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7 Things to Know to Get Your Work Experience CFA-Approved
 

300 Hours's picture
O
(Orangutan, 339
 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 3:30pm
25350959.jpeg

In the whole CFA process, passing the 3 exams is without question the hardest part of the entire shebang. But if you're anything like me, once you got the pesky business of the damn exams out of the way, you might wonder where's the frigging charter? How do you get it? I was too busy focusing on passing Level II and III that I never really bothered to think about this part.

Fortunately, once you pass your exams, the process of getting your charter is relatively straightforward - providing you have the relevant work experience. 4 years' worth of it, in fact.

Now, seriously, what on earth is 'relevant work experience'?

The Relevance of Your Experience.

To qualify as a regular member and the right to use the CFA designation, you will need 48 months of relevant work experience. These can be accrued from any previous position, and do not have to be continuous. The criteria for work experience to be considered relevant is as below.

At least 50% of your work experience must be:

  • Directly involved in the investment decision-making process
  • Engaged in responsibilities and/or producing a work product that informs or adds value to that process

What does this really mean? 

#1. Job titles are not sufficient. You must include specific details about your job responsibilities. Reread the work experience points above - the specific details should address these as much as possible.

#2. Enter only positions that qualify as acceptable work experience. No need to include your blissful 2 years in McDonalds.

#3. Write a cover letter. You have to treat your work experience application akin to writing a cover letter for a job application - i.e. remember to highlight parts of your role to emphasize its relevance to what CFA Institute is looking for. 

#4. You must be helping people decide how to invest. The goal is to demonstrate that your work contributes to investment decision-making processes. You don't necessarily have to be the one making the decisions. But if decisions depend on your work in some way, be it your research, your analysis, or some other form of counsel, then you have a fair chance.

#5. Teaching & supervising also counts. If you're in a full-time position which teaches the core skills required, or involves supervising those who carry out the responsibilities as detailed above, this qualifies as well.

#6. Part-time positions do not count. Any work experience must be full-time. Internships also do not qualify as work experience.

#7. Managing your own investments does not qualify. So does running investment clubs, managing your family/friends' investments, and so on. You need professional experience, i.e. you do this for a living.

Bonus Tip #8: And Now, A Word From Your Sponsors. 

Bear in mind that you will also need professional sponsors as references. 'Professional' means that these are people that can attest to you and your work in a professional setting. So no Aunt Elma references please.

These can be one of the following:

  1. 3 professional sponsors, or 
  2. 2 professional sponsors, of which one is a current, regular member of the local CFA society you are applying to

It is also highly preferred if one of your sponsors is your current supervisor.

Your references will be emailed instructions on how to complete a reference for you. This should take no more than an hour to fill out.

With all these tips in mind it should be a straightforward process to getting your work experience requirements sorted out! Of course, you actually need to be in suitable roles for all this to apply - if your experience is fundamentally unsuitable, you'd be out of luck.

Got any tips or experiences to share? Let me know in the comments below.

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Comments

analyst1609's picture

Oh boy, then so far I have

(Baboon, 156
 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 3:52pm

Oh boy, then so far I have zero years of experience...yikes!

No contract means I have all the power. They want me, but they can't have me. - Don Draper

WSOusername's picture

Correct me if I'm wrong. But

 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 3:53pm

Correct me if I'm wrong. But isn't "qualifying work experience" loose as a goose for the CFA. I feel like I remember reading that somewhere. I mean I know you wrote out like a whole punch list rit there, but couldn't the right person artfully make being a cashier at a supermarket somehow "qualify".

GBS

AndyLouis's picture

GoldmanBallSachs: Correct me

 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 3:55pm
GoldmanBallSachs:

Correct me if I'm wrong. But isn't "qualifying work experience" loose as a goose for the CFA. I feel like I remember reading that somewhere. I mean I know you wrote out like a whole punch list rit there, but couldn't the right person artfully make being a cashier at a supermarket somehow "qualify".

it's okay GBS, the world needs ditch diggers too

WSO's COO (Chief Operating Orangutan) | My story | Connect with me on Linkedin.

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hansgruber's picture

There must be a lot of

CO
(Monkey, 33
 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 4:04pm

There must be a lot of questionable applicants if people have to put this much thought into it. I think I included a one sentence description of my experience.

Kassad's picture

GoldmanBallSachs: Correct me

IB
(King Kong, 1,195
 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 4:54pm
GoldmanBallSachs:

Correct me if I'm wrong. But isn't "qualifying work experience" loose as a goose for the CFA. I feel like I remember reading that somewhere. I mean I know you wrote out like a whole punch list rit there, but couldn't the right person artfully make being a cashier at a supermarket somehow "qualify".

I think that the most important part is the reference. The part they have to fill out is likely the real determinant of how credible your work experience is; I'm somewhat doubtful of the ability of a supermarket manager to sufficiently qualify your work experience such that it would meet the standards set by the CFAI.

sadboy's picture

i think OP over thinking

IB
 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 5:05pm

i think OP over thinking things.
i kept mine very simple and wrote 4 lines max and all my experience was approved

WSOusername's picture

Lol, I was being somewhat

 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 5:06pm

Lol, I was being somewhat facetious. My point was more or less that if you fall under the "business umbrella" (which is HUGE) you should be able to hack it. I would never ask my supermarket manager for a rec. Guys been mad at me ever since I requested to be moved from the register to bagging.

GBS

illiniPride's picture

GoldmanBallSachs: Lol, I was

IB
(King Kong, 1,099
 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 6:08pm
GoldmanBallSachs:

Lol, I was being somewhat facetious. My point was more or less that if you fall under the "business umbrella" (which is HUGE) you should be able to hack it. I would never ask my supermarket manager for a rec. Guys been mad at me ever since I requested to be moved from the register to bagging.

You requested a demotion?!?!? Bad move bro

Leadership can be defined in two words: "Follow Me"

WSOusername's picture

illiniPride: You requested a

 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 7:03pm
illiniPride:

You requested a demotion?!?!? Bad move bro

Bagging has better exit opps imo.

GBS

duffmt6's picture

I'm guessing I'll have some

IB
(Neanderthal, 2,329
 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 7:35pm

I'm guessing I'll have some issues with my BO job (18 months) so just hoping I can spin it.

"Social cohesion and puritanical morality place roughly on my list of concerns between whether I'll pick up jock itch at the gym this week (not likely, since I don't go the gym) and whether it'll rain in Christchurch, New Zealand next Tuesday."
-Eddie

CashIsKing100's picture

Does assurance and auditing

IA
(Monkey, 56
 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 9:20pm

Does assurance and auditing from a cpa firm count towards advisory services???

"Their analysts, they don't know preferred stock from live stock, alright."

Funderbold's picture

CashIsKing100: Does assurance

IB
(Monkey, 37
 
Points)
 on 8/28/12 at 10:29pm
CashIsKing100:

Does assurance and auditing from a cpa firm count towards advisory services???

Hi CashIsKing100, according to the CFA Institute, both assurance and auditing from a CPA firm may or may not count towards the said advisory services. This depends if your work experience is align with the requirement of 'at least 50 percent of your time is related to the investment decision-making process.'

The following examples are extracted from the CFA Institute:

Acceptable auditors experience
I performed financial statement audits of companies that carried significant assets and liabilities subject to fair value accounting. I assessed the reasonableness of the valuations and assumptions behind the valuations of those assets and liabilities.

Non-acceptable auditors experience
Review the internal control processes to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and recommend process improvements. Perform non-SOX-related financial and operational audits on businesses to identify control and process weaknesses and recommend process improvements.

Source: CPA Institute

Emo_Rhino's picture

how about sales n trading

(Monkey, 32
 
Points)
 on 8/29/12 at 6:46am

how about sales n trading positions?

John Rolfe's picture

This thread could be awesome

AM
(Orangutan, 361
 
Points)
 on 8/29/12 at 9:57pm

This thread could be awesome if you had a poll or statistic of what current CFA charter holders listed as their work experience.

gottaexcel's picture

guess your experience is very

(Chimp, 3
 
Points)
 on 8/30/12 at 5:20pm

guess your experience is very relevant and concrete?

gottaexcel's picture

sadboy: i think OP over

(Chimp, 3
 
Points)
 on 8/30/12 at 5:22pm
gottaexcel's picture

is there anywhere i can send

(Chimp, 3
 
Points)
 on 8/30/12 at 5:27pm
duffmt6's picture

gottaexcel: is there anywhere

IB
(Neanderthal, 2,329
 
Points)
 on 8/30/12 at 6:34pm

"Social cohesion and puritanical morality place roughly on my list of concerns between whether I'll pick up jock itch at the gym this week (not likely, since I don't go the gym) and whether it'll rain in Christchurch, New Zealand next Tuesday."
-Eddie

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