Asset Management in Europe
I have an undergraduate econ degree from UW, a CFA level 1, and will be doing a MS in Accounting at either Copenhagen Business School, Tilburg or Lunds.
The reason I am doing a MS in Accounting rather than Finance is because I view a CFA as essentially equivalent to a MS in Finance. A degree in accounting will help me go indepth into accounting principles that are essential for long oriented valuations that require bottom up work. Plus its nice to be able to fall back on an auditing role just in case I can't get a finance job.
Considering that I am American, is there any possible chance for me to get recruited in Europe? Eventually I want to work for an Asset Management or hedge fund in equity research, but would be willing to start off at an Ibank, PE or M&A.
The labor markets in NL and France seem particularly closed towards foreigners. Belgium and Luxembourg seem slightly more open, and Germany as well except I don't speak German. It seems my most viable option is in the UK?
Yea mate I kind of just went through the same situation so listen up; being an english speaker only your best chance in finance for the EU is in London, thus you better be connected in there somehow. Either attend a target-ish school in the UK or start networking your balls off now to get into a BB there.
You can find some good corporate finance opportunities in continental Europe if that is also good with you. My experience with the regional banks was that they wanted native language speakers to where they are; the idea is that they connect local businesses to international markets, and management of the local businesses connect better with natives. They do have some roles you can do with just english but they are thin in number so just overall less opportunity there.
Ze Germans didnt seem to be impressed with my slight German language skills, and seemed to vastly prefer local candidates (i.e. Jain @ Deutsche Bank). If you do this route and then end up back in the US (like me now) it's not the worst; many places will like your international experience for global trade/corp finance roles.
I appreciate your advice and sharing your own experience, its very insightful! I do speak some Spanish, ideally it would be awesome to work for an emerging market fund that specializes in investing in Latin America, Korea (I speak Korean), and Kazakhstan (I lived there), but I doubt I could find anything.
Unfortunately, Tilburg, CBS or Lunds are all non-target. It seems that in Europe the emphasis is not so much how good the school is (unless youre in the UK), but what skill sets you have. I do know quite a few people in Europe, all working in finance, but I am not sure how much they can actually do for me since they are not HR people, and usually the more corporate the company, the more beaurocratic the process it seems.... Not sure if I fully grasp the concept of networking since it really seems like it only matters if you know a fund manager or a very senior person that can pull strings
Can I ask, what school you went to?
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