MOST SHARED
- Stocks Overvalued, Recession Will Return: Meredith Whitney
- Has Twitter's Finest Hours (Seconds) Come and Gone?
- Fed Likely to Keep Rates Low Despite Dollar's Fall: Bernanke
- U.S. May Wind Up Green With Envy
- Bernanke Offers Something For Everyone
- BofA Ex-Counsel: I Was 'Stunned' When I Got Fired
- Vineyard Serves Up Sustainable Wine
- U.S. Cities With The Most Underwater Mortgages
- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Almost Doubles Wal-Mart Holdings During Summer
- Stanford Receiver to Release Funds Of Frozen Acounts
- Meredith Whitney: Turns Bearish
- 3 Stock Plays on Rising College Costs
- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Almost Doubles Wal-Mart Holdings During Summer
- Nov. 16: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Getting To The Heart Of The Merck-Abbott Embargo Break
- What MGM's Sale Could Say About Value of Content
- My Ratings on Lowe's & Home Depot: Analyst
- S&P Stocks Trading at New 52-Week Highs
- Snoop Dogg Talks Biz
- Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Boosts Wal-Mart Stake
- What's Kept Stock Rally Going? Fear, Not Confidence
- Fed to Keep Rates Low Despite Dollar's Fall: Bernanke
- Millions Could Have to Repay Part of Obama's Tax Credit
- Hollywood Turns to Porn as Unemployment Rises
- Slideshow: US Cities With Most Underwater Mortgages
- Solar Energy Emerges From a Dark Period
- Gold Is in a 'Bubble' And Will Keep Going Higher: Gartman
- Stanford Receiver to Release Funds Of Frozen Acounts
Text Size 
Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy means most of its 25,000 remaining employees will soon be out of job without a substantial severance package, leaving them with little breathing room with which to search for a new job. Understandably, Lehman employees are dismayed, angry and anxious, asking themselves, What do I do now?
The answer is: several things.
Hitting up financial recruiters is an essential first step, and many insiders are well aware of this—reports this morning say headhunters’ phones are ringing off the hook. Indeed, recruiters know who’s looking for talent, and today, there are many financial firms hungry for the high-class talent coming out of Lehman [LEH
Loading...
()
]. (They’re likely also hungry for Merrill Lynch [MER
Loading...
()
]talent, given the firm’s agreement to be acquired by Bank of America[LEH
Loading...
()
] for $44 billion).
Aside from headhunters, insiders should be contacting clients as well as colleagues at other big banks. Lehman’s name is one of the most prestigious on Wall Street, and several Lehman groups could be assets to other clients or competitors. It’s not unlikely that an entire group could be swallowed by a (former) competitor, or that a few of Lehman’s corporate clients will want some the bank’s insiders to perform related financial functions for them.
Employees might also consider becoming a big fish in a smaller pond, aiming their searches at some of the smaller investment banks on Wall Street, commonly called the middle market. These firms—such as Evercore Partners, Houlihan Lokey and Jefferies & Company—will likely win big with Lehman folding, gaining top bankers with top clients. Already, these smaller firms have done well in the midst of the credit crisis, picking up former Bear Stearns bankers as well as bankers at other firms who’ve been laid off since the crisis began.
 |
Finally, a word of warning: Though certain groups at Lehman seem to be safe—Lehman Brothers Asset Management and its investment management subsidiary Neuberger Berman are said to be unaffected by the bankruptcy—investor uncertainty could result in money being pulled out of those units, so employees in these units should be testing the job market waters as well.
Check out Vault.com Banking Survey
__________________________________
Derek Loosvelt is Vault.com’s global finance editor. He has a BS in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in creative writing from The New School. He is a writer and editor and has worked for Brill’s Content and Inside.com. Previously, he worked in investment banking at CIBC and Duff & Phelps.
Comments? Send them to
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes