remind them not to interrupt, dont tap your pen

on the desk, dont insert the persons name into your

answers and dont hang yourself if youre askedwhat time it is, dont tell them how to build a watch.

Common-sense stuff, but it gets forgotten.

Sherry Brickman, a partner at Martin Partnersnear Chicago

Candidates sometimes forget certain skills, especiallyif theyve had a long history with the company theyve

been with.

Sherry Brickman

A candidate should have some knowledge about thecompany where they are interviewing. Previously, this

information wasnt as attainable as it is now. To walk

in totally unprepared at a senior level is very harm-ful when you could have gone to their Web site and

gotten a minimal amount of background informationabout them.

Harold Laslo

Want more insights into successful interviewing strategies? Arrange for aone-on-one session with TheLadders at [email protected].

4INTERVIEW


5/6

Page 5Tracking Jobs in a Bear Market

point in time when things work out.

Dadina discussed job-search av-enues with friends who suggestedcareer Web sites specializing only innancial careers. As a MBA graduateof The University of Chicagos BoothSchool of Business, he enrolled on

the universitys Web site and severalsites for Chartered Financial Analystand the Emerging Markets Associa-tion. He joined FinanceLadder andalmost missed the job at Minlam.

I did not see the ad for this job. Ihad missed it, he said. Instead, therm found Dadina on FinanceLadderand began a months-long, exhaustiveapplication process.

Minlam had received 237 applica-tions for the position and was alreadyconsidering another candidate withexperience in micronance, some-thing he lacked.

Before me, they had interviewedquite a few candidates - they toldme that they had had an exhaustiveprocess. So I was probably among thelast few that they were seeing. Sev-eral meetings with other partners, theCEO and the London ofce followedas well as a detailed background checkand a psychological test. So it was

a very intensive process. There werecalls or meetings every other day forabout two weeks. But all along theymoved quickly.

What impressed Minlam despiteDadinas lack of micronance experi-ence was the breadth of his experi-

ence in emerging markets. For 15years Dadina has led emerging-marketdebt transactions from start to nish,a process that includes analyzing theclient company, meeting management,doing the necessary due diligence,preparing underwriting reports, struc-turing the deal, making sure all thecovenants are in place and preparingthe required legal documentation.

[Minlam] was looking for someonewith experience to run with a deal

from start to nish: someone whohas the loan documentation and thecredit experience, someone who hasthe emerging background and under-standing, someone who has done duediligence in a variety of countries, hesaid. So in terms of my backgroundand experience, it t very well.

They are a young rm of onlyabout a year old, he said. Theyhave signicant growth plans, sothey are looking to me to imple-

ment all the systems and proceduresand to take care of all the credit andinvestment activities.

Minlam has a unique productand business model Dadina said heconsiders very attractive to manyinstitutions abroad. The company of-

fers local currency nancing to theseinstitutions, so they are able to receivenancing in the same currency as theoriginal assets.

There are many governmentand non-government agencies thatprovide hard-currency nancing,he said. So basically, if a small localinstitution in another country receivesdollars or euros, they are providingthe money to the local borrowers inlocal currency. So that is a big risk is-

sue, and Minlam takes that risk.Minlam has a good handful of

investors and expects more capital,he said.

They expect to raise more fund-ing this quarter. And they also havesupport from some governmentagencies who have agreed to providethem with funding, he said. I thinkthat they are well connected with theright channels.


6/6


job descriptions they post and the candidates they interview

that even routing hires takes far longer than they should, hesaid. And it puts more pressure on people internally at a

rm that has a genuine need [for new hires], he said. Theyhave all the work distributedonto them while the com-

pany takes an extraordinaryamount of time lookingfor the perfect candidate;

and the perfect candidate

doesnt exist.

And the slow pace feeds the

cycle of perception, he said,

as the lag reduces the number

of people hired and contrib-

utes to the impression that

there is no hiring to be had.

The biggest problem is

that people are nervous, said

Christensen of PS Energy in

Atlanta. All the bricks thatcan drop in the ocean, the

really bad news, have already

dropped, so its just a ques-

tion of how big the ripples

are. People are nervous. As

soon as something hap-

pens to make them a little

more comfortable about theeconomy, that will lead us out of this.

Hitting bottom

The Ayers Group/Career Partners International is a recruit-ing company that specializes in career transitions and out-

placement. Based on its outplacement bookings, Sally Haver,Ayers Group senior vice president of business development,

in December predicted there would continue to be major

waves of layoffs into January and February of this year.

Beyond that, she predicted, retraction might continue, butat a much slower pace, paving the way for an economically

at spring or summer andrecovery later in the year.

If we have hit bottom,

that doesnt mean there

wont be more bad news,

but layoffs at nancial-services companies were so

drastic in 2008 that manyrms now need to ll someof those eliminated posi-

tions, said Sherry Brickman,a partner at recruiting rmMartin Partners in Chicago.

As commonly happens atthe end of a downturn,

many may hire consultants

or staff who specialize in

debt-remediation and busi-

ness turnarounds, she said.

It wont take much to turnaround the economy, espe-

cially the nancial servicesmarket, Laslo said. A littlegood news might do it, or

a little warm weather, ormaybe successful government action.

I think we have hit bottom, Laslo said. Am I aneconomist or have any hardcore evidence to back that up?No. Have I seen a slight uptick in new business in the newyear? Yes.

(Karl Rozemeyer contributed to this article.)

4JOBS

Executive Resume WritingOur team of certied writers is here to provide you with a professional perspective on all of your marketing documents. Wehand-select each writer for their expertise in taking your accomplished, senior-level career and transforming it into an executive

resume in the language recruiters want to see. E-mail [email protected] to learn more.

Interview TrainingInterviewing is a skill. A great resume can get you in the door, but interviewing will seal the deal. Our experts will work withyou one-on-one to train you for your next round of interviews. Email [email protected] to learn more.

Career AdviceConcerned about your career path? Contemplating a transition to a different eld? Visit theladders.com/career-advice to forguidance on the senior-level job search.

Career Services at TheLadders.com

Documents

Tracking Jobs in a Bear Market