To CFA or NOT to CFA, that is the question. (For breaking into Investment Banks)
Being young and hungry for that prestigious undergraduate Analyst/Associate position at your dream upper BB bank is a very shared dream, especially if you are a university student. But as we all know, you’re more likely to shit eggs than score that GS summer internship let alone a return offer.
But yet still, I’m going to discredit all the pessimistic cock blocks people enforce out of pure nihilism at this point and ask:
What the hell does the CFA actually allow you to do?
Does it play any role in IB recruiting or performance?
Why is it both “Good advice” & a waste of time at the SAME time?
Note: I do agree there are some “cock blocks” like your school, networking, technical knowledge, experience and so on. But I don’t understand how this fairly hard, trivial CFA system even works.
The general consensus I was able to get is that it does not really help you in terms of breaking into higher-end finance roles, more specifically Investment Banking but is “A Good thing to have that allows you to be more kick ass on the job”— What the fuck..?
EDIT: I’m judging the CFA based on the countless linked in profiles I’ve seen with CFA I or CFA II candidates breaking into various divisions within IB banks in the upper BB (always relatively young). I guess the question pivots to—which divisions benefit from the CFA?
CFA is not for the role you’re looking for. It is for buy/sell-side equity analysts
So when you hear the term breaking into IB with a CFA it’s strongly referring to just Equity research?
Well no, because you don't hear this term, because every time this question gets asked (like every month) - the answer is always "it does not help, CFA is for people in ER". And even then, it's not so cut and dry. No one is referring to ER as IB though.
More specific plz?
Bro, same here. I’ve always just ignored this whole thing to keep my sanity. We my friend are cooked
strong non target tard vibes from this post
Broo I’m starting my first year of uni this September. Literally so fucking early for all this.
semi target tard*
I think about CFA's in the light of that they will not get you in the "door" for a first round like an elite MBA or undergraduate degree may but can be a nice additional cherry on top. In my opinion, if you are trying to break in from another career path, spending all of your time networking and having a good story/reason is going to be significantly more helpful than spending 2-3 years studying for something that will likely not yield great results career wise (specific to IB). Can be more helpful for ER/traditional corporate roles.
Yeah i naturally came to the conclusion today 😭
thanks
CFA not required / more trouble than it's worth for banking in the US. In Canada, branch managers have CFAs, so it's helpful as something that ticks the box.
I was once in an interview for a lateral analyst position (I was at a rating agency) and mentioned I had one more level left to go for the CFA and the guy said, "we don't care about that here."
Guy was a dick but it's pretty true, never met anyone in banking even mention the CFA. I've had my charter for 5 years and I don't even put it in my email signature or business cards bc I'd frankly be embarrassed. Probably not the right attitude but whatever.
Use the nearly 1,000 combined hours you would spend preparing for those 3 exams for something more impactful to your career / life.
I'm currently going through a phase where I often find myself thinking, "Wow, you're a dick", in about 5 out of 10 interactions within this culture. To be honest, it's making me question whether working 18 hours a day in finance is worth it, especially with people like this. I love finance, but maybe not the people aspect of it.
You don't need a clear benefit to want extra knowledge
It could only be confusing because there are a couple instances of people breaking into IB from random roles who just happened to get the CFA too. The CFA was not the lynchpin for them getting into a front office IBD role. It’s a serious exam for equity analysts. Minimal relevance for anything bankers actually do. You’re just seeing hardos (mostly Canadians, Indians, europoors) in tough markets going complete overkill on credentials when they just needed to talk to people.
Sounds like our 4 eyes in our quant class.
Thank you, very helpful stuff.
Well besides my uni, major, technical knowledge, extracurriculars, and networking. What are some certifications that are worth looking into for M&A and coverage?
The common example I find.
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