eFC Briefing: Washington Beckons

NYSSA's federal jobs fair draws more than 500 participants to check out opportunities at 13 government entities. First-quarter bank earnings will help bonuses - but experts ridicule a New York Times claim that pay is on track to revisit 2007's record levels.

***

Regulators and bailout overseers need market-savvy workers. Laid-off fund managers, research analysts and securitization professionals need jobs. Last Friday, the New York Society of Security Analysts happily played matchmaker. Thirteen U.S. federal government entities and more than 500 of the society's 11,000 members crowded into NYSSA's midtown Manhattan conference room for a day-long fair showcasing federal career opportunities. The employers ran the gamut from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to the Central Intelligence Agency.

***

Wall Street bonus prospects - while buoyed somewhat by banks' first-quarter earnings - are a long way from revisiting the record levels of two years ago, saysAlan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates Inc. eFinancialCareers News asked Johnson and other industry observers to critique a story in Sunday's New York Times that asserted workers at the largest financial institutions "are on track to earn as much money this year as they did before the financial crisis began." Experts told us the newspaper's claim is every bit as unfounded as it sounds at first blush.

***

If you're in New York, out of work and looking - or freelancing, looking for new ideas, new contacts and maybe the opportunity to get away from your desk for a while - check out LaidOffCamp NY, happening this Friday evening and Saturday. It's free, but you have to register.

***

Google's new profile service could be an important tool for job seekers. Recently unveiled by the Web giant though they're still being "worked on," the profiles allow you to present yourself, in your own words and reflecting your own priorities, in Google's search results.

***

There's good news and bad news about finance IT. A survey indicates trading firms are likely to at least keep IT spend in line with 2008. But the one area where firms are pulling back is hiring staff.

***

Job-seeker Ken Cameron was senior vice president of global operations at AIG Global Partners until he became a casualty of the company's recent well-publicized troubles. "The IT job market is tough right now, but not impossible," he says. He discussed his approach to job hunting in IT in general, and financial IT in particular, in an interview with eFinancialCareers News.

***

Blogging for profit sounds appealing, especially to refugees from an intellectual, real-time business like finance. But is it a realistic career alternative? Only if you're able to get by on $22,000 a year.

***

Canadian Hedge Watch, a trade publication, is increasingly hearing from financial professionals eager to launch new funds.

***

Also noted:

High-Flying Women Shift Gears in the Recession [Harvard Business Publishing]

UBS investment banking chief resigns [The Guardian]

Alvarez & Marsal Forms Dedicated Private Equity Performance Improvement Group [A&M]

Fidelity names new president of its equity division [InvestmentNews]

Citigroup to Shut Private Equity Fund-Raising Operation [Deal Journal]