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Equity markets: More of the same in 2014? If the year 2013 ended with moods, markets and sentiments on an upswing, what's on deck for 2014 ? What will happen in the upcoming year? What is the agenda for banks, investment managers, hedge funds and an assortment of institutions in financial services? Let's first sort through equity markets . Last year, we saw blockbuster returns--over 25%, depending on the index you follow. There were the usual dips, dives and concerns, but by autumn, equity markets continued to edge upward. Anybody's diversified portfolio of stocks performed well. The upbeat markets reflected perceptions by many (traders, investors, bankers, et. al.) that we had climbed out of the financial crisis, that the economy had finally reversed course, and that we could confidently move on. But market returns above 20%, for some portfolio managers and investment gurus are nothing to rave about. They become headaches, causes for concern.  Are we headed toward another ...

CFN hosted its annual webinar to launch interview season Most MBA students today, including Consortium students across the country, will argue there is no one segmented part of the calendar for "recruiting season."  Every aspect and experience of business school is "recruiting season," from the time students declare their intentions to attend a certain school until graduation. Every day, not just a few weeks in the fall, MBA students contemplate where they want to be and what they should do to secure the right job. Students today, and their career-advisory specialists on campus, say there is seldom a time when an MBA student is not absorbed in thought about information interviews, mentors, alumni connections, career choices, or a specific post that awaits after graduation. Nonetheless, late fall usually signals the formal start of interviews:  information interviews,  first rounds, lottery interviews, interviews earned from being selected by companies, second rounds...

Cornell's Johnson School: Ready, set, network, interview When recruiting season rolls around, MBA students in finance (including Consortium students in finance around the country) toss the books on the shelves and roll out the details of a game plan to secure a job for the summer or for full-time employment after graduation. Student sentiments always seem the same year after year.  They never realize how much time, energy, effort, focus, and discipline the process entails.  Often recruiting season is launched right in the middle of midterms and just before first-semester exam season. MBA students rejoice in the chance to dream of the opportunities presented to them and the chance to drift smoothly into a wonderful job in an ideal industry, making substantial impact, having meaningful experiences, and accumulating their fair share of sums of money.  That's summer-time luxury.  When recruiting season starts, the real world smacks right in the face.  There is time,...

Cornell attracts its share of Consortium finance MBAs On your mark. Get set. This week, over 300 new Consortium students will launch their campaigns to earn an MBA by heading to New Orleans for the Consortium 's 47th Orientation Program.  As in previous years, they will be engulfed by activity, events, recruiters, school staff, seminars, sponsors and celebratory gestures. For most of them, OP is a festive, uplifting time. They pause and take a week-long breath before embarking upon the frenetic pace of graduate business school.  Among the new MBAs, who's headed into financial services in 2013? How many among the 300-plus have expressed an interest in concentrating in finance at school or a career in financial services? As they take new twists and turns over the next two years, what do they aspire to do when graduation comes in 2015? Let's consider the current environment.  The awful, dreadful financial crisis is receding into memory, although there is a haunting, lingerin...

Lists can be amusing. Sometimes they might be taken seriously.  Magazine and media companies like to produce them--even if they are flawed or biased, because they sell thousands of copies of issues or generate thousands of Internet clicks. They spawn discussion and banter and get people talking. Some lists should be shrugged off and dismissed. Some are worth examining, because they might offer helpful information about the topic being ranked. Employees like good pay, good benefits and, yes, fitness centers Fortune Magazine compiles many lists from year to year. One recent list in its latest issue is its "Best 100 Companies to Work For." To believe in the list and to ensure it's credible and useful, you must believe in its criteria. You must be assured that Fortune has amassed significant data and measured the information properly. Ask employees why their company is a favorite place to work, and you may get dozens of reasons, including especially compensation, benefits, v...

What lies ahead in finance? After a long haul and after markets watched and studied the results, we've jumped the hurdle of the presidential election . We now head toward a year-end where sound bites and gurgles of noise from Washington scream "fiscal cliffs" and a possible end-of-world scenario if legislators don't reach an agreement and unveil a fiscal plan before January 1. Often in an election year, capital markets and finance managers go through pauses, starts and stops. They gauge the political winds that will affect economic recovery, interest rates or the tendencies for companies to invest in growth, merge with others, borrow long term or issue new stock. The election is done, and it's time to bring on 2013, of course, after legislators cease jousting with each other. What lies ahead for professionals in finance ? What is the outlook for those who manage portfolios, trade derivatives, underwrite securities,  borrow funds, invest in big projects, advise cli...

Let's get real. As we turn the corner and head toward an uncertain 2012, where are the real opportunities for MBA finance professionals ? What's the real scoop? In an environment where some tip-toe when they project better scenarios next year, but where every other day large banks announce lay-offs by the thousands, what's the real story? Who's  hiring? Who's promoting solid performers? Who's luring those interested in finance and promising long-term career paths? Where are the sectors or institutions that will harbor finance pros and allow them to grow, contribute and thrive over the the next few years? Let's take a glance and gauge vibes and signals across the sectors. 1.  Investment banking, corporate finance.   From now until about mid-2012, you know banks won't commit. Uncertainty forces them to be hesitant. They'll want to see sustained trends in an economic recovery. Until then, banks will resort to old-time habits of firing rashly and excess...

Trying to project 2012 is like reading tea leaves. Who's willing to make an informed, detailed forecast and be comfortable and confident about it? The variables are too numerous, too complex, too bewildering.  If you are a finance professional, an MBA student or a Consortium alumnus, how do you brace and prepare for next year--a year of turning points and pivots with Europe unable to make up its mind about a corrective course and with U.S. elections hovering? By now, we have grown weary of the tail end of 2011 and are ready for the year to get going. Early in 2011, business and financial signs were uplifting. We were poised for a sustained upturn until we fell off a cliff in August. Since then, we've feared a repeat of the fall, 2008, with a different set of plots, twists and finger-pointing. The plot this time revolved around the bickering in Congress about budget deficits and debt levels and bickering in Europe about debt levels and budget deficits. The collapse of MF Global...

Just when we thought all had turned around and we sensed the corner had been turned, we hear banter about financial institutions pondering lay-offs and staff reductions. Haven't we heard these rumblings before? As big banks and other financial institutions stumble toward the end of the second quarter, 2011, published reports say lay-offs are looming. Senior managers have begun to panic over whether they will be able to generate returns that will match those of 2010, especially with deal flow, trading activity, and the economy sputtering.  Historically, the first response of financial institutions (from trading desks and deal teams to operations groups and compliance functions) is to reduce personnel numbers to brace for rougher waters.  And always, the method that comes to mind to reduce is "LIFO" outplacement--the last in are the first out. Critics say the first reaction is to protect compensation among the elders when the industry must weather a brief storm. This time a...

Still looking for a sustained uptown? We are all suffering fatigue waiting for a surging recovery in job markets and the general economy.  Every month or so, the news sours after a few months of hopeful, surging signs. That--in a nutshell--describes midyear 2011.  A series of upturns and optimism followed by the stench of a momentum-killing downturn.  MBAs in finance, especially those who embarked on careers the last decade, know these trends, teasing market movements and promising signs well. Many have adjusted to these ups and downs and press on. As of midyear, 2011, the mood is not dismal. Uncertainty, however, always seems to be hovering overhead.  Many MBAs are finding jobs and meaningful positions in finance.  Job openings and opportunities are more prevalent now than they were in the depressed years of 2008-09.  Yet they may not be first-choice jobs or dream roles. While a select few are winning prize positions at investment banks or p...