Cfa lvl 1 vs Sie Exam ?
Hi I am wonder what will help me stand out as undergraduate Student to employers on my resume ? And what would be best for someone who is new to finance?
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Anyone can pass the SIE. Having it won't hurt, would actually encourage it. CFA I think is also useless in todays world (always has been), but seeing a college kid with a CFA would have a bigger impact on me than SIE.
Yeah SIE would be more relevant if IB is the immediate move fresh out of college. CFA would be more long-term focused, and then again, that depends on how the charter is being used.
Go with the SIE, assuming you’re interested in IB. it demonstrates an interest in the field, and gives people confidence you can at least understand the high level basics of the job. Also you’ll have to take it at some point anyway, may as well get it out of the way. CFA isn’t valued too much if at all in IB, and having only the first level passed isn’t really worth all that much.
Just saying if someone emailed me for a coffee chat and I saw on their resume they took the SIE, id assume they’re a complete weirdo. It’s a certification that 99.9% of people do right before they start or in training, seems like a complete waste to me to do that in college. Your firm will pay for a training course etc
In my opinion, your way better off doing an actual modeling course or something similar (Wall Street prep or the like). You can put it on your resume and it will probably teach you a lot more about actual skills needed for interviewing / doing the job. Also much less weird for me to see a college kid that has done that vs taking the SIE
Even a high school kid can pass the SIE with 2-3 weeks of prep
They're very different - SIE you can pass comfortably with a week's worth of studying, whereas the CFA likely requires a couple hundred hours of studying. I would say on that basis that passing the CFA L1 is much more impressive, but also it's not like it's a full credential. Additionally, if your role ever requires the CFA charter, your firm will likely pay for it and there's candidly more meaningful pursuits in your college years. Similarly, a firm will pay for your SIE exam assuming you enter a role that requires the exam. In any event, as someone who has been involved in the internship recruiting process at my current firm for a few years now, I don't believe there's been a case where one of those credentials helped a candidate stand out. If you are newer to finance, it's likely a better use of your time taking finance courses as joining finance-related clubs on campus.
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