Job prospects for LeveI/II/III passing candidates

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willcrackcfa

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Question is simple ....a person with 0 finance background ..working in the IT division within a financial services comnay clears say I, II and or III. Does he get interviews and a fair chance to mover over to the business side. Needless to say, I am one of those people.

OR is an MBA or starting an MBA a MUST to get the break ALONG with clearing a cpl. of levels.
 
What do you want to do? Get into salesl? Be an analyst? Be in management? Investment strategies?

If it's sales you want, thats easy. Go be a pain in the ass to the sales manager. Hound him until he gives you a job. They appreciate that behavior.

The others may be tougher but I'd say the best place to start asking around is within the company that already employs you. You thought enough of them that you took a job there, and someone there liked you enough to hire you, and you're still employed there so you haven't screwed anything up badly. Ask around. Go down the hall and talk to some folks in the area that you are interested in. Happy hour is a great place to find out what they do and if it's something you want to do.

Good luck.
 
You need an MBA. I was in IT (10 years). L1 and L2 got me nowhere.

As soon as I put an MBA on my resume, I started getting interviews and callbacks out the wazoo.
 
Interesting. But I am already working for one of the top financial services co. and a senior manager on the Business side told me that they do give value to Lvl I & II. So looks like I need to start my GMAT studies and start my part time from NYU.
 
bbriscoe,
I am an MS in engineering from a top 5 university, lots of experience in top hightech firms and will be starting my exec MBA at a top 15 school in Fall. I just passed Level1. I am kind of in the same boat you were before. Could you share any details about what type of jobs you applied for and received calls for?
 
financeguru ,

I havent yet applied for any jobs. I met a Senior VP in Investment Management division to ask for advice about how I can switch. He told me at that point of time that he gives a good amount of value to clearing Level II. I am not saying he will offer me a 150 k starting job, at least he will consider me for an interview. MBA at the end is a management degree. CFA is a hard core technical finance course. Meant for analyst's who are more into technical stuff. That does not mean that there are no analysts out there with an MBA. There are plenty. But there is quite a diff. between a MBA ( even if it is done from a top school ) and CFA. So what you might want to do it ...land a job with any wall street firm and work towards becoming a business analyst. That way ...you get to interact with the business side managers. Good contact with business managers and II or III levels cleared will certainly open doors. That's my 2 cents. After much thought, I think I am holding off on my MBA for now. Clear Level II next year ...and look for jobs within my company. I think this strategy will work.

MBA can be done some other time. That will help me climb the management ladder ( if I desire to do so ) ...

Hope this helps.
 
I keep hearing about top 5 universities, top 10, top 30. Is there some official list about which is which? I went to some name brand places, but I don't know what list they're in...
 
willcrackcfa,
Are in the tech side of a financial firm? That might explain why it would be possible for you to make the transition with two levels of the CFA and no MBA?
For some one who is not in the industry or a financial company, it would be very hard without an MBA.
FinGuru
 
FinGuru,

Yes .. I work in the IT division within the firm. So even if my firm does not hire me .. I would be having 2 + years of expi. working for my firm and finally it's all about marketing yourself. With 10 + years of solid IT expi and a couple of levels cleared ...there are a TON of firms out there who will hire techis to work on Investment modelling / analysis software and clearing II or III levels is better than having an MBA as now U know the business side quite well and can design the software component too. That's better than being just a software guy or just a business guy as all modelling / analysis these days rely heavily on computer programs having business knowledge in them.

If CFA Level I / II or III means nothig ( as many have sugested ) ..then why are people working hard and celebrating ??? What the big deal anyway ???


Also ...just an MBA even from an IVY league school may not get someone whatever they want. U must know how to use the degree .....
 
bchadwick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I keep hearing about top 5 universities, top 10,
> top 30. Is there some official list about which
> is which? I went to some name brand places, but I
> don't know what list they're in...


For universities most people use:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php

Though Reality Top 5 (really 7-10 schools because they all rotate)

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Caltech, Duke, Standford, Penn.

There isnt much academic diffrerence between any of them, mainly brand recognition. Its the same thing as someone saying they work at a bulge bank it is a status and success symbol.

One i know all too well because in a few weeks i will fit into both categories.

Edit: Basically the industry is very fraternal, which means, once you are in, your in and where you went to school doesnt really matter anymore assuming you are good at your job.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Thursday, July 27, 2006 at 05:24PM by osc.
 
willcrackcfa:
I am not saying CFA has no value, infact it does have a lot of value and that's why I am doing it. What I was saying is if you are not already in finance, breaking in to ER with just a level or two of CFA is a tough deal. Having an MBA can make it easier in the sense that the recruiting folks will atleast consider somebody with an MBA+CFA combo.
 
geesh. for someone who know all "too" well, I'm sure you know it's STANFORD, not standford.

there is no clear cut top 5, but Harvard will always be there way up there, as will MIT and Stanford.

Princeton and Yale (together with Harvard) forms the old Big 3, but have falter a little in recent years although they are still huge on brand equity.

Include Columbia, Cornell, Brown, UPenn, Darthmouth, and you have the ivy league. Prestigious, but clearly a few of them are not in top 10.

And of course, there are Berkeley and Chicago.
 
I heard the financial industry is really hard to get in.W/o much experience except for a undergrad degreee in acct/economics,combined with CFA L1,is there any way to get a job?
from what ppl posted here,it sounds pretty tough w/o a grad degree in the field or an MBA.i did have grad degree in math/stat though.
how should i start?i can't expect a top firm to hire me as an analyst at this point,but what else might help?i hope to get somewhere with a smaller firm/bank,but they like to hire experienced candidates.
 
Cindy,

Yes ..it's kinda hard to get into the field. There are two ways ...one is most of the top wall street houses go to campuses of Top Schools and pick up MBA's. The second is people with experience in other areas who make the move like for eg. me. Considering the fact that all financial / market analysis these days happens using heavy use of computers, a person with good software experience and a 2 or three levels cleared stands a HUGE chance. That's what I have been saying in my posts. The best way to get into financial services companies is to get into their IT departments. From there, the move is easy.

In your case, I would say get your MBA done. yes it will cost you good amount of money ...for eg. something like 110 k from Columbia. I think clearing I or II levels AND then applying to a good school like that with a good GMAT score will help you a lot in getting admission.

Now the question is ....110 k is too much money and student loans will pile up. But it's worth it ...an MBA from Columbia or Stern or a decent school AND a cpl. of levels of CFA AND Math/Stat background is a killer combo .....

That's my 2 cents.
 
propanol Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> geesh. for someone who know all "too" well, I'm
> sure you know it's STANFORD, not standford.
>
> there is no clear cut top 5, but Harvard will
> always be there way up there, as will MIT and
> Stanford.
>
> Princeton and Yale (together with Harvard) forms
> the old Big 3, but have falter a little in recent
> years although they are still huge on brand
> equity.
>
> Include Columbia, Cornell, Brown, UPenn,
> Darthmouth, and you have the ivy league.
> Prestigious, but clearly a few of them are not in
> top 10.
>
> And of course, there are Berkeley and Chicago.


"Darthmouth"? Did you mean Dartmouth? Ironic that you were correcting the other guy for misspelling Stanford...:)
 
It was deliberate dude. Was throwing a line for osc's redemption. And you just had to take the line.

Get the picture?
 
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