Could a Scandal at JPMorgan Chase Create New Jobs?

As many as two-thirds of organizations are said to be ineffective or inefficient in some capacity. Sometimes the inefficiencies are brought on by laziness — other times they are the result of a massive corporate scandal.

JPMorgan Chase is one of many multinational institutions that endured a scandal last year. When that happens, investors often run for the hills. But job seekers might want to take a closer look, as these corporations frequently need people to help turn things around.

Dr. Ray Benedetto, co-author of It’s My Company Too!: How Entangled Companies Move Beyond Employee Engagement For Remarkable Results, said that new job opportunities are “absolutely” created from major scandals.

To benefit from these unique opportunities, Benedetto recommends that job seekers “pursue a study of leadership versus management.”

“For the technical side, your folks in finance, they’re very good with the numbers,” he told StreetID. “They’ve got to be good with numbers. But that’s a technical skill — it’s around planning, organizing, staffing, directing, all those things that go to processes. Finance is very good with processes.”

“But,” he added, “we get things done through people.”

“That’s the right side of the brain, that’s the nurturing side of the brain, and that’s what most people have not gotten in their schooling,” said Benedetto. “They have not been developed as leaders. So I tell any one of my junior colleagues, ‘You need to have a good foundation in leadership. If you expect to get anywhere, if you expect to bring about change, and serve as a change agent, you must be an effective leader.'”

Benedetto said that the job seekers must go above and beyond the norm. “How well do you understand organizational design and structures and how all these functions work together?” he asked. “That’s where auditors do really well because they have to learn about all aspects of an organization.”

In fact, if you are looking to bring change to an organization and/or step in during a crisis, Benedetto suggests working as an auditor with a company that does valuations. That way you can “actually get in there and look at how a company is valued based upon the systems in place.”

Further, Benedetto said that job seekers should peruse the Baldrige Program to see the criteria that is used to judge the best companies in America.

“Do your due diligence,” said Benedetto. “If there’s an organization that is sitting on top of a potential innovation base but just isn’t moving things, then that’s an opportunity.”

That said, you shouldn’t go into a company unless you are completely prepared for the job. “When a company is in crisis, that’s not when you want to get in there unless you are committed to being a turnaround specialist,” said Benedetto. “I have dealt with organizations at all different levels, and I’ll tell you, crisis is tough because, when an organization is in crisis, people are just worried about their day-to-day survival and just keeping their head down.

“I would not recommend that anyone who is in their mid career [decide] to take on a crisis situation. I would recommend they learn from seniors who are experienced in turnaround.”

Additionally, “You need to find a mentor,” Benedetto insisted. “Junior- to mid-career professionals must find a mentor [in the field] who they respect [and] who has been successful in a number of venues who they can then have this dialogue and learn from. A formal mentor/mentee relationship can do a lot for helping people learn about the broader venue in which they operate without risk.”

Get Hired Now

These days, job seekers have a million options, but we know where they should turn: StreetID. We built StreetID (a financial career matchmaking website) from the ground up to accommodate Wall Street’s growing community of financial professionals. In good times and in bad, current job seekers and those looking to move on in the future can turn to StreetID and sign up for a free account and make a direct connection with relevant candidates and employers.

This entry was posted in Financial Job Market, Hedge Fund Commentary and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.