Molly has come into contact with many full-time financial workers, career changers and students. Q's data shows that many people want to go to higher-end financial companies such as investment banks, hedge funds and private equity funds through CFA. However, although these people are very interested in investment banks and other institutions, it is said that the better financial institutions are, the more they like famous students with high academic qualifications, and even some investment banks only recruit students from certain schools, which makes them very headache.
According to Molly's observation, what IBD is engaged in, IPO/M&; A there are not many requirements. Many operations are explored from work, and it is impossible to learn by reading. Some operations are tedious and boring, such as IPO. Doing a few more cases will form your own style, and it is important to feel more about the work of investment banks.
Because of this, investment banks only look at prestigious schools, because they need people who are smart, have a good business sense and are willing to work hard. These requirements are clear, but you can hardly see them on your resume. Everyone can say that he is smart, competent, diligent and responsible in the cover letter, so it is necessary to have an interview to judge what this person looks like. Generally, a good financial institution will have several interviews.
Interviews are time-consuming and experience-consuming. Only looking at the experience of famous schools is an effective screening. After all, people who can be admitted to famous schools are generally not bad.
If your goal is the investment banking front desk, these positions are not knowledge, but brands. Therefore, it is very important to add a CFA title to the experience of a prestigious school. People think you have a good background and a CFA holder, which is very powerful. Molly has personal experience. The hiring manager of an investment bank wanted to find her a junior trader assistant, and then added, it doesn't matter if CFA candidates don't have a certificate.
Headhunters are generally higher positions, and the level above VP is more common.
There are basically two directions in the financial service industry: the first is IBD/ sales, grabbing business and making connections. The second is to take the technical route, design products, models and so on.
IPO/M&A It's almost the same for any investment bank to do a business. Why are others willing to give it to you instead of others? This is the network and the advantage of the signboard. It's either a company brand ring or its own brand ring. At this time, education and the title of chartered financial analyst will be particularly useful. CFA certificate is in your hand, and going to PE/VC will not be less useful. After all, CFA Institute uses a set of international standards to make judgments. This is talent.
If you want to take the technical route, make models, design financial products and be an analyst, the school is not that important, and being able to do things is the last word, which is why violinists can also become investment bank assistants. Investment banks and fund companies basically need people who can do things, no matter what school you graduated from. Employment in science and engineering will be easier than financial background, because there is a shortage of programmers in the financial industry now. If you want to do Quant, pricing and modeling, you basically only need people with technical background and more than 5 years of work experience. The premise is that there is a little financial foundation, and no company is willing to train you from scratch, which is why CFA will attract HR attention.
Don't be too entangled in the salary of CFA holders. The basic salary of VP will not exceed 200,000. The legendary 500 thousand and millions are people with work experience. On the contrary, the bonus may be more, but the bonus is hard to say. Bonuses always change with the market, and there will be more bonuses when the years are good.
What role can CFA play if it is a fresh graduate of finance and has no work experience? According to the requirements of the association, college students can only pass CFA Level 1 exam at most when they graduate, which is enough for college students. Financial institutions such as investment banks can see that you are really interested in the financial industry and spend time and energy to learn more financial knowledge, instead of coming to the investment bank for an interview when your mind is hot.
In addition, even if you have no work experience, CFA will tell them that your knowledge can help you find a job status quickly, and training new people has been the business of investment banks since the last century.
It's already 35. Is it too late to learn CFA? Of course not. Applying for CFA certificate itself requires work experience, and it is simply a * * choice to switch to the financial industry to study CFA. If you have work experience, CFA level 1 is not enough, and you can have better influence after level 2.
Today's academic competition has little effect. There are many returnees and masters, and many people often compete for a position in investment banks, and they are all in the same school. If one of them has CFA aura, how to choose is much easier.