Employers: Public companies

Openings: Search firms and National Investor Relations Institute website

Salary Cap: $350,000

Number of Jobs: About 6,500

As vice president of investor relations for Huntington Bancshares, a $56 billion regional bank holding company based in Columbus, Ohio, Jay Gould certainly didn't sleep much.

"Everybody is running through their fire drills rights now," said Gould on Tuesday. "The stock of some companies is down 50, 60, 70, 80 percent. We're fighting rumors in the marketplace. We're fighting fear."

Last week, Gould, who has 25 years of experience in I.R., was also fighting numerous deadlines as his company prepared to issue second-quarter earnings on Thursday in the midst of an industry-wide panic. The collapse of IndyMac Bancorp on July 11 sent bank shares into a tailspin, with the 12-stock Standard & Poor's 500 Regional Bank index sinking more than 15 percent in the first two days of the week.

It was just the latest and most dramatic blow to an industry that has been battered all year. Huntington's share price has fallen from $21 last fall, to under $6 in the days leading up to the earnings announcement.

"I worked through the weekend," Gould said. "I haven't pulled an all-nighter yet, but tonight may be one. There's been a flurry of phone calls from investors, probably more than I have time to handle during earnings week."

Like most veteran I.R. officers, Gould has seen his share of challenges before. After graduating from California State University–Northridge with a B.S. and M.S. in finance, Gould began his career in the thrift industry doing financial and corporate planning in 1965. Eventually, he found his niche as the head of investor relations at Security Pacific before moving on to KeyCorp and then Bank One, now a part of J.P. Morgan Chase. 

Before Gould joined Huntington in 2002, shareholders had been so dissatisfied with the bank's performance—the stock was the worst-performing bank in the S&P 500 in 2001—that hundreds mobbed the company's annual meeting to complain. A new C.E.O. and Gould were brought in, and the company's stock rose more than 30 percent in the subsequent year.

In times of crisis, Gould's job entails far more than just calming investors. Gould is also the eyes and ears of management, charged with compiling the most accurate picture of what the marketplace is thinking, and advising them on what to do about it. Nowadays, he says, it's especially important to stay vigilant.

"You have to keep your feet in the pool all the time," he says. "I'm spending an exorbitant amount of time reading press headlines, Bloomberg business headlines, and reading blogs now like I never read before."

In June, when negative chatter about the company reached a high, sending the stock down from $9 to just over $5 in a two-week period, Gould took the unusual step of recommending his company issue a preemptive press release to calm investors.

In the release, the bank acknowledged the stock price decline but reassured investors that their outlook remained consistent and that they were pleased with their performance. That release helped halt the stock's slide, bumping it up a full dollar.

"You don't want to set a precedent," Gould says of issuing the release. "But sometimes you just got to say 'Hey, there's a lot of noise out there' [since] you don't want it to get out of control."

With Thursday's earnings announcement, Gould was able to placate investors with the most potent balm of decent results, as Huntington reported a 26 percent increase in second-quarter earnings, although it did lower its forecast for the rest of the year. The stock increased 40 percent to $7.68 per share, and Gould was able to breathe a lot easier.