JPMorgan Chase has launched an unprecedented campaign to find jobs for more than 5,000 people who are being sacked after its takeover of Bear Stearns.

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chairman and chief executive, has personally written to more than 30 clients, rivals and vendors to ask them to consider former Bear staff. People close to the situation said Mr Dimon was planning to send about 100 such letters.

The bank, which bought Bear for a bargain price when it was close to collapse in March, has also asked more than 1,800 companies for a list of their vacancies and urged them to hire the employees to be made redundant after the takeover.

The project, which has been spearheaded by Frank Bisignano, chief administration officer, has already provided JPMorgan with a database of 3,000 vacant positions across the industry.

JPMorgan’s efforts are partly driven by the desire to minimise internal and external criticism of the Bear takeover and reduce redundancy costs.

If successful, the scheme could be adopted by other Wall Street banks that are shedding jobs. US financial companies have announced more than 65,000 job cuts and many more are expected as the credit crunch takes its toll.

JPMorgan executives stress that the job-seeking project is still in its early stages but believe that it could lead to new positions for about half of the 5,000 employees displaced by the merger. The bank has only taken on about 6,000 of Bear’s 14,000 employees so far, while 1,000 have left of their own volition.

The number of voluntary leavers is expected to more than double in the next few months as more Bear employees are told whether they have a job in the combined company.