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Summer Priorities This month we asked hiring companies about their priorities for summer associates – and then asked ourselves what this might mean for the industry. Leading indicators are a matter of interpretation, but it's interesting to see that the top priorities for summer associates on Wall Street are all about the fundamentals: providing service and advice to clients – on the front lines and in the back office.

Constance Melrose, Managing Director, eFinancialCareers North America With on-the job training and incredible access, the prototypical Wall Street summer associate has one goal in mind - return to campus with an offer. Capturing that prize may be elusive, about half (49%) of Wall Street firms expect to extend offers to 10 percent or less of their summer associates. That's according to the nearly 160 firms who've shared their expectations on the 2011 class with eFinancialCareers – many of whom increased their class size this year as compared to last summer. While the summer associates will learn how they are progressing over the next few months, we were intrigued by where the hiring was taking place. We asked ourselves – can the hiring of summer associates be a precursor to Wall Street's hiring priorities? Is it a leading indicator? Here are the priorities: • Operations – Operations is a multi-faceted area delivering execution speed and streamlined processes to banking, sales, trading, and asset management. Currently, operations job postings on eFinancialCareers have grown more than 80 percent, as compared to the prior year; • Debt/Fixed Income – After 15 straight months of job postings growth in this category, it's not a great surprise to find this is a summer priority. Interest rate products, credit products and even mortgages are all sourced from this group; • Corporate Finance – Wall Street competes to offer the best advice for corporate balance sheets including share repurchases, financing strategies, derivatives, and cash optimization; • Research – Associates will help generate fundamental research and analysis of companies, industries, markets and economies. In this category, eFinancialCareers job postings have jumped 53% yr/yr; and • Compliance – Former regulators and enforcement officers can populate this department and teach summer associates the complexities of ensuring compliance in a global financial firm. With regulatory reform still being implemented, there will be plenty to talk about.