When the news broke several weeks ago that Bear Stearns was a sinking ship, well, there were some capitalists who wanted to create new opportunities for themselves. For instance, one or two tacky New York real estate brokers decided to hang outside the building to network with people to sell their apartments and move out of Gotham. For a company that held itself high in employee morale and loyalty, as it turns out some people who suffered from their misfortunes hadn’t even joined yet.
As for the backstory? Jobseekers at the college level. As companies go under, what happens to the college students who accepted job offers only to find themselves downsized before their actual job began? Such is a story in yesterday’s NY Times. Apparently the company, a robus employer on the undergraduate level, hired about 300 students for full-time jobs along with 300 summer interns. When the 85 year-old company agreed to be acquired by JP Morgan, well, their fate was sealed in terms of which side of the house they were going to join. As for the equity division as in banking and fixed-income? Buh-bye. Regarding energy, prime brokerage and merchant banking, well they’ll work for JP Morgan, the article says.
Will impacted students become jobseekers once again and land on their feet? At some point soon for these bright college grads, the answer is yes. It is an unfortunate state of circumstances, not to mention the economy, that they’re experiencing being downsized and the turmoil prior to even stepping foot into the working world.
