On the bright side, the job losses on wall street are far less than they were following the dot-com bubble burst earlier this decade. While financial institutions shed about 17% of their forces, those same institutions have only cut about 3% during this latest downturn. Unfortunately, there's a downside to this story.
The downside is that many, if not all, are expecting many more cuts to come. You may have heard people referring to a U-shaped recovery; well, were only still on the left-side, the downward side, of that 'U'. It will essentially be a very slow downward slide that will see an increasing number of jobs lost before we hit the trough of this business cycle. Worst yet, it will be an equally slow climb back up. So, who among us are the most at-risk?
You guessed it; the higher your salary and/or bonus, the more likely you are to get a pink slip. It's no secrete that wages are the #1 expense for financial institutions and they're losing money like a leaky rowboat. To hedge those losses, their first act is to cut their expenses proportionally and the story seems to be that there are many more write-downs to come - more paper losses at these firms necessarily mean more job losses for those working there.
The best thing to do is to stay focused on your long-term career goals. Your career is not your job; it's the union of your experience and education. Losing your job does not represent a loss of your career; it provides you with the opportunity to explore areas that you haven't had the time to review in the past. Use every opportunity to enhance your experience and education and your career will continue to excel.
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