Three mammoth mergers in the banking industry this year have students worried about what career options will be left once the dust clears. But corporate officials insist the mergers can only help the situation for young job seekers.
As corporations increasingly turn to mergers to stay competitive in the global marketplace, six large, well-known investment banks and securities firms have followed suit in recent months: UBS Walburg has bought the securities firm Paine Webber; Credit Suise First Boston has bought Donaldson, Luftkin & Jenrette; and Chase Manhattan has bought J.P. Morgan.
Although the mergers leave students with three potential employers where once there were six, University career advisors and corporate officials do not expect any shortage of campus recruiters.
“Even though the companies are merging they are still recruiting,” said Karin Ash, director of Cornell Career Services. “They have different recruiting locations and staff even within [a single] company. I don’t think we’re going to see much difference except a name change.”
Corporate spokespersons at the merging companies are quick to point to the efforts being made to keep potential college recruits informed on how the merger will affect them.
“Attention is especially being given to interns and analysts who worked [for J.P. Morgan] over the summer,” said Michael Golden, spokesperson for the soon to be merged company J.P. Morgan Chase. “[J.P. Morgan] immediately called these people after the merger to answer questions and concerns.”
Golden added that the former CEO’s of Chase Manhattan and J.P. Morgan addressed 225 New York University students about recruiting on the day of the merger announcement.
Spokespersons from other involved corporations said that recruiters will have much more information to give to potential job candidates when the companies merge.
“Where we have 10 essential points to [convey to students] we will have 10 additional strong points to be conveyed,” said Neal Garrity, spokesperson for UBS Walburg.
Garrity also stressed that the immense size of the new company would not hinder entry-level employee advancement.
Archived article by Aaron Reisner