The financial services industry, especially Wall Street, has an image of toughness. Only the meanest, most selfish characters get ahead. Or, so the stereotype has it.

Sure, you'll meet more than a few odious characters in this industry, as you will in others. And, unfortunately, some of them will have risen far. In "AM New York," a free paper handed out during the morning commute at subway stops, I found this recent essay about getting ahead by being nice. This is certainly the strategy that I've pursued, mainly from conviction about doing the right thing, but also because it did indeed pay dividends.

Too often, I've seen that old saw about "what goes around, comes around" come into play. If you treat people with respect and consideration, and show gratitude for their help, they'll tend to help you out when you need them, even if their jobs don't require it. Meanwhile, those who try to get what they want through fear or intimidation ultimately only inspire plots against them, some of which actually come to fruition. Beware.

A friend in the telecommunications field showed me a fascinating article in Network World about how, to economize on using real people to screen job applicants' resumes, some companies are turning to recruitment software, also known as screening apps, to sift through the pile.

The upshot of this? Not only do writers for websites have to worry about keywords, but so do increasing numbers of job applicants, in a growing number of fields. Moreover, some resume screening algorithms even score applicants based on formatting. Then there is the matter of "pseudo-requirements." That is, lengthy "must have" lists of ultimately unnecessary requirements that serve no other purpose than to eliminate virtually all resumes from consideration, whittling down the pile to a handful, if that. This is an approach akin to demanding an MBA as a screening device for jobs that really don't require one.

In 2006, 2 Harvard economics professors launched a "study examining the historical evolution of the career and family outcomes among U.S. college men and women." Their data includes graduates of several "selective" colleges and universities, including a subset called the "Harvard and Beyond Survey."

Harvard Magazine reports that, based on a respondent pool of 6,500 graduates of Harvard College between 1969 and 1992, careers in finance are roughly three times as prevalent among members of the more recent classes compared to the earlier classes. Meanwhile, the numbers going into law and medicine have declined by roughly an offsetting amount.

Not surprisingly, pay seems to be a big factor in this occupational shift. The median income for Harvard College alumni in financial services was roughly 3 times greater than that for all alumni in the survey, who, as a group, are already earning 3-4 times the national median income.

Of the men in the class of 2007 who headed right to work, rather than to graduate schools, more than 58% opted for careers in finance or consulting, with fully 20% going into investment banking, the most lucrative speciality of all.

That said, the professors note that many graduates still choose other, less remunerative paths like "the arts, the nonprofit sector, and academia," indicating the importance of criteria other than remuneration in career choice.

Once before, I advised you to keep abreast of cutting-edge ideas, if for no other reason than that doing so can mark you as a problem-solver. This is equally valuable in interview settings as in the course of employment.

Check out this thought-provoking essay in Forbes magazine, suggesting an innovative new way to design adjustable rate mortgages. In short, rather than raise the monthly payment when the rate goes up, why not instead extend the term of the loan? This should be more affordable for most borrowers, and reduce default risk. Also, rather than foreclosure, with its high attendant costs, lenders instead should be willing to trade an equity interest in the future sale of the house for renegotiated mortgage terms. Sounds like a potential win-win scenario. As the authors ask, "Why not?"

Shortly after Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack anointed Zoe Cruz as his heir apparent, he fired her. Wall Street is notorious for its mercurial ways, but this was a particularly swift reversal of fortune. What happened? This feature article in New York Magazine explores the question.

Some argue that Cruz was a convenient scapegoat when Morgan Stanley's losses from the subprime crisis began to mount, soon after she secured her place in the firm's succession. Others insist that she made key decisions that led to those losses, and thus deserved a large slice of the blame. Read the article and decide for yourself.

Besides being a case study in the treacherous politics of Wall Street, this article should get you thinking about managing your finances. How so? According to the article, Zoe Cruz pulled down a cool $30 million in pay in 2006 alone. From my own experience, too many high fliers in finance spend their princely pay as fast as it comes in, leaving them no savings cushion should they unceremoniously get booted. Thus, when thinking about compensation plans, also plot strategy for building your own personal financial reserves, just in case.

The recent demise of Bear Stearns was notable for, among other things, how the leadership of the beleaguered firm insisted until the end that all was fine. Apparently, they feared that any admission of growing difficulties would exacerbate its problems, as clients would close accounts and remove deposits, and lenders would cut off credit. The gambit didn't work, and Bear wound up being liquidated fire-sale style.

CEO Dick Fuld of Lehman Brothers took an entirely different tack. According to this article in The Economist, he preemptively sought out major clients and trading partners, and made full disclosure of Lehman's financial position. His idea: by being forthcoming, he'd inspire confidence and head off unfounded rumors and undue negative speculation. In 1998, by failing to defuse rumors, Lehman unwittingly bolstered creditors' suspicions, and the firm nearly sunk as a result. This time, Fuld acted boldly and preemptively.

Within the alphabet soup of innovative financial instruments is the credit default swap, or CDS, which is profiled in this article from The Economist. In its simplest form, a CDS is like an insurance policy, where one investor collects a fee to protect another against the default of a bond. While other segments of the credit markets have seen trading dry up, the CDS market is growing.

Even more interestingly, per another article in The Economist, the premiums on bank CDSs have declined lately, indicating an easing of fears about illiquidity in the banking sector. This suggests that banks' prospects are turning positive, and with them career opportunities in banking.

During an alumni event earlier this month at my old high school, a classmate offered an amusing story. Charlie has had a rough time over the past few years, after one of his previous employers ceased operations. Dissatisfied with his current position, he took a flyer on applying to a major drugstore chain here in the New York area. This company was holding an employment open house at its headquarters location.

To his surprise, as he started filling out a stack of application papers, Charlie was pulled aside by one of the human resources staffers. "Stop writing," she told him. He sat around for a while more, then started writing again, not wanting to be idle. Then someone else came by and said, "Don't bother with that, just wait here."

In short order, he was ushered into the CEO's office. After a brief chat, the boss apparently was impressed by Charlie's poise and confidence (we had been teammates on our high school's speech and debate squad). Charlie was offered the position of manager of the chain's main distribution center.

What happened? Charlie never had met any of these people before, and had no contacts inside the company.

Quite simply, he was the only person who showed up in a suit (or equivalent business attire for the women)! This got him favorable notice immediately. Let this be an object lesson in the vital importance of looking professional at all times, even in this age of dressing down.

For detailed tips on dressing for success, see the About.com guide to interview attire.

Too many of our e-mail inboxes strain with incredible numbers of messages that take so much time to process. In fast-paced industries like financial services, the burden can be particularly great. What to do? See an interesting essay on this scourge of our times in the New York Times.

Those considering careers as money managers should be aware of the conflicts of interest inherent in the mutual funds industry, as discussed in this recent New York Times article. Of particular concern is the failure of industry executives to commit their own personal wealth, in significant amounts, to the care of their own fund managers. When the staff shuns the food at a restaurant, look out.