Life After Wall Street?

Job Fair

What becomes of the broken bankers when their services are no longer required?  Does a man still look for work on Wall Street when even the guy who fired him has been let go as well?  Is there any incentive to even want to put in a 15 hour day now that the entire compensation system has been overturned?

There is a monster of an article on Bloomberg this week that attempts to answer these questions.  It is all-encompassing in scope and features several ex-Wall Streeter’s from all different levels of the machine who are now pondering their next move.

Some will go back home to the midwest and work in restaurants, some are attempting to launch their own funds and some will even try to become the next Ari Gold out in Hollywood, but many are completely at a loss as far as what the next move may be.

The comeuppance for many is epic and yes, its hard to feel bad for someone who made $10 million a year for the last 5 years.

The good news is that The Street’s loss may be a huge gain for other industries that have suffered from a lack of young talent over the last decade as the investment banks sucked up so many promising graduates that could have otherwise made contributions in other fields.  Already, univerities are noticing that companies like Ernst & Young or Procter & Gamble have begun to fill auditoriums when they come to recruit.  This is encouraging to see.  After all, is it really beneficial to have a society where all of the best and the brightest sequester themselves in one industry and trade papers back and forth amongst themselves?

If you work on Wall Street or no someone who does (did?), this is an incredible read that really gives you an inside look at what happens when the realization kicks in that most of these jobs just ain’t coming back.

Full Story:  Finance Jobs Vanish (Bloomberg) by Lisa Kassenaar and Stephanie Baker

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