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CAREER ADVICE	June 3, 1999

It has been a tumultuous year for investors. Last fall, the global financial markets looked ready to melt down, staggered by Russia's default and the implosion of Long-Term Capital Management, the Greenwich (Conn.) hedge fund. This was followed by a surprising rebound in the markets -- which were spooked again in late January and February by fears of an economic collapse in Brazil. Now, Internet enthusiasm and the seeming revival of overseas economies have driven the market to near-record levels.

Even so, if you work on Wall Street, in a bank, or in an insurance company, you should be examining your options and alternatives. Many analysts expect that the number of financial services mergers in the next five years will multiply, as more companies try to build global financial megacompetitors a la Citicorp and Travelers. Following Merrill's latest move to adopt online trading, Internet-based investing may also take a big bite out of conventional brokerages and investment banks. And the end of the stock market boom, whenever it comes, will wreak havoc on Wall Street.

For now, the financial services industries are prosperous. As the markets have soared, so has demand for financial services workers. Banks, Wall Street firms, and nonbank lenders added 17,000 jobs in April, a monthly gain exceeded just twice in the past 10 years. But just as it makes sense to sell at the top of the market, it may be time to do some contingency planning for a job change. Professionals with financial services experience are often quite marketable, but making the right decision requires a careful assessment. Key factors to consider include your appetite for risk, the degree to which your current career path meets your priorities, and the transferability of your experience to other industries or occupations.

OUTSIDE OPTIONS. Of course, you need to first consider your prospects in your current job. Over the past year, there have been major changes in which sectors of financial services are hot. Job growth at securities brokers, investment bankers, and other Wall Street firms, which peaked at a 10% annual rate, has slowed to about half that as firms tighten their belts and trim their emerging-markets operations. Job growth at banks is virtually nil. By contrast, mutual funds firms are expanding, to keep up with the exploding demand for retirement investing. And there has been spectacular job growth at nonbank credit agencies such as mortgage bankers, though that too may fall off if interest rates go up.

Next, you should think about options outside of financial services. For instance, some corporate finance executives and bank lending officers have found niches as chief financial officers in middle-market companies. Alternatively, financial services professionals can leverage their computer and numerical literacy into a job at a Web startup, software company, or consulting firm, since rapidly expanding firms need financial skills.

Marketing experience in financial services -- which requires selling intangible products in an extremely competitive environment -- is also often highly valued by other industries. Lisa DuBois, for example, is vice-president for strategic initiatives at Pitney Bowes Financial Services in Shelton, Conn., where she has helped build a market-driven credit business. DuBois came to Pitney Bowes in 1995 after spending 10 years at Citibank in various sales and marketing positions, then two years at Fidelity as a senior vice-president for credit. "If you did a marketing job in financial services, you are extremely marketable anywhere," says DuBois. Jan Rowland, a former statistician and market researcher at two major financial institutions, was able to move into a senior-level job directing analytical services at Dun & Bradstreet in Murray Hill, N.J.

Other types of financial services experience are also valuable. For example, the utility industry is facing a tricky combination of deregulation and intense competition in some areas, together with continued regulation in others. This makes managers and human resource professionals from financial services -- where there's a similar combination of competition and regulation -- especially attractive to utilities. Similarly, former operations officers and sales managers are doing marketing for management consulting and accounting firms, while others have formed their own sales consulting firms. And some training, strategic planning, and legal professionals are parlaying their analytical and interpersonal skills into teaching, counseling, and consulting.

BACK TO SCHOOL? Of course, some of the career changes you might contemplate are more radical than moving to a related field. A branch manager at a regional bank decided to move into real estate sales. Another idea that might appeal to you is to turn around an ailing nonprofit institution. A former banker who took over a money-losing nonprofit hospital has given it new vitality by running it like a business.

In some cases, you might have to go back to school, as some people did after the previous wave of downsizing. Take Gene Glatter, now a vice-president at Right Associates, an outplacement consulting firm. In 1991, Glatter took a voluntary severance package from Bankers Trust, after 10 years as a technology executive. She invested the monies, close to a year's salary, in a two-year graduate program and got a masters in counseling, which led to her new job.

Even if you have skills that translate easily to other industries, there's still the question of whether you can stomach enough risk to jump before you're pushed. Staying in the industry may mean a higher probability of being downsized. But you can lessen the impact by making sure that a chunk of your family income comes from other industries.

Another consideration in deciding to stay or go is how well your current career path meshes with your priorities and family commitments. Glatter decided to leave her bank based on her feeling that "the work wasn't aligned with my personal strengths and interests." Another bank executive, newly married to a New York executive, wasn't willing to relocate to Chicago to continue her ascent within Citibank.

NARROW SKILLS. If you are thinking of owning a business in the future, you may need to move out of financial services to get more entrepreneurial experience. What is simple to state -- that you should identify your core values and determine whether your career trajectory fits with those -- is hard to accomplish in reality. You and your family may want to discuss goals and values, including stability, compensation, travel, and the balance between work and family.

A third dimension to factor in is whether you are developing broad enough experience in your current position. If you're learning a narrow set of skills, you may want to consider a change before you become typecast. Alternatively, it's a good sign if you're building new skills and knowledge.

For example, when banks were staffing up for branch network expansion, a former teller in a regional commercial bank was sponsored for credit training and became a lender and branch manager. Within the past two years, she has reinvented herself once again by becoming a vice-president focusing on investment management for high-net-worth individuals. To prepare for this change, she studied trusts and estates, and is working on her Certified Financial Planner designation.

If old-style career management and traditional career paths were like a game of checkers, today's job market is like a game of chess. Straightforward rules and clear rewards have been replaced by a complex and strategic game, where the effects of various moves are often hard to decipher. Merger fever, for instance, makes just figuring out who the players are a nearly insurmountable challenge. In short, the turmoil in financial services means that you need acute self- and employment-market awareness. Ultimately, this kind of mastery is your best guarantee of career growth, satisfaction, and long-term stability.

By Judy Scherer

Scherer is president of Metro Career Services, a career counseling firm based in Millburn-Short Hills, N.J. She can be reached at metcareer@aol.com

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