Bank on Banking

Although the market has started coming back and bonus whispers are again looming, we are not completely out of the woods yet. Whether it’s the best times or the worst times, layoffs can happen and being prepared for them is the best way to stay ahead of them, and ultimately, bounce back quickly if they ever show up at your door/cube. Being displaced, as banks often like to describe it, can be really scary and intimidating. In fact, even the thought of it can startle bankers to the point of not even wanting to think about it, ignoring the signs that could be right in front of them and ultimately forgetting even the most basic measures to take. As a result, I’ve put together a short list of 5 tasks to perform when sensing layoffs so that you are ready in the event that the unfortunate does, unfortunately, happen.

Make sure your contacts are updated and saved in your blackberry and an Excel backup

This sounds like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised by how many people forget to do this, or, worse, forget that their blackberries and corporate laptops actually belong to the corporation, and are taken back upon displacement. If your blackberry is yours, make sure all of the information is up to date, if it is not (either way, really), make sure all of the information is backed up in an excel file and that you’ve got it if you need it. Regarding which information should be saved – think of all of the basics: name, cell and work phone numbers, address (whether office or home), email address (corporate and personal if you have both, but at least corporate), company (especially if it’s a client contact and not a bank contact), position (analyst, VP, etc) and group (Leveraged Finance, M&A, Industrial Growth, etc – if applicable – if it’s a client, it might not be relevant). Additionally, you want to make sure that the spelling of the first and last name and email address is correct as I have spelled names wrong in the past and wonder why the hell the email wasn’t going through. Finally, as one additional point of interest to keep record of, although not by any means essential, for each contact (at least in your Excel file, where you will have more room), you can keep any talking points such as mutual interests, deals you’ve worked on together, and how you know the person (whether through someone, just through deals, etc) just as talking points and points of reconnection for the future.

Slowly get your name back on the street

I stress slowly here for two reason: 1) you don’t know if you are even going to be displaced, and if you are not, you might not be interested in putting out all of the feelers, giving off that impression and then not following through, and, more importantly, 2) you don’t want your current employer to find out that you are looking for other opportunities, leading them to believe that you are interested in leaving, which, needless to say, is a good way to ensure that you are part of the headcount reduction. The best way to slowly get your name out there is to follow a similar procedure as when you are looking to internally Make the Group Switch. Essentially, start slowly and quietly – reach out to contacts at perhaps a few other firms and put out the feelers. However, let your contact know that you are sensing layoffs, so want to get a preliminary interest – in other words, keep it quiet as you don’t want to guarantee a boot in the ass out the door.

Backup your deal-related work on a flash drive

This is sometimes a bit of a touchy topic depending on the bank, and depending on how comfortable you are with this, but if you get the opportunity, I would definitely recommend uploading, if nothing else, the work you’ve done on any of your closed deals. It’s often tough to remember all of the little details of a project, especially 6 months down the line when you are interviewing and asked about cash flows, discount rates, schedules, etc and by backing up your models, pitchbooks, etc on a flash drive you’ve now got the ability to look back on your projects ahead of your interviews to refresh your memory on any important deal-specifics so that you’re not caught off guard if those technical questions come out. I believe in being prepared for any situation and if you don’t have access to the specifics of your closed transactions it will be very hard to articulate exactly what you worked on, how you were able to perform it, and issues that came up and the ultimate resolutions – and all of this is definitely helpful during an interview and will definitely help to set you apart from those candidates that can only provide “high level” summaries of their transactions or less.

Considering this is often an intimidating task for many, there is an alternative. The alternative is to take hard copies of your documents – print out your models, pitchbooks and IMs, if nothing else, and keep them for your records. Of course you don’t need to print everything out at once, but start early, and over time working on printing out your transaction-related relevant docs for your records. Of course, this will require that you can keep the documents together, neatly, and in a safe place so that they aren’t thrown out, ripped up, or mixed up. I’d recommend starting folders at your house, just as you would in your cube, for each transaction. It won’t have the flexibility or convenience of the flash drive, but it is just as good for a quick review at your house ahead of an interview.

Look into filing for unemployment

This is definitely a point that people often ignore either because they assume that they will be able to find another position very quickly, or because they are, well, embarrassed that as an investment banker they would even need to consider unemployment. Put your egos aside and focus on the market and your finances, not your pride. There is nothing wrong with looking into the process, how long it takes to actually kick into action, how much you’d get and how long you’d be entitled to it. All of these issues matter, and if you take the proper steps early on, you will have one less thing to worry about if, in fact, the cut does come. Preparing yourself for the unemployment process can take at least a small measure of the stress off of you if you find yourself out of work and in need of finding a new employer. You may not ever use your new knowledge or need it, but when and if that cut ever comes your way, it is nice to have the knowledge ready to take immediate action and at least get some money into your pockets until you land that next position.

Polish the resume and cover letter

I’m thinking that this is a no-brainer, but in my experience it is often the “no-brainers” that I need to remind people of the most. By polish the resume and cover letter, I don’t just mean make or edits, or add a line to your current position, I mean fully revise your resume. In other words, look into your past deals, current projects, responsibilities, and so forth, and make sure your new resume fully explains all of these aspects of your current position. Next, look to all of your past experiences and see if anything there can use some rephrasing, some tweaking, or some deleting – if you are adding new experiences, you will probably have to cut some of the old – start with college-related activities and those not directly related to banking that may have helped you get the gig 2-3 years ago, but don’t matter nearly as much as your current projects. A past internship in a different field, college club involvement can be truncated to fit on a single bullet point towards the bottom of your resume (Organization – Dates – Position, such as Finance Club of XXXX – September XXXX to May XXXX – Treasurer) instead of 3-5 lines on your resume in your “Leadership” section where you describe your activities, etc. Remember, after a few years of experience your resume should usually be leading off with a strong work experience section, then move on to your education section (which is not already full, can be the new home of your club involvement as described above) and then whatever is left such as Hobbies, Skills, Interests, Volunteer Work, etc, depending on how much room you have left – but don’t short-change your professional experience to fit an extra Leadership or Hobbies bullet point.

Beyond the resume, your cover letters will have to be redone as well. Essentially, take the same approach here as with your resume. You should have much more strong work experience here than before, so you need to incorporate all of that into the body of your letter to demonstrate your strength as a candidate. Even if your cover letter is not read, at least it’s there and illustrates all of your capabilities as an outstanding analyst/associate, rather than having some outdated or sloppy letter that doesn’t, in all honest, do your candidacy any justice. Take the time while you’ve got it and are still getting paid to put together a strong cover letter – you can always come back and fine-tune it whenever you need it, but you need to clearly articulate your new experiences and skill set.

I know that reworking the resume and cover letter can often be difficult. Sometimes adding new experiences, etc is hard – finding the right phrasing and such, but many times deleting past experiences, etc is harder in that we are all connected to out experiences and can see the merit in them and how they have enhanced and continue to shape who we are. If you’re having difficulty letting go or finding the right way to express something, feel free to drop me an email Here and let me know. No, I’m not pitching my resume revision service by any means, but I can definitely understand the difficulty and have no problem helping you along with cleaning up a few points on your resumes (as I already do, so I guess that it’s really nothing new).

As always, comments go below and emails can be sent right Here. There are many more articles coming so stay tuned and if you have any suggestions for my articles or for the site in general, let me know!