Fired Wall Street Workers to Seek Jobs at `Pink Slip Party'

Fired Wall Street Workers to Seek Jobs at `Pink Slip Party'
Bloomberg, 11-Nov-08
By Elizabeth Hester

As many as 500 fired Wall Street workers will pay $20 tonight to network, commiserate and drink discount beer for a good cause.

The Pink Slip Party, to be held at midtown Manhattan bar Public House, will also feature at least 15 recruiters and performance coaches, according to one of the organizers, Rachel Pine. It aims to raise $10,000 for Ronald McDonald House of New York, which provides temporary housing for pediatric cancer patients and their families.

``I'm absolutely going to sniff around and see if I can pick off some talent,'' said Joseph Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading LLC, an eight-person firm in Chatham, New Jersey. ``If I see somebody who lives out in our area who is interested in setting up, we'd give them a shot.''

The party, sponsored by Wall Street blog Dealbreaker.com and TheLadders.com, a job search site, mimics events held after the Internet bubble and the Sept. 11 attacks. The credit crisis that claimed Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co.
and Bear Stearns Cos. may cost New York about 45,000 finance- related jobs, according to Governor David Paterson.

``If you've got misery, we've got company,'' is Dealbreaker's way of advertising the party on its Web site.


Resumes to Collect

Stacy Lentz, managing director at recruiting firm Taylor Grey Inc., said she plans to attend the party to help fill about 20 positions. Her company works with clients in financial services including hedge funds and private-equity firms.

``I want to collect as many resumes as possible because I may not have a job today, but I might tomorrow,'' said Lentz, who has been recruiting for 15 years.

Ronald McDonald House already had a brush with the fallout from Wall Street's meltdown. Its gala fundraiser in May honored Alan Schwartz -- the Bear Stearns chief executive officer who was forced to sell his firm to JPMorgan Chase & Co. in March.
That event met its goal of raising $3 million.

Like many non-profits, Ronald McDonald House expects fundraising to slow next year as the economy enters recession, said Rick Martin, the director of development. Its $13 million annual budget is funded almost entirely by donations.

``We're kind of starting from square one for next year on a few things,'' Martin said. About 80 percent of its board members, such as Kenneth Langone, former head of the New York Stock Exchange compensation committee, work in financial services, Martin said.

Charitable giving rises about 4.3 percent in a year when the economy is strong and drops by at least 1 percent when a recession hits, according to a four-decade study by Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy and the Glenview, Illinois- based GivingUSA Foundation, which tracks U.S. trends in donations.

``The idea was charities are going to be hurting this year,'' Pine said. ``People have much less money to give and we wanted to help a great New York charity.''