Correction: The printed version of this story incorrectly stated that Fidelity plans to wind down its defined benefit pension record keeping business. Fidelity is winding down its defined contribution record keeping business.

Mutual fund companies may be handing out pink slips, but if you’re an advisor scanning the want ads, there are jobs available.

The grim headlines about Canadian investors pulling billions of dollars out of mutual funds, forcing fund companies to cut jobs, don’t tell the full story about employment in the financial services industry. Not everyone is trimming staff. In fact, several financial services companies are actively recruiting — at least, on the advisor side — and there are opportunities for both rookies and veterans.

Recruiters include Royal Bank of Canada, which has several dozen postings across Canada; Bank of Montreal’s brokerage arm, BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., which is seeking 100 new advisors annually; and Mississauga, Ont.-based Edward Jones, which is aiming to hire 30 new advisors monthly until the end of next year.

These job openings come at a time when turbulent markets have knocked more than a third off share prices from their 2008 highs, raising the obvious question: why hire advisors when markets are down? Isn’t this a bad time to be entering the field?

Not according to the recruiters.

“We have had tremendous success historically in attracting new clients in times like this,” says Charyl Galpin, chief operating officer of the private-client division of Nesbitt Burns in Toronto. The investment dealer hires and trains about 100 rookies every year and has no plans to scale back now.

“In volatile markets,” says Galpin, “the opportunity for advisors to grow their business is more significant than it might be during more calm markets. Generally, at times like these, people are looking for a second opinion.”

Nesbitt Burns is not alone in seeking talent during a market downturn. RBC is also on the lookout for advisors, says Matthew Varey, head of the bank’s career sales force, noting RBC has added 75 mobile financial planners and branch-based investment retirement planners each year for the past three years.

Unlike Nesbitt Burns, however, RBC is looking for experienced advisors holding a certified financial planner or professional financial planner designation. The mutual fund course or the Canadian securities course is also a must.

“By far, the majority of jobs posted represent new growth and recruitment for future needs,” Varey says. “But we do experience some attrition.”

While it might seem counterintuitive to launch a career in financial services sales during a downturn, Varey says, this is the time when people need advice more than ever: “There is a tremendous need to guide clients through these unprecedented economic times. With the right people, we have the opportunity to provide advice and the discipline of a financial plan for clients. This has never been more important than it is today.”

Advisor recruitment continues at RBC, but the bank has trimmed its staff in investment banking. In October, RBC announced it was laying off 20 of its more than 500 investment bankers in Canada and the U.S. because of the decline in initial public offerings.

Rocco Colella, director of inves-tor relations for GMP Capital Trust, says GMP issued layoff notices to 8% of its workforce, representing 37 administrative jobs in its capital markets and wealth-management divisions. Senior managers had to take a 10% pay cut.

Toronto-based CIBC World Markets Inc., likewise, has shed investment-banking jobs, cutting 100 positions in May.

While investment-banking jobs are vulnerable, most layoffs in Canada have been linked with the drop in mutual fund assets under management, which have been suffering the double whammy of a sharp drop in equities values combined with mass redemptions by investors. When fund AUM plummets, so do fund fees, reducing income for the fund companies. This has already resulted in trimming at fund companies in administration and sales:

> Lender AGF Trust, a subsidiary of Toronto-based AGF Management Ltd., cut 50 job in November.

> Toronto-based CI Financial Income Fund has said it plans to reduce its 1,700 employees by about 2.5%, either by layoffs or through attrition. The fund manufacturer also owns distributors Blackmont Capital Inc. and Assante Corp.

> Toronto-based Fidelity Investments Canada ULC plans to wind down its defined-contribution pension fund record-keeping business by June 2009 as part of its long-term strategy. About 70 positions which will no longer be required after that date.

@page_break@> Burlington, Ont.-based AIC Ltd. , which has seen its AUM dwindle to about $4 billion from a height of $15 billion in 2001, laid off 53 employees — about 18% of its staff — in October.

> Sentry Select Capital Corp. of Toronto cut 35 jobs — 20% of its workforce — in October.

> Toronto-based DundeeWealth Inc. has also cut staff. (See story on page 20.)

Of course, the job cuts in Canada are relatively modest compared with the carnage down south. In the U.S., global banking giant Citigroup Inc. plans to slash 52,000 jobs globally by early 2009. And a long listing of struggling U.S. financial services firms have already laid off employees.

The market upheaval and industry turmoil has focused investor attention on their portfolios, says Gary Reamey, senior partner with Edward Jones. That sense of panic presents an opportunity for advi-sors to add those clients who are not only unhappy with the value of their holdings but are also dissatisfied by their current advisor’s lack of communication.

“Most individual investors leave their financial advisors not because of performance but because of neglect,” Reamey says. “They’re just not getting contacted.” Advisors who touch base with clients on a regular basis have an advantage over advisors who don’t.

In addition, he says, new advi-sors don’t come with baggage. “If you’re a new financial advisor, you don’t have clients whose portfolios are down in value. It’s actually easier to get people to move to you. It is easier to get clients to make a change and come to Edward Jones when times are tough than when times are good. For a new financial advisor, there is a lot of opportunity.”

Edward Jones, which targets middle-class investors as clients and people looking for second-careers as advisors, has plastered employment Web sites such as www.workopolis.com with ads. Edward Jones hires about 5% of the 500 people who inquire about jobs every month, Reamey says: “We’re out there, aggressively looking for high-quality individuals.”

The company’s core mission is to serve conservative individual inves-tors, no matter what the markets are doing, Reamey says. Life goes on for investors, who still have to save for retirement or their children’s education.

“So, our philosophy is: we’re going to continue to hire in the tough times, because, if anything, people need more help in the tough markets,” Reamey says. “We have a philosophy that we do training as an investment — not as an expense.”

Edward Jones’s investment includes rookie training and a base salary adjusted for experience and geographical location, plus commissions, bonuses and benefits, as well as an office and full-time administrative assistant. For instance, a rookie starting in a small town could earn $40,000, while an older professional starting a second career in a major urban centre might get $60,000.

About 85% of the company’s new recruits are experienced, older professionals, and 15% are on their first career. An Edward Jones advi-sor must work without a base salary after the first year. About seven in 10 succeed in the first 12 months, Reamey says.

“From a business standpoint, in tough times, you can’t cut enough expenses to be successful. You have to grow your revenue,” he says. “Adding financial advisors in our business is a way to grow revenue. So, good markets or bad markets, you grow revenue.”

The hiring spree at Edward Jones is a continuation of its expansion into Canada, says Dan Hallett, a mutual fund analyst and president of Windsor, Ont.-based Dan Hallett & Associates Inc. He speculates that Nesbitt Burns and RBC are probably concerned about succession planning, a major issue in an industry in which the average age of advisors is closing in on 50. In addition, advisors earn mostly commissions, making them cheaper to hire than salaried administrative staff.

“The industry has to bring in some young blood,” Hallett says. “It has to replenish the ranks as it sees people retire.”

In comparison with this long-term view, the fund companies are laying off with eye to reining in costs in the short term, to play it safe as AUM dwindles.

“If this environment persists, we’ll see more layoffs,” Hallett says. “I don’t think there’s any way around that, unfortunately, especially those that are public companies. They are under a bit more pressure to control their costs. This is the most severe environment that the industry has faced in a long, long time.”

The current bear market is unlike the 2000 downturn, in which some equities declined and others did well, Hallett says: “This is hitting everyone. In the past year, we’ve seen everything levelled. Nobody is being spared.” IE