Is CFA helpful in switching from operation side to more front side
Currently working in an asset mgmt firm-operation side, but i'm more interested in financial modeling &research, in another word, more quantitative side. I don't like operation stuff such as operation expense/audit/accounting at all. Passed CFA level1 and not from top bschool, wondering should I continue to finish CFA or pursue for a top school?
How do you find the current jobs？ It's difficult to find public hiring for small PE firms.
Thanks.
I'm a CFA charter holder who worked in PE.
Do the CFA if you want to stay in Asset Management. People respect and value it there.
CFA is more of a nice-to-have for PE; it won't get people to talk to you and is frankly less important than coming from a target role (IB or consulting). It may put you ahead, all else equal. For PE, a H/S/W MBA is really unparalleled. Can you do it otherwise? Sure, but it's a but harder and requires some more luck. Most people find roles with small PE firms by networking, so I'd reach out just to get your name on the radar whenever an opportunity with them arises.
Good luck.
Thanks for your answers. Then what makes you want to take the CFA and when did you get it since you work? For networking, do you mean networking in Linkedin or in-person networking? If it’s in-person networking, would you mind recommending some to meet with these people? I don’t really know such kind of meetings/events. In PEs, what skills do people usually have if they’re neither CFA nor MBA from H/S/W?
I did the CFA because I thought I was going to do public-side investing. Went through the process, got a couple offers, decided it wasn't for me and generated a PE offer instead. By that time, I was already on to level 3 so I just finished the program since it's nice to have (but again, not sufficient). I did the CFA program during my IB analyst stint because I don't like to sleep (that's a joke, it's really because I wanted to get it out of the way).
Networking is ALWAYS in-person. I won't hire someone I've never met, and I don't think about LinkedIn connections if my firm has a need (I also don't connect to people I haven't met personally on LinkedIn, but that's a different issue). Just start sending some emails asking for informational interviews and see if you can get anyone to talk to you. You will probably have a low hit rate, but just keep firing away until it works. Offer to buy them coffee and give them an opportunity to talk about themselves; people like both of those things, generally. You could also try ACG meetings or the like, but you'll probably just annoy people there, honestly.
People in PE generally either come from either IB or, slightly less often, management consulting. Those are the two easiest paths in: either do an analyst stint in IB or a couple years as a junior consultant and connect with headhunters. Sometimes people can also make the switch from corporate development or accounting (those are pretty uncommon, but it happens). After your two-three years, you either i) go to business school and try to return to PE as a VP, ii) try for the direct promote to VP (not possible at most firms, and ALWAYS depends on firm staffing needs), or iii) go do something else.
The skills you need are the ability to evaluate a business, manage 3rd parties, financial modeling, etc. For associates, really just financial modeling and knowing accounting cold.
I think your best path for PE (if you're not too old) is to try to switch to IB or consulting and then recruit through headhunters. If you're older and that's not an option, try to go to H/S/W and do an internship in IB or PE and network as hard as you possible can (read: forget about everything else and focus 100% of your effort there).
Good luck.
Also, i'm wondering what background is PE looking for? I know in IB, it's difficult to switch from operation to front office, not sure if PE has the same preference.
CFA does nothing for PE. It's all about transaction and deal experience, unfortunately. So moving from ops to front-side is pretty difficult to do unless you get that kind of experience.
So if your last job is not PE related, any way to get into PE?
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