What is a beginner to do? ( pre-level 1 life decisions)

[chibwack]

NIU2010 wrote:
iteracom is right. The jobs that many of us ultimately want to do are not available right now but that will hopefully change in the future so all we can do is better position ourselves for when that opportunity comes.
I don’t know if this 100% correct, but I believe that the majority of ‘financial analysts’ work for large corporations that have nothing to do with investments. Alot of companies use this title to attract canidates that can use excel, have decent math skills and know the difference between accounts recievable and payroll. These types of positions are expanding, especially for recent college grads. They may not pay much and they often are filled by temp workers, but I know the larger corporations like Sears Holdings and GE look for recent college grads to fill these positions for salaries in the mid 40s.

This. I’m coming out of my undergrad, and the only jobs any of us have been finding are as business analysts/etc. There’s little actual finance involved, but you do need to know how to find/use things like gross margin, ROIC, ROE, etc. The firm I’m starting with next month is paying for level 1 CFA (if I pass), and I can likely talk them into my 2 and 3, and salary is pretty average I’d guess, ~50,000CAD. It might be a squeeze to get these hours to count towards the cfa charter (not sure how stringent they are on that matter), but I do figure it’s a good way to enter the business world. Business/financial analysts for these firms get to see the entire workings of the corporation, and by extension gain a pretty thorough understanding of comparable firms, the industry, and the region. All things they look for in hiring research analysts. It’d be nice to go straight into buy side research, but lets be honest- only the best do that. The rest of us have to position ourselves, and these jobs are better than most for that IMO. Plus, its a lot less stressful to have that paycheque coming in while you apply, rather than banking on finding a finance job right off the bat!

 

[NIU2010]

Chibwack - That’s really the best option we have right now. I graduated a few years ago and took a position similar to the one you’re going to be starting. It wasn’t the greatest position but whenever I had a bad week it was just more motivation to study for the CFA. After finishing the second CFA exam last year I was lucky enough to find a position as a financial analyst at an appraisal firm in Chicago. This position mostly involves working with banks to value companies for asset backed loans. If I pass this final exam in June then I hope to make the jump into a private equity firm sometime over the next year. I’d say were in a good industry if you can just keep working hard and try to stay patient until conditions improve.
The only thing I’d add is that I’ve seen multiple people pass the level 1 exam and then choose to take a year off to focus on their new job. None of them have even considered trying to take the level 2 exam since. This whole process has to be so much easier if you just stay in college mode and dedicate yourself to just passing over the next 2 years. I have no idea how some of these guys are able to pass while having a wife, family and many more responsibilities at work.