Last July, when Owings Mills native Elmar Trust started as an investment-banking analyst at Bear Stearns, he planned on staying for two years before moving onward and upward,
“I thought I was in a job that would really catapult me and give me lots of opportunities in finance,” Trust said. Eleven months later, he finds himself unemployed.
Trust, 22, is one at least 55 (by his estimate) first-year investment banking analysts who went from working 80 to 90 hours a week to being laid off as a result of the unprecedented recent merger between Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase. And the Friends School and Haverford College grad now has a “need to start over.”
Surprisingly, fresh starts might come in part from JPMorgan, which seems committed to helping the very Bear Stearns workers it laid off land on their feet.
JPMorgan?s commitment starts with its severance packages, which Trust described as “unexpectedly good.” As a first-year analyst, Trust will receive four weeks pay and benefits in addition to the standard 60 days of compensation, and he will find out next month if he is eligible for a sizable bonus.
In addition, JPMorgan has launched the “Talent Network” to help ex-Bear employees find jobs both inside and outside the company. Some aspects of the initiative include job fairs, career workshops, personalized research assistance, an internal job-posting system and peer networking groups, according to JPMorgan.
“It?s very admirable that they put this tool out there,” Trust said.
Still, JPMorgan CEO James Dimon might have other motivations than simply altruism.
“Dimon has a responsibility to make this merger look good, especially for the Federal Reserve and the Treasury,” said Paul Hoffmeister, chief economist at Bretton Woods Research. “They did something unprecedented in backstopping an investment bank, and the last thing they need is bad PR.”
Many Bear employees are using the Talent Network to supplement their own job searches, according to Trust.
Former coworker Christie Lewis, 22, has found that her “most promising lead so far has been through personal contacts, because the market has been so tough.”
“I?m curious to see what the next job opportunity brings,” Trust said.
