PEOPLE IN THE NEWS: Management Consultant Opens Recruiting Firm

starting a recruiting service for bank-based securities brokers and insurance agents. He is the only head hunter in the United States focusing solely on this specialized field, according to the Directory of Executive Recruiters. Mr. Werlin's Human Capital Resources, based in Safety Harbor, Fla., will help bank brokerage units recruit and evaluate prospective brokers. He will also help banks evaluate their current work forces. Mr. Werlin said in an interview that bank brokerages want more qualified brokers because regulators are increasing their scrutiny of those units, and because customers are demanding more sophisticated advice. "All of these factors have led to the need for reps who are better educated, more experienced, and better trained," he said. Mr. Werlin plans to use psychological and intelligence tests to determine if candidates are proper fits for his bank clients. "A good producer in a wirehouse may be a terrible placement in a bank program," he said. Mr. Werlin has hung out his own shingle after 13 years working for firms that provide management assistance for bank brokerage units. Most recently he was a national sales manager at Robert Thomas Securities, a broker-dealer in St. Petersburg, Fla., with a special brokerage management unit in Kansas City, Mo. Mr. Werlin was based in St. Petersburg and coordinated various services with the Kansas City office. But, Mr. Werlin said he sensed several months ago that his position with the firm would be eliminated. A week ago, Brewster Ellis, president of Robert Thomas Securities' financial institutions division, did away with Mr. Werlin's job. Mr. Ellis said the move was "not a reflection on Paul." Before Robert Thomas Securities, Mr. Werlin was managing director of a unit of Wall Street Investor Services that specialized in managing bank brokerage units. He went to Wall Street Investor in 1992 when the firm bought United Pacific Financial Services, of which Mr. Werlin was then president, from Reliance Group Holdings, a New York insurance company.