When a risk manager loses their job in this brutaleconomy–whether because a company goes out of business oroutsources the function to another firm–there are ways for thosewho are laid off to land on their feet more quickly than others insimilar distress, according to Bill Perry, president of LogicAssociates.

“Now more than ever, the salesmanship aspect of being a riskmanager is extremely important,” he told NationalUnderwriter in his annual exclusive interview about the stateof the risk management profession.

“Your primary concern if you are still working today should bekeeping the job you have by convincing senior management you areessential to the company's ongoing survival–that you are notsuperfluous, and that your function is not easily outsourced,” headvised.

“If you are in a safe port of call, where your work isrecognized, respected and valued, by all means do everything youcan to stay put until the economy and job market turns around–whichmight not be for a long while,” he added.

However, Mr. Perry noted, “for those risk managers who have losttheir jobs, the competition for new jobs is fierce–worse than it'sever been.”

His first suggestion was that “if you do lose your job, considergoing back to school for your MBA in finance or for a designation,like an ARM or CPCU. That will certainly help you land a new jobmore quickly when the economy does recover.”

He reported that “some risk managers who are out of work arebecoming consultants, figuring it's easier to form their own firmand offer their services on a contract basis to companies alreadyeager to outsource, rather than try to land another fulltime job insuch a tough economy.”

He also suggested “lowering your sights,” describing thisprocess as “the reality of necessity.”

“Risk managers can take a job with a broker or carrier,” henoted. “Some are downsizing their careers by taking lower positionsas assistant directors of risk management, analysts or claimsmanagers. These are normally career no-no's, but the bottom line isthat you must support yourself and your family.”

However, he warned that “this trend can cut two ways, sincethere is a lot of talent on the loose.”

He noted that “chief financial officers–especially fromintermediate-size firms–are also losing their jobs. They may settheir own career sights lower and seek jobs as a director of riskmanagement because they supervised the risk management departmentin their last gig, or earlier in their career were risk managersthemselves. They may now pitch themselves as enterprise riskmanagers and chief risk officers.”

While “this just adds to the competition for risk managementjobs and makes it that much harder to land a new post,” he alsocautioned that “the downside employers have to consider is whetherthey want to hire someone who is obviously overqualified for alower-level job. Will they lose them when the economy improves, orwould they rather hire someone who can grow into the job?”

Another consideration is whether the person doing the hiringreally wants to bring someone on board who is not only unhappyabout taking a lower-level position, but who is likely to set theirsights immediately on moving up the ladder.

“Does a CFO want to hire a former CFO under them to run riskmanagement and risk having a rival for their own job?” Mr. Perrysaid. “Does a director of risk management want to hire a formerdirector of risk management as their assistant director and havesomeone in the wings overqualified for their currentassistant-level job but ready and eager to take over for their bossif something goes wrong–which is more likely to occur in an economythis volatile.”

He urged those hiring to do a thorough cost-versus-benefitanalysis by taking such questions into account.

“Companies can definitely upgrade the level of performer runningtheir risk management operations with the amount of talent outthere today,” he said. “But they may not be doing themselves anyfavors by hiring people who are clearly overqualified forlower-level jobs, who won't be happy about taking a step back andwill likely bolt at the first opportunity when the economyrecovers.”