I am a final year Engineering student at University of Calgary trying to break into Energy IB. I have networked with bankers here. An overwhelming majority of junior/mid-level bankers consider CFA® to be holy grail for some odd reason. It appears as though they have confused IB for IM. It seems that CFA® matters more than GPA, difficulty of major, and prestige of school. According to a couple of them, passing CFA® Level 1 will demonstrate that I have necessary stamina and interest in Finance. I find this infatuation of calgarian bankers with CFA® simply absurd because some of the most successful bankers in Energy space in Houston/London came from liberal arts/economics/sciences background. Quite a few of MDs in houston are direct promotes while others possess an MBA. But, rarely do they have CFA® 's. Only in Calgary would you expect a BB to hire a JD/MBA with some experience as a 1st year Analyst. In my view, this is ridiculous. At the moment, it appears that breaking into IB in Calgary is impossible without a CFA® Level 2. Even then it depends on the kind of relevant experience one brings to the table because I have not found bankers here very keen on training newbies. I was just wondering what your thoughts are on this situation ?
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How is the Engineering to IB market in Calgary nowadays? Is it finally a worn path with banks recruiting from the engineering side, or still primarily through haskayne? I did UC engineering long back, with absolutely no path to IB/finance at the time, let alone a developed IB market in Calgary. I then did a top 5 mba, then CO, now doing PE in Asia. Would love to hear how the Calgary IB market is..
sorry, double post.
There are quite a few Engineering folks pursuing finance jobs in Calgary. Most of them are in ER though. A lot of them got their PEng. and used CFA to lateral in ER roles. As far as IB is concerned, it is still rare for Engineering undergrads to work in IB upon graduation. The odd ones that did manage to break into IB have done pretty well for themselves i.e. top MBA, PE and senior roles within IB. IB recruitment in Calgary is a bit more boxed than other Energy centres. It is mainly focused on commerce majors. Unlike Houston/NY, you won't see a lot of science, liberal arts, engg majors at Analyst level. Interviews are much more technical and bankers expect you to know quite a bit about market. Shops in Calgary tend to have a culture of direct Analyst to Associate promotion, so not a lot of guys end up pursuing MBA. BBs still prefer MBAs though. It is not uncommon to see guys with 2-3 years of industry and big 4 accounting experience interviewing for 1st year Analyst roles. I have conducted informational interviews extensively with bankers in Calgary. MDs typically are not big fans of CFA and would often recommend pursuing MBA route. However, VP and below tend to glorify CFA and advise Engineering grads to pass at least L1 before they could be seriously considered. I have this impression that folks within Finance in Calgary are very designation centred i.e. PEng, CFA, CA. This is just my opinion. Please feel free to disagree. I could provide much more details about my interview experience at some of the shops here.
I know multiple people that have worked in Calgary IB and others that are heading there for full-time IB next year. None of them have taken any level of the CFA nor do they plan on taking them.
Since when does "a couple of them" equate to "an overwhelming majority"?
Impossible to break into Calgary IB without CFA Level 2? ....No, just no.
My discussion topic particularly concerns Engineering majors. For commerce majors, it is certainly not required. Although, still a lot of guys tend to take CFA L1 exam in their final year.
Bit of an old post, but how is IB and PE doing in Calgary since Oil prices crashed? Are ppl getting fired or just hanging in with no new hires?
@Infant_monkey" Agree, it seems that Calgary likes designations, or maybe people all did designations to break into what was a very small industry, so now everyone follows the same path.
Hey, I'm in Calgary and trying to break into IBD here. This year has been odd, M&A in general has been up across the board but in Calgary its been a down year. Some IB shops have packed up and left town (Barclays for one), but for the most part they are just hanging in with no new hires (sucks for me.) PE is ok I guess so far since their investment horizon is longer term, but one guy I talked to at ARC said in 2016/2017 Shops will probably have re-evaluate some investments that just don't make sense at $50 oil.
Just in general though, yes there is a unhealthy obsession with CFA in this town-and most people that have it don't even put it to use honestly.
Barclays didn't leave town
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