By Elizabeth Harrin (London)
The Wall Street Reform Act introduced a raft of new rules with the aim of stabilising the U.S. financial systems. These rules now need to be implemented, and someone has got to do the implementing. Are you in the market for a new job? Maybe a move to the public sector is the right move for you.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alone is expecting to recruit for about 800 positions [PDF], according to Chairman Mary Schapiro. “A principal lesson learned from the financial crisis is that, because today’s financial markets and their participants are dynamic, fast-moving, and innovative, the regulators who oversee them must continuously improve their knowledge and skills to regulate effectively,” she said. “In response, we have created and begun staffing a new division, the Division of Risk, Strategy, and Financial Innovation.” This new division will look at new products and trading practices.
“As part of the now completed reorganisation of the Enforcement Division, we created five new specialised units, as well as a new office dedicated to the handling of complaints, tips, and referrals,” Schapiro added in her testimony to a House of Representatives sub-committee meeting. These units cover areas like asset management, structured and new products, and securities. “Each of the specialised units is in the process of hiring additional professionals with specialised experience to assist in investigative and enforcement efforts,” Schapiro said.
The SEC is not the only agency hiring. “The next year of rule writing will test the very talented staff of the CFTC [Commodity Futures Trading Commission],” said Gary Gensler, Chairman of the CFTC. “Our staff has significant expertise regulating the on-exchange derivatives markets that will translate well into regulating the over-the-counter swaps markets. Still, we need significant new resources.”
In addition, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a completely new creation, and will need staffing from the ground up. Although we can assume that some federal staff will transfer in from other agencies, it’s also fair to assume that the Bureau will be recruiting.
So if you have always wanted a public sector job, this could be the moment to jump from the private sector. Be warned though, making the move to the public sector isn’t like getting another private sector position.
New Regulations Mean New Jobs
Managing ChangeThe Wall Street Reform Act introduced a raft of new rules with the aim of stabilising the U.S. financial systems. These rules now need to be implemented, and someone has got to do the implementing. Are you in the market for a new job? Maybe a move to the public sector is the right move for you.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alone is expecting to recruit for about 800 positions [PDF], according to Chairman Mary Schapiro. “A principal lesson learned from the financial crisis is that, because today’s financial markets and their participants are dynamic, fast-moving, and innovative, the regulators who oversee them must continuously improve their knowledge and skills to regulate effectively,” she said. “In response, we have created and begun staffing a new division, the Division of Risk, Strategy, and Financial Innovation.” This new division will look at new products and trading practices.
“As part of the now completed reorganisation of the Enforcement Division, we created five new specialised units, as well as a new office dedicated to the handling of complaints, tips, and referrals,” Schapiro added in her testimony to a House of Representatives sub-committee meeting. These units cover areas like asset management, structured and new products, and securities. “Each of the specialised units is in the process of hiring additional professionals with specialised experience to assist in investigative and enforcement efforts,” Schapiro said.
The SEC is not the only agency hiring. “The next year of rule writing will test the very talented staff of the CFTC [Commodity Futures Trading Commission],” said Gary Gensler, Chairman of the CFTC. “Our staff has significant expertise regulating the on-exchange derivatives markets that will translate well into regulating the over-the-counter swaps markets. Still, we need significant new resources.”
In addition, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a completely new creation, and will need staffing from the ground up. Although we can assume that some federal staff will transfer in from other agencies, it’s also fair to assume that the Bureau will be recruiting.
So if you have always wanted a public sector job, this could be the moment to jump from the private sector. Be warned though, making the move to the public sector isn’t like getting another private sector position.
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In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-Up
NewsThe European Central Bank left its key lending rate at 1%. Encouraging job creation numbers came out of the US, but unemployment is still rising. We also saw agreement in the EU on the creation of a European Systemic Risk Council.
Economic Backdrop
When news came that the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) index of national service activity had fallen from 54.3 in July to 51.5 in August, which was worse than expected, this added confusion to the markets and limited the gains in equities and falls in bonds.
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Happy Labor Day!
Work-LifeDear Readers,
The Glass Hammer is taking a few days off to celebrate Labor Day. In the meantime, check out some of our recent popular articles.
Also, don’t forget to check out our upcoming events – we’re hosting a panel on Dodd-Frank for women investment management in October, and in November, we’re hosting a career development panel called Navigating, Negotiating, and Building Your Network. For more more information on either event, click here: https://theglasshammer.com/events/.
Finally, The Glass Hammer is always looking for new writers. If you’ve got something to say, email melissa@theglasshammer.com with a writing sample and an idea.
35 Under 35: Lisa Bebchick, Partner at Fried Frank
35 Under 35“You need to be able to learn from someone who has the career and work life balance you aspire to,” said Lisa Bebchick, a 33-year old partner in the litigation department at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, explaining why she makes time in her busy schedule to mentor junior associates at her firm. Bebchick, who works in Fried Frank’s New York office, focuses her practice on all aspects of civil and criminal litigation, and has expertise in white collar criminal defense and internal investigations, among other areas. In addition to her billable work, Bebchick also manages to find time for pro bono work, as well as serving on numerous charity boards, taking on leadership initiatives at her firm and recruiting and mentoring the next generation of associates. That’s why Lisa Bebchick is one of the Glass Hammer’s 35 women under 35 to watch, because she is making a difference in the legal world.
The Glass Hammer recently caught up with Bebchick over lunch near her office in the Financial District to learn more about her career choices and her path to partnership at Fried Frank. Here, we share with the Glass Hammer readers some of her advice to aspiring attorneys on how to develop your professional careers, balance work and life, and have fun doing it all.
When asked how she got her start in the law, Bebchick said that she knew relatively early on in life that she wanted to be a lawyer. As an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, Bebchick majored in political science and was fascinated with political communication. She worked on John Kerry’s re-election campaign for the U.S. Senate and in his press office the following year, working for his press secretary. However, she realized that she didn’t want to go into politics herself. She decided to become an attorney because the career seemed like a logical choice for someone with strong writing skills who enjoyed the art of effective communication. “Good communication and strong writing skills are at the heart of being a good litigator,” Bebchick explained. She also was committed to giving back to her community, and saw the legal profession as a great opportunity to do that. After college, she went to law school at Boston University, where she was a member of the Law Review, and graduated magna cum laude in 2001. She began her career as Fried Frank as a summer associate and worked as an associate for eight years before becoming a partner at the firm in the fall of 2009.
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Networking 2.0
Networking“I haven’t got time for networking”, one senior woman from a major City of London investment bank told me recently.
“All that standing around in rooms full of complete strangers, drinking either bad wine at the end of a long day, or bad coffee and stale croissants at the start of another day – no thanks. It’s so unstructured and unfocused, and such a bad use of my time. I’m sure there probably ARE useful and interesting people at some of these events – but how on earth do you find them in a packed room, and what use might we be to each other?”
Other women told a similar tale, with one commenting that she had now stopped going along to organised “group meet ups”, as she found that she either knew no-one, or would see a familiar face in the crowd and then “cling to that person for the whole evening, thus negating the idea of meeting new people!”
In response to this changing mindset – and independently of each other – two London based women have begun to evolve a more nuanced, “networking 2.0” framework, which delivers the benefits of what we might perhaps call “old school” networking – expanding your contacts, sharing connections and skills – but which also uses technology and social media interfaces.
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Engaging Men in Culture Change: “Would You Want Your Daughter to Work Here?”
Featured, Men Who "Get It"A few months ago Deloitte’s Ann Weisberg shared an anecdote with The Glass Hammer that struck a chord with many of us. She relayed the story of a Deloitte senior male partner who spoke on a panel about the issue of gender diversity. He asked the audience, “Would you want your daughters working here? If the answer is no, then you should own part of the solution.” It got us wondering: Could the simple question “Would you want your daughters working here?” change the way companies treat gender diversity?
A Powerful Question
Barbara Adachi is the National Managing Principal for Deloitte’s award-winning Women’s Initiative and yet another believer in the power of the question, “Would you want your daughters working here?” Not only does she believe that considering the question would help senior men see the work environment and culture from a very different and personal perspective, but she’s seen the power of the question at work.
“When we launched the Women’s Initiative in 1993, our CEO Mike Cook had two daughters who were entering the workforce. He personally recognized the importance of women having equal opportunities to advance and he applied this to our culture,” Adachi said. “In a Harvard Business Review article about the Women’s Initiative, [Deloitte Consulting CEO] Doug McCracken cited that the light bulb went on for a male partner when asked, ‘Your daughter is graduating from college. Would you want her to work for a company that has lower expectations for women?’ Suddenly, he got it.”
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Voice of Experience: Christine Hurtsellers, Chief Investment Officer, Fixed Income, ING Investment Management
Voices of Experience“When I first started, I may have been too competitive,” said Christine Hurtsellers, CIO of Fixed Income and Proprietary Investments for ING Investment Management. She explained, “I had to be the smartest, best, hardest working person… Since then, I’ve learned a lot about working as part of a team. Growing up and evolving is the key to my personal success – as well as great people who’ve helped me out.”
Hurtsellers, a marathon runner and mother of five boys, was one of the individuals charged with turning around ING Investment Management‘s fixed income business 2 years ago. “I’m a pretty driven person,” she said.
Looking forward, she said, “Time flies. In ten years, I see myself continuing to push ahead with many possibilities open to me: running a company as CEO… or stepping back and working in a freelance capacity or on boards… or doing advocacy work for charities.”
“Basically, in charge of the world or giving back to humanity!” she said with a laugh.
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Head Over Heels: Web Radio for Professional Women
Industry Leaders, LeadershipThe web provides so many ways to bring women together, and help them get to the next step in their careers. And The Glass Hammer is always looking for ways to collaborate with and support other publications that have a mission similar to our own – to inform, empower, and inspire professional women to break glass ceilings every day.
But with the vast wealth of information on the internet – including websites, social networks, newsletters, and more – one new media segment is often overlooked: web radio.
Recently, our founder and CEO Nicki Gilmour had the opportunity to contribute to Head Over Heels Women’s Business Radio with Bonnie Marcus. Marcus, in turn, agreed to tell us why she thinks web radio is the next big thing.
Marcus explained, “The show started as an extension to my coaching practice. Two years ago, I was having lunch with one of my mentors, who said, ‘You have a unique message, how do you want to go on coaching? One-on-one, or do you want to have a more global influence?’”
She continued, “It really hit me – the radio show opportunity came along so I grabbed it – it’s an opportunity to reach a more global audience.”
“I first launched the site September 22, 2009 under the name Women Mean Business. In January, I changed it to Head over Heels Women’s Business Radio.”
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Employee Wellbeing, Stress, and Engagement
Office PoliticsThis article originally appeared on our new site Evolved Employer, a website dedicated to good corporate citizenship, diversity, and employee engagement best practices.
Last month’s issue of Wired Magazine featured an article by Jonah Lehrer detailing the effects of certain kinds of workplace stress on the immune system. “Under Pressure” discussed the work of Dr. Robert Sapolsky, a professor of Biology and Neurology at Stanford University, as well as summarized several other studies from around the world – revealing an important link between stress, power, and wellbeing.
Add that to a new report by Gallup showing how wellbeing affects employee engagement (especially in this current economic environment), and the issue of stress becomes even more pertinent for employers. According to Sapolsky (and Lehrer), stress negatively impacts your immune system, making you more at risk of both the sniffles and long term chronic illnesses.
But it’s not just any stress. Sapolsky is specifically talking about the kind of stress that comes from feeling powerless in one’s job or social position. And with layoffs, paycuts, and unemployment we’re all facing right now, many employees are beginning to feel the push.
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Movers and Shakers: Niamh Bushnell, North America Senior Vice President, MoneyMate
Movers and Shakers“Advise and evangelize, that’s what interests me,” said Niamh Bushnell, North American Senior Vice President at MoneyMate, a provider of investment data management solutions to global asset managers. Bushnell, who’s worked throughout Europe and now in the US and was recently named one of the 50 Most Influential Irish-American Women in 2010 by the Irish Voice, has made a career of helping technology companies strategically position themselves and their products.
She continued, “I meet a lot of executives – I’m very often impressed by their focus, ambition, and understanding of their industry.”
But, she said, everyday things inspire her just as much as her work. “I’m inspired by unexpected good humor – a bright smile from the server at the deli or the newspaper guy I bump into – the people watching the morning chaos who have the time and the interest to connect with you.”
“When I have that experience I feel it’s a lucky day.”
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