After a Super Bowl weekend in Las Vegas last month, Bill Willis, an advisor recruiter, was waiting for a flight back home when he got a call on his cell phone. It was from a financial advisor who pressed Willis to meet with him and a colleague. They were the kind of advisors who would have written their own ticket just a year ago; a $2.5 million-a-year team for a major financial firm. But now they were anxious to talk about a possible move.

Receiving a call from top-producing advisors was not unusual for Willis, president and chief executive officer of Los Angeles–based Willis Consulting, Inc. However, this two-man team fell outside his regular network. They had tracked down his cell number and called him out of the blue. And this call also carried less bravado than befits a multimillion dollar team, and more angst. And they are not the only ones in that boat.

With the industry roiling under their feet from a toxic mix of bad corporate decisions, scandals and billions of dollars in losses, financial advisors of all stripes are upset with their companies, in no small part because they find themselves in the hot seat with clients. So they now feel forced to make life-changing decisions, with their backs against the wall no less.

Just what are they finding out there? See for yourself here in our annual Advisor Compensation Issue.

For starters, all the trouble in the industry has not dampened the companies’ desire to hire. A lot of movement is still happening, but it’s a new game and advisors need to know the rules. Companies are acting more cautiously than ever before, offering less up-front money and giving more incentives for future growth. Plus, they’re using company stock less as a carrot for long-term performance (and honestly, who’d want it?) as well as more strategies to punish the lower producers. And the smaller shops are making their presence felt with hiring sprees and, in many cases, better compensation packages than the wirehouses.

That the advisors are feeling the heat from the corporate mistakes of their employers is not so surprising. Last year, when On Wall Street analyzed advisor compensation, we characterized it as a “War for Talent” because financial companies were continually seeking only the cream of the crop, and paying handsomely for it. This year, things are decidedly more negative. And like the aftermath of a war, the soldiers on the front lines are paying for the mistakes of command central. All told, the turmoil in the industry has created the newest consistent theme these days: uncertainty.

The uncertainty hovering over the land is the reason why Danny Sarch, another recruiter in White Plains, N.Y., says he’s busier now than at anytime in his career. And if someone were to suggest that the existence of fewer major financial firms should deter overall job movement, Sarch will have none of it. With regionals, independent firms and even some startups, he maintains there are many options on the table. “Anyone who thinks there’s nowhere to move, it’s because of a lack of imagination,” Sarch says.

Indeed, recent hiring trends bear out the notion that medium-sized and smaller firms are taking advantage of the industry’s disruption to bulk up their ranks. In fact, these firms are attracting top talent, despite their lack of huge recruitment deals.

Minneapolis–based RBC Wealth Management exemplifies these ideas. It hired about 1,650 advisors, or 10% of its overall sales force, in 2008. Moreover, 800 of those hires have more than $500 million in assets.

That story is playing out nationwide in regional shops. For instance, in January, Philadelphia–based Janney Montgomery Scott recruited 18 advisors. That pushed its average to $750,000 in production-per-recruit, up from $500,000 just last year. “We’re attracting [financial consultants] doing 50% more,” says Jerry Lombard, president of Janney’s private client group. “These FCs are looking to not have to make excuses for the firm they work for, and they’re also looking for a robust platform where they still matter,”

New York-based recruiter Rich Schwarzkopf says Janney has actually increased the minimum requirement of its new recruits to $500,000. “Who would’ve thought that?” he says. “Janney would’ve taken a $250,000 broker a couple of years ago,” says Schwarzkopf.