In the middle of March, the bomb hit which jolted me from any complacency, shook my confidence and changed the rules of engagement. Bear Stearns collapsed, and I started to realize that things were different this time. When I should have been re-entering the job market, the job market was collapsing around me.
Bear Stearns was the fifth largest investment bank in the country, had over 15,000 employees around the world, and until the beginning of its travails in late 2007 had never reported a quarterly loss in its financial statements in its entire eighty-five year history.
Suddenly, I was watching news clips of formeremployees walking out with boxes of belongings. They were in shock. Dedicated professionals who had worked at Bear Stearns all their lives, scholars who had earned MBAs at Harvard, Stanford, Wharton and the University of Chicago, streetwise entrepreneurs who had risen from the hardworking immigrant populations of Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, motivated and high energy buccaneers from all over the country and all around the world who had come to the Big Apple to find their fortune, executive assistants, receptionists and maintenance workers who had worked at Bear Stearns for years were all suddenly kicked out of their workspaces, offices and cubicles.
I had been familiar with Bear Stearns since I was a kid and had worked across the street for the past two years. I had even interviewed at Bear Stearns a few years earlier, in the very same Mortgage and Asset Backed Securities group which helped bring the company down. I had contacts at Bear Stearns and had been trying to get my foot in the door for years. With a bang and a shudder, the door was slammed shut on everyone who worked at Bear Stearns and everyone who had ever dreamed of working there.
With that monumental event, suddenly there were thousands of highly-qualified bankers looking for jobs. The thought of such intense competition was like cold water on my face, waking me from a slumber. I started wondering how long it would take to find a job. Two and a half months had passed since I had left Houlihan Lokey. A month and a half had passed since I had interviewed at Duff & Phelps. Ironically, they had called me every few months while I had worked at Houlihan Lokey, and now that I needed a job, they no longer seemed interested.
With the collapse of Bear Sterns, my already-scratched-rose-colored glasses snapped in half. I was concerned. I had been counting on Duff & Phelps and had generated few other leads and even fewer interviews. Suddenly, I had to compete with thousands of the best and the brightest, with people who were not only street-smart but also Wall Street-smart.
Cindy was also beginning to panic. “If you don’t find a job in the next few months, what are we going to do? Our lease is up at the end of June. If you don’t have a something by then, we won’t be able to renew our lease. You spend too much time in front of the computer. You’ve got to make more phone calls and get out there and meet people. You’ve got to find a job!”
With the collapse of Bear Stearns, I realized my chances of finding a financial services job in the city were quite slim and my job search was too narrowly focused. I did not give up on finding a Wall Street job, but I broadened my perspective and started considering positions in fields other than those relating to my most recent experience. For instance, I started pursuing opportunities in business development and corporate finance.
I also started doubling the amount of resumes I sent out. If I was going to find a job, I knew I had to work hard—and my efforts soon paid off with a string of enticing leads.
Comments