AP via Yahoo!:
Wall Street workers leaving NYC for fresh start
Sunday October 26, 2:53 pm ET
By Valerie Bauman, Associated Press Writer
Amid downturn, Wall Streeters leaving NYC for smaller firms in other states, overseas ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Bankers and brokers looking to escape the financial meltdown are scrambling to relocate their families, possessions and rarified talent far from Wall Street to places such as Florida, Chicago, Milwaukee, Virginia and Asia.
Travis Lacey left investment bank Jeffries & Co. and Wall Street behind in September to work for Baird in Chicago. He also left behind the nagging sense of worry that had plagued him since his company had started announcing layoffs earlier in the year.
"Anyone in that environment, you never know what's going to happen," Lacey said. "There are a lot of good bankers that unfortunately are at the wrong place at the wrong time, especially in New York."
Corporate headhunters say Wall Street's malaise will lead to a permanent talent loss for New York. It could help small boutique firms become bigger players with employees they would never have been able to lure from the city long-regarded as the world's financial capital.
"We're definitely hiring," said Robert Escobio, chief executive officer of Coral Gables, Fla.-based Southern Trust Securities Inc., a broker-dealer and investment banking firm. "Right now we have the capital, and right now we're looking to expand. And I think that's what a lot of boutiques are looking to do, too."
Escobio said in the past few months, one out of every four or five resumes comes from top Wall Street firms -- compared with about one out of 100 in years past. .......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081026/wall_street_exodus.html