So, you’re one of the lucky ones. Name on your office door. Extra-glossy business cards. A bit of seniority.

Think again.

While recent MBA grads prowling for work face the uneviable task of breaking into the financial ranks for the first time (gasp!), the barrage of layoffs that’s spread into the upper echelons of the industry in recent months shows that title-toting execs face a formidable challenge of their own - protecting their hides. The recession’s official, more jobs will be cut and there’s no reason to assume your’s won’t be one of them.

With such rosy thoughts in mind, the folks over at BusinessWeek put together a helpful video detailing some of the practical steps you can take to protect your job. One suggestion, courtesy of executive coach Meredith Haberfeld, is to throw conventional wisdom out the window.

Keeping a low profile during tough times, she says, does nothing to secure your future. “Work your tail off,” she insists.”But make your successes and results visible. Not empty results.” She also suggests you find ways to show you care about the company’s bottom line, not just your own.

Elsewhere, the Harvard Business Review offers slightly less selfless advice. “Machiavellian as it may seem, holding on to your job when the economy softens is a matter of cool strategic planning,” write Janet Banks and Diane Coutu. And in addition to thinking like a survivor, they, too, encourage old-fashioned hard work. “If you’re not already wearing multiple hats, start imagining how you can support your company by leveraging experience your boss may know nothing about.”

What are you doing to protect your job? Share your thoughts below.

The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Dec.1, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

BARCLAYS CAPITAL

Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of Britain’s Barclays Plc, announced the leadership team for its mergers and acquisitions business after buying Lehman Brothers’ North American investment banking unit.

 GENERAL ATLANTIC

 General Atlantic LLC, a growth equity firm, today announced that Fernando Marques Oliveira has joined the firm as a managing director and head of its Sao Paulo office and Latin American program. Oliveira has been an active investor in the private equity industry in Brazil since 1997, most recently as a director of Grupo Icatu, a family investment office, the company said.

CME

Derivatives exchange CME Group said Mark Thompson Jr. joins as director, Hedge Funds. Thompson joins CME Group from UBS Securities LLC where he most recently served as a member of the macro/cross asset sales team, CME said.

CARLTON PARTNERS LLP

Carlton Partners LLP, an independent private merchant banking group, appointed Adrian Kyriazi as Joint Managing Partner.

CNM LLP

CNM LLP, an independent accounting and advisory services firm, said it has appointed Carl Adams to head CNM’s accounting & transactions advisory service line. Adams previously worked with biotechnology company Amgen Inc.

LINCOLN FINANCIAL ADVISORS CORP

Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp named Brett Collins Managing Director for the Southern Regional Planning Group. The Southern Region includes financial planning offices throughout Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

WINDES & MCCLAUGHRY ACCOUNTANCY CORP

Windes & McClaughry Accountancy Corp appointed Jim Jimenez as partner in its Internal Audit and Business Advisory Services Practice.

BANCORP RHODE ISLAND INC

Bancorp Rhode Island Inc appointed of Robert Wischnowsky to the position of executive vice president for operations and technology and chief information officer.

Ahh, just when you could use a stiff drink on the company’s tab to kill the sobering mood wrought by this year’s financial carnage, you find out you’ll be coughing up for the bill yourself at the annual holiday shindig. Such is the case for scores of London’s financial workers. As Reuters’ Olesya Dmitracova reports, employees at some of the biggest names in town – Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Barclays and so on – will be on the hook for their own year-end parties. A reasonable cost-cutting measure, it seems, during these often unreasonable times. Too bad, though, for those who get stuck drinking swill should their annual bonus get slashed too.

Across the pond, some employees of failed Washington Mutual received some less digestible news on Friday. JPMorgan, which bought WaMu’s banking operations in September, announced job cuts were on the way for some at the former thrift’s Seattle headquarters and elsewhere. Though overall numbers are still not known, and most will retain their jobs, at least 1,600 back-office WaMu staff who worked in California got word they’d be out of a job by March. More concrete figures and dates for others are expected on Monday. How’s that for a start to the holiday season?

Has the credit crunch hurt your end-of-year party plans?

The following financial services industry appointment was announced on Nov. 28, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

ALTIUM
The pan-European investment-banking group appointed Craig Leppard as head of Market Making team and Chloe Ponsonby to its Corporate Broking team. Leppard, who was previously with Numis Corp <NUM.L>, will join in January. Ponsonby joins Altium from Daniel Stewart & Co PLC.

Turkey and the trimmings may be some workers’ only comfort this Thanksgiving. With news earlier this week that more than 225,000 jobs may be axed in New York’s already battered financial industry over the next two years, the mood of uncertainty hanging over Wall Street seems unlikely to dissipate anytime soon. Heck, it’s almost enough to make you lose your appetite.

But gloomy projections aside, there’s no shortage of ways to prepare for the worst. Online professional networks are an increasingly popular tool for job-seekers. As Reuters reporter Tarmo Virki writes, “The economic crisis slamming firms across the globe has sparked a spike in usage of professional networks . . . as people hedge against losing work and laid-off employees seek jobs.” Such sites can provide valuable networking opportunities and alert you to new job openings. LinkedIn, the industry’s leader, netted 25 percent more new users in September than expected, and has seen its membership leap to more than 31 million from 18 million at the start of the year.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that other job-seekers are taking a less-virtual approach, going on undercover visits to find out more about potential employers before considering taking on a new position. A couple of the “sleuth tactics” suggested include looking for “evidence that management tries to retain key employees” and “clues to staffing problems, such as employees doing two jobs or fearing layoffs.” After all, what’s the point of taking a new job if there’s a chance you could end up at square one again?

Are you taking an innovative approach to your job search? Share … if you dare.

The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Nov. 26, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

FORTIS GROUP

The chief investment officer of the Indian asset management arm of Fortis Group, K.C. Reddy, has quit to join a Swiss bank.

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP

Jarrod Haggerty, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s (PwC) Forensic Services team, will take on the new role of Chief Information Officer on a six-month secondment at the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). Mr Haggerty starts at the SFO in December.

M.R. BEAL & CO

M.R. Beal & Co, an investment bank specializing in municipal and corporate finance and equity execution, said Sean Boyea has joined the firm to oversee its municipal finance activities on the West Coast. Boyea, a managing director, will be based in the company’s Sacramento office.

GENERAL ELECTRIC

General Electric appointed Julie DeWane, 43, as vice president of Supply Chain for Security and Enterprise Solutions, a business within GE Technology Infrastructure. The company also promoted Luis Ramirez, 42, as vice president of Contractual Services for Energy Services, a business within GE Energy Infrastructure. In addition, Shane Wright, 44, was appointed vice president and chief financial officer of Aviation, a business within GE Technology Infrastructure.

The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Nov. 25, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

STANDARD CHARTERED PLC

UK-based lender Standard Chartered Plc appointed Ebenezer Essoka as chief executive officer of its operations in South Africa. Cameroon-born Essoka, currently CEO of Standard Chartered’s west African business, will succeed Chris Low with immediate effect.

NOMURA HOLDINGS INC

Nomura today said it has appointed David Bizer as Head of Global Markets Sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa, effective immediately. Prior to his appointment, Bizer was head of fixed income sales for the same region at Lehman Brothers.

UBS

UBS Global Asset Management (Japan) Ltd appointed Susumu Okamura as president and representative director, effective immediately. Okamura was most recently head of the institutional marketing and products for UBS Global Asset Management (Japan).

PLUS MARKETS GROUP

PLUS Markets Group appointed Rachel Maguire as its new head of strategic development and marketing. Maguire was earlier with RiskMetrics Group, where she was international head of governance account management.

COLLINS STEWART FUND MANAGEMENT

Collins Stewart Fund Management, the unit of Collins Stewart Wealth Management, appointed Collette Wisener-Keating to head product development. Keating will be responsible for fund development, fund registration in new markets and fund operations.

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA

RBC Wealth Management appointed Brenda Vince as head of Wealth Management Strategy, effective February 1, 2009. Vince is currently president of RBC Asset Management and will be replaced by Doug Coulter. Canada’s biggest bank also appointed Damon Williams as president of investment management unit Phillips Hager & North, in addition to an expansion of his current role as head of Institutional Management for PH&N.

LIBERTY MUTUAL

The insurance group said David H. Long, 47, will succeed Thomas C. Ramey, 65, as chairman and president of Liberty International. Long is currently president of the company’s commercial insurance business unit. J. Paul Condrin, 47, currently president for personal lines, will take over as president of commercial lines; and Timothy M. Sweeney, 43, now executive vice president of distribution for personal lines, will become that unit’s president. The changes will become effective January 1, 2009, but Ramey will remain as chairman until mid 2009.

FIDELITY INVESTMENTS

Charles G. Goldman was appointed president of Institutional Platforms for Fidelity Institutional Products Group. Goldman, a former executive vice president and head of Schwab Institutional, will join the firm in early 2009 and report to Michael K. Clark, president of Fidelity Institutional Products Group.

SOLEIL SECURITIES

Soleil Securities Corp, a provider of equity research and brokerage services, added three new analysts to its platform. Harry Fong, most recently a senior analyst at Calyon Securities, will cover the insurance industry. In addition, Kit Konolige, who has covered global electric utilities for First Boston and Morgan Stanley, will follow large-cap utilities. Manoj Garg will be covering healthcare companies within the pharmaceuticals, biotech, and life sciences groups.

The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Nov. 24, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

BNP PARIBAS

BNP Paribas Securities said it had appointed Manishi Raychaudhuri as India head of equity research. He was earlier with UBS as country strategist.

TULLETT PREBON PLC

Tullett Prebon said it had appointed Steph Duckworth chief operating officer, after his predecessor left the world’s second-largest broker between banks earlier this year.

SUN LIFE FINANCIAL INC
The U.S. division of Sun Life Financial Inc announced its Employee Benefits Group has appointed Christopher Quinn as vice president and chief operating officer and Drew Niziak as executive vice president and director of sales. Quinn was most recently vice president and chief operating officer of Sun Life Financial Distributors Inc, while Niziak was vice president of distribution.

AMHERST SECURITIES GROUP
Amherst Securities Group named Timothy Dooley head of nonagency RMBS trading. Dooley previously worked at Lehman Brothers as a senior vice president of Mortgage Trading.

PAUL HASTINGS
Luc Despins, 48, a restructuring and bankruptcy lawyer, has joined Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP as chair of its global restructuring practice in the New York office. He previously was a senior partner in the financial restructuring group at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, where he has represented creditors in Lehman Brothers, Enron, and Refco bankruptcies.

AQUILINE CAPITAL PARTNERS LLC
Deborah Bernstein and Jason Rotman have joined Aquiline Capital Partners LLC, a New York-based private equity firm investing in financial services, as investment professionals.

The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Nov. 21, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

UBS AG

Ramesh Singh, the head of UBS AG’s asset-backed securities division has decided to step down, UBS CEO Jerker Johansson said in an internal memo. The asset-backed securities business at the Swiss banking giant will be reduced in scope. Replacing Singh, will be a group co-led by Bill Chandler, Jack McCleary and Jim Reichek.

OPPENHEIMER FUNDS, INC.

William F. Glavin, Jr. has been appointed chief executive officer of Oppenheimer Funds Inc. effective Jan. 1, 2009. He will replace John V. Murphy, currently chairman and CEO. Murphy will remain with the company and continue to serve as President and a director/trustee of each of the Oppenheimer funds until his retirement at year-end 2009. Glavin has served as Co-CEO of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (Mass Mutual), of which Oppenheimer Funds, Inc is a subsidiary, and Executive Vice- President and head of Mass Mutual’s U.S. Insurance Group.

THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Jaime Caruana, currently Financial Counsellor and Director of the International Monetary Fund’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department (MCM), will leave the Fund in April 2009 to become General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Pending his departure, Mr. Caruana will continue to serve as Financial Counsellor, leading the Fund’s work on key financial sector issues, including the Global Financial Stability Report. No replacement has been named. Prior to assuming his post as Director of the MCM, Caruana was Governor of Banco de España, Spain’s central bank. In addition to serving on the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, he was also the Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and, in that capacity, a member of the Financial Stability Forum.

WAL-MART STORES, INC.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc announced that Lee Scott will retire as the company’s chief executive early in 2009 and will be succeeded by Mike Duke, who currently heads Wal-Mart’s international operations. The company also promoted Eduardo Castro-Wright to company vice chairman, effective immediately. He is currently head of U.S. operations.

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 

The parent company of the HSBC Group named Rachel Lomax and John Thornton as directors effective Dec. 1. They will both be independent non-executive directors.Thornton, who was a non-executive director of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd earlier, has also been appointed a director and non-executive chairman of HSBC North America Holdings Inc with effect from Dec. 1. Lomax was deputy governor, Monetary Stability, at the Bank of England and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee earlier.

ABSA GROUP LTD

South Africa’s biggest retail bank appointed Maria Ramos as group chief executive effective March 1. Ramos is currently chief executive of South Africa’s state-owned rail and logistics group Transnet

The following financial services industry appointments were announced on November 20, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

LEHMAN BROTHERS HOLDINGS

Bryan Marsal will take over as Chief Executive of Lehman Brother’s Holdings, Inc at close of business December 31, 2008 according to court testimony by Harvey Miller, an attorney representing the firm. At a U.S. bankruptcy court hearing in Manhattan today, Miller said the firm’s board of directors had approved the appointment. Marsal, who is currently the chief restructuring officer of the firm, will replace Richard Fuld as company CEO.

ONTARIO TEACHERS’ PENSION PLAN

Neil Petroff has been named Executive Vice-President, Investments and Chief Investment Officer of the Toronto-based Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’), replacing the retiring Robert Bertram, effective by year’s end. He is currently group senior vice-president of investments. Prior to joining Teachers’ in 1990, Bertram spent 18 years at Telus Corporation, formerly Alberta Government Telephone.

FIRST NATIONAL BANK

David B. Yates has been named Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategies Coordinator at the Hermitage, Pa-based First National Bank. Yates is also tapped to lead the bank’s private banking business segment. He will report to Vincent J. Delie, Jr., president of the banking group.

FIRST HORIZON NATIONAL CORP

First Horizon National Corp has named William Losch III as the firm’s new chief financial officer. Losch III was recruited away from Wachovia Corp and will begin his appointment at First Horizon January 1, 2009.

LATHAM & WATKINS, LLP

International law firm Latham & Watkins LLP has announced the appointments of Kathleen Walsh and Andrea Schwartzman to the firm’s New York office as partners in the Corporate Department and Alan Van Dyke to the firm’s Chicago office as a partner in the Tax Department. All three attorneys were previously partners at Mayer Brown, LLP. Walsh and Schwartzman were co-leaders of Mayer Brown’s Private Investment Fund Practice Group. Van Dyke served as co-head of Mayer Brown’s transactional tax practice from 1996 to 2004.

FIDELITY INVESTMENTS

Boston-based Fidelity Investments has named Michael Durbin as president of its institutional wealth services division, which provides trading, custody and brokerage services to more than 3,500 registered investment advisers, trust institutions and third-party administrators. Durbin joins the firm after 18 years with Morgan Stanley of New York, where he served most recently as chief operating officer of the national sales division of its global wealth management group.

KOHLBERG KRAVIS ROBERTS & CO

Citigroup’s South Asia chief executive, Sanjay Nayar, has quit to run private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co’s new Indian unit, leaving the struggling bank after a 23-year career. Nayar will be based in Mumbai. Separately, KKR announced the appointment of Ludo Bammens as director of European corporate affairs. Bammens will be based in London and joins in January. He was with Coca-Cola Company Europe Group earlier.

CITIGROUP

Citigroup named Mark Robinson, a 24-year Citi emerging market veteran, as Sanjay Nayar’s replacement. Robinson is currently president of Citibank ZAO, Citi Country Officer for Russia and Division Head for Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the bank said in a statement.

AON CONSULTING

The global human capital consulting arm of Aon Corp hired Barry Greenstein as senior vice president in its Corporate Transactions group, which focuses on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and restructuring. Greenstein previously served as a senior actuary and principal in Mercer. He joined Aon Consulting on Nov. 17, and is based in New York.

MIDCAP ADVISORS LLC

The investment bank appointed Richard Jackim as a managing director. He was previously with Christman Group.

EVOLUTION SECURITIES LTD

The investment bank, which is a part of British financial services firm Evolution Group Plc, named Mike Hardman as head of Fixed-Income Sales and David Wright as senior sales executive. Hardman was formerly head of UK Credit Sales at Royal Bank of Scotland and David Wright was head of UK Flow Credit Sales at Morgan Stanley & Co International.

IMPAX GROUP PLC

The environmental investment company hired Victor Juttmann as investment manager and Caroline Barraclough as marketing manager. Juttmann, who worked as a tax lawyer at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek earlier, will join Impax’s private-equity team and will be responsible for commercial, legal and tax work related to solar and wind energy portfolios of Impax New Energy Investors. Barraclough was formerly investor communications manager at Carbon International.

RABOBANK

The privately owned Dutch bank appointed Ronil Sujan as managing director and head of mergers & acquisitions and corporate advisory, Asia Pacific, with immediate effect. He was managing director and head of Investment Banking, Singapore earlier.

NOBLE

The independent investment bank named Jeremy McKeown as head of sales to its UK Equities team. He was most recently with Investec Bank.