Bigger Bucks For Bank Jobs

Good with numbers? Like sales? Get your resume ready.

As their industry booms, banks and other financial institutions are scouring for people to manage money, sell insurance, approve loans and advise the wealthy.

Demand is especially strong in the Triangle, which has become a magnet for large financial institutions and banks attracted by the area's wealth and growing population.

Investment bank Credit Suisse is hiring hundreds of information technology professionals to power an estimated $140 million data processing complex being built in Research Triangle Park. Fidelity Investments has added about 200 positions this year, bringing its total in the area to about 1,000, and more could be on the way. And the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has been recruiting accountants and computer operators for several months as it moves to Durham from the Northeast.

In addition, a dozen new banks have opened or expanded here in the past 18 months, and several more are in the pipeline. Each new bank means more than just tellers at a branch. To diversify beyond loans and deposits, more are expanding sales-oriented businesses such as financial planning, brokerage, insurance and investment banking.

Add it all up and you get a debit: People who can sell, manage or support financial services are in short supply.

Chris Weston, 24, of Raleigh is a prime example. The fresh-out-of-UNC-Wilmington graduate started at Wachovia this year and is already pulling in well over $50,000 a year as a financial specialist.

"It's amazing how other banks compete for people in our positions," said Weston, who advises wealthy clients on saving and investment options.

Indeed, it's not unusual for employees to trade up one company after another as offers stream in.

Recent graduate Chris Weston, 24, of Raleigh is already earning more than $50,000 annually, as a financial specialist at Wachovia. Weston bought a 2006 Toyota Avalon after taking a vacation in Spain.

In Wake County, where banks abound, entry-level loan officers make a third more this year than in 2004, according to the latest data from the N.C. Employment Security Commission. The average wage for accountants and auditors in the area is up more than 15 percent over the same period.

Labor experts say a surge in baby boomers and more wealthy people in the Southeast are raising demand for loans, advice and investment products.

"Recruiters will basically call and say, 'Come talk to us, and you can probably get x amount of money,'" said Weston, who recently vacationed in Spain and had enough left over to finance a 2006 Toyota Avalon.

According to UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School, the average salary for MBA graduates heading into financial services jumped 18 percent to $92,388 in 2005 from $78,598 in 2004. A similar increase is expected this year.

"It's very deal-driven by the huge increase in investment banking and the need for great candidates," said Shawn Graham, associate director of MBA career services at Kenan-Flagler.

He said financial companies such as Fidelity and BlackRock that had never before recruited on campus started doing so late last year.

Compensation packages are also escalating at the top of the command chain.

For banks with $500 million to $1 billion in assets, chief executive compensation rose more than 25 percent from 2003 to 2005, and even more for larger banks, according to SNL Financial, based in Weston, Va.

John Anthony left his post as chief administration officer at Raleigh-based Capital Bank for a similar position with better pay at TrustAtlantic Financial Corp., a Raleigh-based start-up led by Triangle banker James A. Beck.

Anthony declined to talk specifics on pay but said compensation, as well as his relationship with Beck, provided strong incentive to move. He's now faced with trying to recruit salespeople for TrustAtlantic. Beck is a former CEO of Capital Bank.

"These people are in such demand that anybody with a book of business to bring is highly coveted," Anthony said. That includes brokers, lenders, branch managers and mortgage originators. "It's not like you come to a bank, do a nice job and stay 30 years. It's what percentage of your current business you can bring with you."

He estimates that salaries for commercial lenders in the Triangle are up 30 percent to 40 percent since 2000.

Robert Wilcox, a director with Spherion, a national recruitment company with offices in Durham and Charlotte, said it's not just banks but all financial services that are looking for highly skilled people in sales and information technology.

For example, the number of financial analysts and advisers nationwide is projected to increase 25 percent from 2002 to 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's well above the 10 percent to 20 percent growth projected across all industries and sure to drive wages and commissions higher.

"It's hot across the business and finance spectrum, not just banking," said Wilcox.

Article At: Newsobserver

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Monster Goes Worldwide

The online recruitment powerhouse, is in the middle of a highly competitive marketplace, but it still has enough clout to keep the company's revenues humming along smoothly. While domestic growth has been impressive, this Fool thinks that the international market will eventually dwarf the U.S market, and Monster's already making strong headway abroad. Furthermore, the company isn't afraid to experiment, as its newspaper deal in Philadelphia shows. In my opinion, that mix of growth and flexibility is a rare combination.

This quarter is further proof of Monster's success. Revenues were up 36% year over year to $296 million, while net income came in at $40 million. Due to the company reviewing the options grants from 1996-2002 for what will most likely be material net income restatements, it did not provide year-over-year comparisons for earnings. Still, the big picture for this company remains unchanged.

Monster International grew 62% year over year, and now contributes 26% of revenues. The markets in China, India, South Korea, the U.K., and Germany are enormous, all with large labor pools and quickly growing Internet access, and Monster.com is the leader in most if not all of these regions. China is a bit of a dead heat at this point, with Monster neck-and-neck with Yahoo!'s (Nasdaq: YHOO) HotJobs. But investors should be salivating at the possibilities for growth in India, as IT outsourcing companies like Infosys (Nasdaq: INFY), Wipro (NYSE: WIT), and even the mighty IBM (NYSE: IBM) seek to hire tens of thousands of employees in the next few years.

What's more -- and I find this a highly contrarian move -- the company signed a deal with Philadelphia Media Holdings to advertise job listings in a newspaper. What? Aren't Craigslist and other online job sites supposed to be destroying this sales channel? Monster sees an opportunity to make friends with the newspaper industry and further expand its reach into the local market. After all, what does it have to lose by placing its respected brand into another key sales channel? Management characterized this as a clear experiment on the conference call, and will eagerly observe how the deal plays out in the next year or so. It's a win-win situation, and quite amazing to see, considering that print classifieds and Internet ads have long been considered at odds. However, this has been changing from the newspapers' point of view as well, as they continue to derive more revenue from their online businesses.

While the stock is a touch expensive at a trailing P/E of 35 -- with still-unknown options restatements potentially on their way -- I believe that the future still looks bright for this fast-growing business.

Article At: Fool.com

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CareerBuilder is #1

CareerBuilder.com, the nation's largest online job site with more than 1.5 million jobs and over 23 million unique visitors, is at the center of a major turn in the history of online recruitment. After leading the industry in job postings and traffic for more than two years, CareerBuilder.com has passed its largest competitor in U.S. revenue. This means CareerBuilder.com now commands the leadership position in all major categories of online recruitment in the U.S., delivering on its promise to take top ranking domestically before full expansion overseas.

Five years ago, CareerBuilder.com was an emerging contender in the online recruitment space, one-fifth the revenue size of the market leader(1). Setting the stage for success with cutting-edge technology, dedicated customer service and aggressive sales and marketing strategies, CareerBuilder.com grew its revenue annually by more than 75 percent and quickly closed the gap between it and its main competitor.

In the second quarter of 2006, CareerBuilder.com pulled ahead of its rival. The company and its local affiliates generated $172 million in market revenues in the U.S., $9 million more than its largest competitor in all of North America. For the first six months of the year, CareerBuilder's North American revenues were $329 million, compared to $323 million for its largest competitor.

"We know the greatest asset of any organization is its people, and we take our job of delivering world class talent very seriously," said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com. "That's why employers and job seekers across the country now use CareerBuilder.com more than any other site. We offered a better solution and customers took notice, as evidenced in our leadership in job postings, traffic and revenue. We didn't invent the industry, but in five years, we have taken it over."

How did they do it? CareerBuilder.com built a distribution network of more than 900 partners and, in a bold maneuver, replaced its rival as the exclusive job search engine for America Online and MSN. While CareerBuilder.com's traffic soared, its competitor's dwindled.

At the same time, CareerBuilder.com unleashed a widely successful national marketing campaign valued at over $200 million. Critically acclaimed appearances in the Super Bowl TV ad lineup for the last two years punctuated a multifaceted marketing strategy that cleverly blended grassroots outreach with high profile venues.

Since January 2004, CareerBuilder.com has captured the most traffic in the industry every month, according to reports from comScore Media Metrix. The CareerBuilder network now draws more than 23 million unique visitors per month, approximately 9 million more than its largest competitor.

With more than 1,900 salespeople in-house and at its newspaper partners, the company has aggressively pushed forward into new markets and captured a greater portion of recruitment spend amongst FORTUNE 1000 and small and medium-sized businesses. For 40 consecutive months, CareerBuilder.com has posted the most jobs in the industry, according to Corzen. The company has experienced a 12-point gain in market share over the last two years and is certain to increase its share in 2006.

The company has also led the industry in technology advancement, creating a unique job matching functionality to hasten the job search process. The company serves on FAST Search & Transfer's Technology Advisory Board and works exclusively with FAST on product development for online recruitment, keeping CareerBuilder.com at the forefront of best-of-breed search engine technology.

"Working together with a network of over 900 partners and hundreds of thousands of customers, we have harnessed the power of the Internet to unite millions of employers and job seekers," said Ferguson. "We have helped businesses -- and people -- build their futures. We're grateful for the support from our customers and partners and promise to continue our tradition of excellence as we take our leadership to a global level."

Article At: Yahoo Biz

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Think Your Office Is a Zoo?

On a typical day at Tellme Networks Inc., Jackson snores, Penny spends time learning Chinese and the bosses and workers are delighted.

Penny, a Labrador Retriever, and Jackson, a bulldog, are part of an effort at many U.S. companies to allow pets in the workplace. One survey shows nearly one in five U.S. companies allow pets at work.

Millions of Americans believe pets on the job lower absenteeism and encourage workers to get along, according to the survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association.

Pets at Tellme, an Internet telecommunications company, help workers become friends, said Grant Shirk, whose dog Penny is learning Chinese commands from a colleague.

"She can do 'sit,' 'lie down' and 'shake hands,'" he said.

Tellme project manager Jaymer Delapena said co-workers know Jackson, famed for his loud snores, by name, and some like to take the dog into meetings.

"I'll be walking past a conference room and look inside and my dog is sitting in a chair around a table," he said.

Interest in pets at work is growing, say organizers of "Take Your Dog to Work Day," set for this Friday. Several thousand companies are expected to participate, up from a few hundred when the event began eight years ago.

Heather Galler believes in the concept so much that she founded her own company where workers are encouraged to work from home and be with their pets.

Pets build bonds among workers and clients, said Galler, head of JobKite.com, where all 28 employees work remotely from home offices, along with 18 dogs, 13 cats, a parrot and a dozen fish.

"When we first started doing it, we tried to hide the fact that we were telecommuting and that we were with our animals. Then it just dawned on me, 'Why should we hide it?" Galler said. "Most people have pets of their own, and it would be an icebreaker."

The policy has drawbacks, she conceded. "I'm talking to you in the bathroom because I don't want my dogs to start barking and interrupting our conversation," she said from her home office in Cape Coral, Florida. "They can get a little loud."

Dozens of dogs come to work with their owners at Replacements, Ltd., said Scott Fleming, president of the company that deals in china, crystal, silver and collectibles in McLeansville, North Carolina.

"They have not broken a single piece, which is more than I can say for the rest of us," Fleming said.

Pet-friendly environments can pay off in a competitive job market, said Phil Carpenter, vice president of marketing at Simply Hired, an online jobs database that has added an option for job-seekers to select a dog-friendly company.

More than 400 companies -- among them Google Inc. -- have listed themselves as dog-friendly, he said.

"Companies hire in-house masseuses to in-house chefs. Why not take this step and allow people to bring a companion that's really important to them in their lives?" he said.

A survey by Simply Hired and Dogster, an online site, found a third of dog-owners would take a 5 percent pay cut to take their pets to work, two-thirds would work longer hours and half would switch jobs.

"Take Your Dog to Work Day" is intended to raise awareness of animals in shelters that need homes, said John Long, spokesman for organizers Pet Sitters International.

"Certainly we encourage anyone who wants to take their pet to work, but that's not really the point of what we're doing," he said. "We want to focus on the animals that need good homes. If we can hook good people up with good pets, it's a beautiful thing."

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