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Wall Street's Hottest Jobs? Lehman Bros

Bankruptcy experience is the skill set of the future, execs say

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 2, 2009 7:00 AM CST

(Newser) – Wall Street's hottest jobs in 2009 are coming from its biggest disaster of 2008—Lehman Brothers, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lehman still has billions of dollars in assets and contracts to untangle and restructure, and Wall Street's legions of laid-off execs are keen to get a piece of the action. Even reviled ex-CEO Dick Fuld is quietly toiling in the ashes of his empire.

"We're getting swamped with résumés," Lehman's new chief exec tells the Wall Street Journal. "It's just a tough tough, tough time, and there are a lot of good people out there looking for work." Dismembering and disposing of Lehman's carcass is expected to take at least 2 years—an enviably secure job in today's Wall Street, and financial pros say dealing with bankruptcies will be a much-needed skill in the years ahead.

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Former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Richard S. Fuld Jr., seen here in a 2008 file photo, has been allowed to keep an office at the firm. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, file)

In this Monday, Sept. 15, 2008 file photo, office workers are seen through a window silhouetted against a wall of the Lehman Brothers headquarters in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer/file)

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Let's face it. Given the state of the world we're in, the things I'm learning working on the largest bankruptcy in history are a set of skills that could be marketable for the foreseeable future. - Lehmans exec Luc Faucheux

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Wall Street's Hottest Jobs? Lehman Bros