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Now they’re inspired to leave Wall Street altogether.

It’s a totally different environment, that’s for sure. But as a recent Huffington Post article details, it wasn’t that long ago that Wall Street bankers told their employees to blow their bonuses as soon as the checks were cashed.

In one such scenario, a man by the name of Shane Robinson was faced with a tough decision: should he save his $10,000 end-of-internship bonus, or enjoy the money as his colleagues at Merrill Lynch advised?

The Huffington Post does not say whether or not Robinson chose to save his bonus. But one thing is clear: after being told to look for a new job only six months after joining Merrill Lynch, Robinson was eager to get away from Wall Street and do his own thing. And he’s not the only one. While most people within the financial sector may not be compelled to pack up and leave to start their own business (if they did, the market would become much more overcrowded than it already is, which wouldn’t be good for the startup climate). But if it’s not the lure of being an entrepreneur that encourages some of Wall Street’s finest to walk away and never look back, it could be the excitement of a growing industry and the potential for job security.

According to the Huffington Post, Robinson ultimately decided to launch a company called Soletron, which describes itself as an “information source and social marketplace in the sneakerhead and streetwear industry.” That’s a far cry from Wall Street.

Will the Soletron founder ever be compelled to return to the financial community? No one but Robinson can say for sure. Even he may not know; after all, just five years ago he was looking at a lifelong career in finance. Who knows what the next five years of his life will be like.

The question mark, of course, is what hurts most people. It’s the level of uncertainty – the “will I have a job in 12 months?” feeling – that is most troubling.

That’s why we created StreetID – to eliminate that uncertainty. StreetID is a financial career matchmaking site with a growing community of financial professionals. With StreetID, current job seekers and those looking to move on in the future can sign up for a free account and make a direct connection with relevant candidates and employers.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/five-years-ago-employees-were-urged-to-splurge-5605322.html

Everyone’s favorite New York-based global financial services firm is in the news again. Aren’t you stunned?

And this time the news is just as exciting as it was last week when the company announced the potential for another round of layoffs. You know, on top of the 1,600 jobs that the company already eliminated.

According to a Fox Business report, regulators recently made a push to limit Morgan Stanley’s cash payouts, inspiring the company to reduce its bonuses and “place a ‘cap’ on the cash portion of the annual payouts came after protracted discussions with securities regulators who expressed concerns over the high amount of the firm’s revenue that is dedicated to compensation.”

Morgan Stanley will now pay a greater percentage of bonuses in stock and stock equivalents. This decision has not been well received by some executives.

“There was a lot of crying in the bathrooms at Morgan after the bonus announcements,” one Wall Street executive told Fox Business.

Another executive, identified only as an employee of Morgan Stanley, told Fox Business, “Look at it this way. The regulators are forcing the firms to pay more compensation in equity. That would be OK back in 2006 when our stock was marching higher, but with so many controls on how we’re making money, how is our stock going to get a decent bounce?”

On the upside, Fox said that the unnamed executive believes Wall Street CEOs will use bonus reductions “to slash their workforce without widespread layoffs.” That’s great news, at least in theory. But it might not do much for Morgan Stanley, which may layoff as many as 3,400 employees this year, Fox Business said.

Whether you are in the pool of Morgan Stanley employees who may lose their job or you happen to be in another situation entirely, there is one thing that everyone on Wall Street needs to remember: there is always a place they can call home. At StreetID, we built a financial career matchmaking site designed to help the growing community of financial professionals. With StreetID, current job seekers and those looking to move on in the future can sign up for a free account and make a direct connection with relevant candidates and employers.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/did-regulators-cause-morgan-stanleys-layoffs-5605324.html

What do you do when a company says “adios!” after one month on the job?

That’s just what happened to four equity analysts who were hired by WJB Capital in December and let go upon the firm’s closure in January, Bloomberg reports.

Last year, WJB Capital appeared to be weathering the Wall Street storm. But once the new year arrived, it was clear that the company could no longer go on. According to the Bloomberg report, the company was struggling with slower trading, a lack of capital, and interest rates as high as 25% on some of its debts.WJB Capital had incurred $8.17 million of subordinated debt; $1.35 million of that debt was due in December, Bloomberg said. Additionally, the company owed $3.5 million to executives that loaned WJB Capital money at interest rates as high as 15%.

WJB Capital told its employees – all 100 of them – about the closing on January 3, 2012.

Where will these men and women go now that their job has fallen victim to the ongoing crisis on Wall Street?

Bloomberg said that WJB Capital has non-brokerage operations and is exploring other possibilities. Whether or not that means that some of these employees will get to keep their job – or acquire a new one from their soon-to-be-former employer – remains to be seen.

More than likely, the majority of the men and women at WJB Capital will end up on the job search trail, along with the thousands of others who have already faced the wrath of Wall Street’s struggles. Whatever happens going forward, it’s important to remember that those within the financial community need to stick together. We created StreetID – a financial career matchmaking site with a growing community of financial professionals – for that very purpose. With StreetID, job seekers can sign up for a free account and make a direct connection with relevant candidates and employers.

About StreetID

StreetID is the first ever online career matchmaking and networking site, designed specifically for professionals and companies within the financial services industry. StreetID enables job seekers to create an online profile for free. This biographical data is then strategically sorted, thus enabling hiring managers to target only the best, most suitable candidates with the click of a mouse.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/hired-today-fired-tomorrow-5595962.html

According to MSNBC’s The Bottom Line, those who work in the technology sector had a good year in 2011. Most notably, they were (apparently) much less likely to lose their job.

Just three years ago, tech companies announced that they would eliminate more than 174,000 jobs in 2009 – the industry’s peak number, The Bottom Line said. The amount of “planned jobs cuts” dropped in 2010, and as of 2011, they were reduced to just 37,038. While still a significantly large number of jobs were lost last year, the improvement is no doubt impressive. It shows that the tech sector is making real progress. And it should make those on Wall Street ask themselves: what can we learn from the technology industry?

Without question, market differences have to be considered. Right now, technology is booming. The world is shifting from bulkier, DVD-drive laptops (and occasionally desktops) to lighter and faster portable machines, as well as tablets. Smartphones are slowly replacing the need for other devices. In accordance with these changes, tech companies are experiencing a wondrous boom as consumers rush to buy the latest and greatest gadgets from their favorite manufacturer.

The financial community hasn’t been so lucky. Wall Street does not have any new or groundbreaking products to intrigue the masses. Rather, the financial community still makes a large part of its money from the same services it has been providing for generations. This makes it tough for the sector to reignite customer excitement. Consequently, Wall Street has had to struggle through the hard times and hope the economy recovers – and that things eventually return to normal.

But is there anything the sector is missing? Is there anything that the financial world could learn from technology?

For starters, how about some innovation? If it can’t be an entirely new product, how about a creative or innovative way of offering an existing product or service?

Second, the tech industry hasn’t been afraid to branch out. Most recently, we’ve seen hands-free devices, touch screens, social networking, and a plethora of other tech features hit the auto industry. Previously, this was an industry that tech companies barely cared about. Perhaps it’s time for Wall Street to behave in a similar matter and reach out to fresh markets and industries.

Finally, Wall Street needs to improve its image. As of this writing, the Occupy Silicon Valley movement is not nearly as strong as Occupy Wall Street. Why? Because in Silicon Valley, people don’t perceive there to be as many problems that need fixing.

But Wall Street has something Silicon Valley does not: a growing community of financial professionals that populate StreetID, a financial career matchmaking site. With StreetID, current job seekers and those looking to move on in the future can sign up for a free account and make a direct connection with relevant candidates and employers.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/what-can-wall-street-learn-from-the-tech-industrys-job-stability-5596188.html

Reuters – Stocks were set to rise at the open on Thursday after Bank of America and Morgan Stanley reported earnings and as strong demand at European bond auctions lessened euro zone debt concerns.

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AP – Asian markets rose Thursday as investors grew more comfortable with riskier assets such as stocks after the release of surprisingly strong U.S. housing figures and a pledge by the IMF to help stave off a financial crisis.

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AP – Wall Street edged higher Wednesday following reports that the International Monetary Fund could get more cash to help countries struggling to manage their debt.

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Reuters – Stocks were poised for a slightly lower open on Wednesday as initial enthusiasm over the International Monetary Fund’s plan to bolster lending to struggling euro zone nations flagged.

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