Leveraging CFA into an ER position (in Europe)

Hi all, attended my Level 2 last week and looking for some ideas.

Worked for a year as an investment analyst at a venture debt boutique (convertible debt in small caps), employer was UK-based and I wasn't, making the long hours not worth it both financially and WLB wise. I opted to quit to make sure I can get my CFA charter and hop to a more relevant role in a Western European nation in hopes of both better pay and better WLB later down the line.

What I'm trying to do is to find an equity research type position either in Amsterdam or Frankfurt. For additional context: on top of the 1 year work exp. I also have a masters in economics (3.5 GPA). I'm looking for ideas on what are some names I should be recruiting towards. LinkedIn is constantly putting up VL Kempen and Kepler Cheuvreux, some also from Optiver and APG.

Current plan is to prepare a couple reports on US tech on my own (that's the market that I personally trade) and have those to rely on (I have applied to a position before and got rejected after submitting a pitch deck).

And just so I don't forget:

  1. Language is a limiting factor. I speak tolerable German, it may qualify as meeting bare minimums for professional capacity. Not a lick of Dutch, Italian, French etc.
  2. Talking full-time offers (every internship I see is €800-1,000 allowance and I'm not moving across the continent for a costs>income position);
  3. Side-note: If anybody has knowledge on how the "expat tax system" in the Netherlands improves take-home pay, those are welcomed.
 
Most Helpful

Okay, so this probably isn’t the advice you are looking for, but if you are going to dabble into anything tech related, I would recommend reading books on engineering in the specific fields at play in our current historical timeline.

This may sound unorthodox, but look at it like this.

1,2,3 revolutions were steam powered engines, to electricity to “bill gates” lol which would be the mass technological era, but now we are moving vastly into not only dangerous waters but the most obvious outcome focused today would be centered around ai.

The world wants ai and the top people are critically focusing all the resources we have on the planet in that respective field as well as making Mars a traveled planetary mission on a constant.

So I’m sure if you were to combine your knowledge you have no with a few books you were to read regarding some well understood engineering tech, that you would be able to write a more sound letter or whatever you are sending to get accepted by those respective fields.

Sorry if this isn’t what your looking for but, the world is moving forward and people sub consciously are aware of what’s coming and if you surprise them with a combined informational and financial literacy wiliest showing your involvement in depth with the actual technology you want to profit from. It would make these conditions a much more acceptable outcome.

I’m really nobody to tell anybody tbh.

Just thought that this might get your brain firing with more ideas and possibly help you think a little outside the box. Or it could not help at all and that happens. Anywho, good-luck(:

 

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