Our mission to help you navigate the new normal is fueled by subscribers. To enjoy unlimited access to our journalism, subscribe today.
Deutsche Bank is slashing 18,000 jobs, while HSBC will let go of up to 35,000. employees. And Wells Fargo is looking into cost-cutting and layoffs.
Those banks were in trouble before the crisis, so it makes sense they’d be the first to cut during the pandemic. But it’s not all gloom and doom and Wall Street. In fact, many financial firms are still hiring. Which ones? To see where the jobs are, Fortune analyzed job postings for 20 Fortune 500 commercial banks via their LinkedIn profiles.
It turns out Citigroup, ranked No. 31 on the Fortune 500, has the most openings at 4,127. That’s more than JPMorgan Chase (2,048) and Bank of America (1,204), which ranked higher on the Fortune 500 at No. 17 and No. 25, respectively.
Citigroup has faired better than some of its peers during the crisis. Earlier this month it posted better earnings than expected, with its 50 cents earnings per share almost double the anticipated 28 cents. That was driven in a large part by Citigroup’s 68% growth in year-over-year fixed income trading revenue.
Citi is currently in the process of hiring up to 500 high tech workers in the Tampa, FL metro area. And Fortune reported recently that despite the pandemic, the firm plans to offer the majority of its 1,500 interns full-time positions at the end of the summer.
At Wells Fargo (No. 30 on the Fortune 500), while the company plans to trim its 260,000 workforce and reduce its dividend, it is also seeking applications for 2,488 open positions.
How are banks with looming layoffs still hiring?
“They need people in the areas of distressed securities, turnarounds, and bankruptcy,” said Roy Cohen, career coach and author of The Wall Street Professional’s Survival Guide. “That’s where the economy is headed. Banks are hiring for need and anticipated need: Lord & Taylor just declared bankruptcy and retail in general is very fragile … many businesses are teetering on bankruptcy because of the pandemic.”
Cohen has two suggestions for job seekers: First, that they consider looking outside legacy bank roles, and gravitate towards openings that have long-term growth potential, like high-speed algorithmic trading. Secondly, if their resumes have holes, there’s no time like a pandemic to build out one’s resume with in-demand skills such as programming in R or Python.
