Many Jobs on Wall Street May Never Come Back

Smaller Firms to Benefit

Many of those advisers, then, will shift away from Wall Street and are likely to wind up at some of the smaller, regional institutions who haven't suffered like the big Wall Street names.

In some respects, it's like the fabled career choice for most workers--being a small fish in a big pond or a big fish in a small pond.

The small ponds are about to get more crowded.

"There's been a natural gravitation toward smaller firms, with less bureaucracy, less entrenched ... a much smaller, collegial type firm," says Harrison, of Russell Reynolds. "You can really move the needle at some of these smaller firms who have had strong risk management and are looking to take advantage of that fact."

At the same time, some of the more aggressive displaced workers are looking to hone their skills and fit into what looks to be a new, more personal environment.

"Investors are savvy enough to know that the role their advisor needs to play is to guide them to make more powerful decisions about their life and their future and their money," Sclafani says. "The advisor who knows not just how to provide advice but also to create a partnership with their client and help them be prepared to make smarter decisions will be the adviser who rises above. This is a major movement among financial advisers."

Gone Forever?

But are things really as bad as the conventional wisdom seems to be dictating?

Not everyone thinks so, with some saying that jobs will come back when the economy improves, and there's also sentiment that Wall Street firms have gone too far on layoffs and will realize as things stabilize that the cuts didn't need to be so severe.

"Times rise and times fall and it always feels during the depths of the recession like it's never going to return," says John Challenger, of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "Certainly the landscape will be changed and maybe the jobs will be spread out to other areas of the country and the world. ... But I'm not convinced the jobs have disappeared forever."

And even if many of the jobs don't come back, Challenger says that's not a completely bad thing as some firms may have hired too many during peak times. He also predicts the jobs picture to get better in the second half of this year as the economy recovers.

But for many of those displaced things will never be the same, marking the end of an era.

"I don't think I miss it yet," says Ambinder. "But down the road, who knows?"

© 2011 CNBC.com

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