Prior to the destruction of the World Trade Center, the financial services industry was already experiencing a slowdown. The bust of numerous Internet start-ups in late 2000 and early 2001 led to less interest in the industry from venture capitalists, which in turn, dried up the lucrative business of managing initial public offerings at investment banks. The decline in the stock market, led largely by technology companies, made things even worse. Earnings at these companies slowed, and in some cases declined, lessening investors' appetites for investing. Since the September 11 attacks on the trade towers, which were located in the heart of New York City's financial district, getting a job in the industry has become more challenging – not to mention keeping one. Industry leaders such as American Express Co., Citigroup Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and others have offered buyouts to employees and fired workers. These events have left the industry leaner and companies pickier about who gets hired.

The financial services industry includes commercial banks, securities firms, insurance companies and diversified financial companies that help manage and increase savings and investments for individuals, organizations, companies or employees. Companies in the industry offer a variety of products and services and it's becoming more common to see companies, which once specialized in selling only insurance, to sell financial products such as savings accounts and mutual funds.

The top commercial bank in 2000 based on revenue, according to Fortune magazine's annual survey, is J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. with $60.1 billion in sales as a result of the combination of investment bank J.P. Morgan and commercial bank Chase Manhattan. In second place is Bank of America Corp. with $57.7 billion in revenue and third is Wells Fargo & Co. with $27.6 billion in sales.

The biggest securities firm is Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. based on $45.4 billion in revenue in 2000, according to Fortune. Merrill Lynch & Co. ranks second with $44.9 billion in sales and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is third with $33 billion in revenue.

The largest savings and loan, according to Fortune is Washington Mutual Inc. with $15.8 billion in revenue, the second largest is Golden State Bancorp with $4.5 billion in sales and the third biggest is Golden West Financial Corp. with $3.9 billion in sales.

Among publicly traded property and casualty insurers, American International Group Inc. ranks number one with $45.9 billion in sales, according to Fortune. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is number two with $33.9 billion in sales and Allstate Corp. is number three with $29.1 billion in sales. In the publicly traded life and health insurance industry, MetLife Inc. is the biggest with $31.9 billion in revenue and American General Corp. is next with $11.1 billion in sales. The top three is rounded out by AFLAC, Inc. with $9.7 billion in sales.

The top property-casualty mutual insurer – companies whose structures make policyholders stakeholders in the company -- is State Farm Insurance Cos. with $47.9 billion in sales. Second is Liberty Mutual Insurance Group with $16. 4 billion in sales and third is Auto Owners Insurance with $2.6 billion, according to Fortune. The biggest life and health mutual insurers are TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Co., Prudential Insurance Co. of America and New York Life Insurance Co. with $38.1 billion, $22.8 billion and $21.5 billion in revenue, respectively.

An already slowing economy was worsened by the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as consumers stayed home watching news reports fearful of more terrorists' acts. The use of commercial aircraft with passengers aboard in the attacks hurt the travel industry causing layoffs at airlines and travel agencies. The fallout of the slowdown spiraled into numerous industries leading to thousands of Americans losing their jobs. By November, the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent, a six-year high and economists had officially declared a recession.

In addition to cutting staff, many companies are eliminating new positions making it more challenging for college graduates to secure jobs than in the late 1990s when many grads had several offers from which to choose upon graduation. Even before the September 11 tragedy, companies planned to hire 19.7 percent fewer new college graduates this year than last, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook 2002 survey.

Still, a resourceful job seeker will find that there are jobs out there, said Ken Ramberg, president of MonsterTrak.com. Even though the number of jobs advertised on the site fell a little in October there are a lot of jobs available, he said. "The jobs are still out there,'' Ramberg said. "They just aren't as readily available as last year.''

Students looking for jobs in financial services should consider researching and applying to firms that may have been overlooked by many students when the economy was stronger.

"Many students should look to smaller and mid-sized firms that weren't able to attract top talent before,'' Ramberg said. They also shouldn't give up on the big companies. "Some of the larger firms are still filling positions,'' Ramberg added.

Although the big salaries that helped to define the late 1990s technology and stock market boom aren't expected to be as common anymore, financial services jobs tend to pay well even when there are fewer positions to fill. The average job offer to accounting majors rose 8.2 percent to $39,720 in 2001, according to the NACE Fall 2001 Salary Survey report. Economics and finance majors experienced an average increase of 8 percent to $40,776 over 2000 figures according to the NACE survey. Business administration graduates in 2001 also received higher offers than the students who graduated a year earlier: Salary offers averaged $37,844, up 4.1 percent, NACE said.

Students who have more than a few months to find a job may want to consider connecting with internship programs such as Inroads. Inroads interns apply to the program and depending on the area of the country they're in typically have to have a grade point average of 2.8 or higher. Once a student is accepted into the program they are put into a talent pool and compete for internships at a variety of companies. The program also includes seminars and coaching to help students prepare for interviews and to learn about the corporate environment. Seventy percent of Inroads interns are business majors in college.

Interns must be able to participate in the program for two summers before they graduate, so they should typically apply by their sophomore year.

"Our companies are committed – as much as they can be – to give offers,'' Bryce said.

Even with successful internships, there are no guarantees – even in a strong economy. Job seekers should keep their minds open about different areas of the industry and shouldn't limit their search to top jobs with top investment banks.

"There's so much opportunity once you get into a bank,'' Bryce said. "Students should understand that banks provide a wealth of options.''

Although a job at the big investment banking and securities firms can be tough to get, particularly for African Americans, barriers appear to be coming down as African Americans are promoted in their companies. In July, Merrill Lynch named E. Stanley O'Neal president and chief operating officer, putting him in line for the top job when the firm's current chief executive officer leaves.

Michael Harris (left) is a former Inroads intern who was hired by the company where he interned, CNA Surety. He actually started at CNA as a marketing intern in the summer of 1999. He began talking to people around the company and learned about surety and decided to give it a try. He interned in surety in the summer of 2000 and worked at the company three days a week that fall and began working full-time when he completed his degree in December of that year.

As a surety bond underwriter, Harris helps assess the risk involved in issuing bonds that companies buy in effort to protect themselves from various liabilities, by analyzing many factors such as its credit history, financial statements, pending lawsuits and other information. He works with a wide spectrum of companies in industries including telecommunications, food service, retailing and transportation.

The Chicago-area native graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a degree in finance and recommends that students who want to work in the financial services industry load up on basic college-level business courses such as accounting and connect with industry groups such as the Surety Association of America to learn more about fields they want to try. Still, the key to landing a job that you enjoy is getting an internship, Harris said.

Cummings evaluates publicly-traded regional banks by studying financial statements, talking to people within the company and collecting other information to help him measure their future prospects. Then he assigns ratings to buy, sell or hold stocks, which indicate how he thinks they should invest their money in the industry. The job also requires a lot of writing – those stock recommendations are usually accompanied by reports that update a company's progress.

That may be tough for shy-types, but information may be closer than many job seekers think.

"Students should do some networking and asking around to find someone who knows someone,'' said Cummings, who graduated from Oberlin College. "Then ask for an informational interview.''

Making a lot of money shouldn't be the only or main motivator. Anyone who gets into the industry should be genuinely interested in it, Cummings added.

"I was always very interested in the stock market,'' he said. "I read the Wall Street Journal daily while I was at Oberlin. I was very curious about how the stock market worked and about why stocks went up and down."

So, even though the financial services industry is leaner, some experts certainly predict it's bound to pick up economic momentum in just a matter of time.