CFA jobseekers from Toronto - BEWARE to be exploited!

CFA General
#1

Here is my sad story of being cheated and exploited by an unscrupulous employer from Toronto, who also happens to be a CFA charterholder and the managing partner of a investment consulting company in Toronto.

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS:

-I was offered to volunteer for her company as an “investment analyst” for several months, in exchange for good perspectives of being hired after the volunteer period is over. During volunteering period, I work in the office along with several other CFA Program candidates, mostly of them were recent immigrants or on student visas.

-Instead of assignments, somehow related to the investment analysis or CFA Program in general, I was asked to restore a huge pile of neglected accounting documents, This is a job, which is normally assigned to junior accounting clerks. Extremely tedious assignment, with zero relevance to CFA Program.

-By the time when the volunteering period expired, the neglected accoung had not been restored yet. At that point, I was VERBALLY hired with $40/hour rate, and I was asked to complete the “neglected accounting project”. I was uncomfortable that we had a handshake deal only, without any paper trail, but calmed myself down by the fact that the employer was a CFA charterholder, who must comply with “Code of Ethics” and “Standards of Professional Conduct”. Also, I have to mention that in the course of day-to-day work, this lady is friendly, charming, relatively smart and very smooth-talkative.

-AFTER I finally completed the “neglected accounting project”, during which I received from her many verbal and email encouragements for excellent performance, that CFA charterholder told me that I have had two options: (1) Reatroactively decrease (!!) my wage from $40/hr to the mimimum wage and keep the employment, or (2) Take the money and get fired. I choose the latter, because I do not work with dishonest people.

-Nevertheless, I NEVER BEEN PAID WHAT I WAS PROMISED! She paid me the mimumum wage only!

-I complained to Ministry of Labour about that and said that we had a verbal employment contract which provided the $40/hr compensation. She, in her turn, said UNDER OATH, that we never had one! Ministry of Labour decided that, in the absence of a written employment contract or emails where the employer EXPLICITELY admits existence of the employment contract with specified hourly rate, I am only entitled for the minimum wage!

If I won the case, I would publish the decision and released her name. But ,due to lack of the paper trail, I lost the case, and therefore, cannot name that lady.

-Several months later, I googled out her new “investment analysts”.

And I found out, that all other candidates who I started with, left the company. Nobody was hired! All her new “investment analysts” are recent graduates, and from their resumes on LinkedIn it is obvious that they are newcomers to Canada. It looks like this “hiring practice” is used by her year-over-year again.

Please do not repeat my mistakes while getting an employment.

I also encourage you to share your negative experience with unethical CFA charterholders, if you have one, regardless of the city and country.

#2

Why don’t you find a bunch of people who also worked there and file a collective suit? Presumably, they were also ripped off.

#3

Have you tried reporting the Charterholder to CFAI?

#4

You learned a terrible lesson the hard way: Always get it in writing.

If they were honest, having it in writing should make 0 difference. anyone who refuses to do that, MAJOR red flag.

#5

If you get testimony from like 20 people, that would be strong evidence in court.

#6

Labour disputes and arbitration decisions in Canada are public. There is no risk of liability by simply linking the decision using CanLii.

I prefer to read both sides. Can you link it?

#7

If she is hiring recent immigrants or people on student visas then try getting the other people together and talking to Canada Immigration because she is obviously taking advantage of newly landed immigrants who don’t understand the labour laws and who might not complain. Also, talk to CFAI.

#8

Dude, that sucks. Try tracking down her past analysts and putting a collective testimony together.

#9

Yes, lets see both sides of the story right now. This happens in all industry. Just because someone is a charter hold doesn’t mean they don’t commit crimes or is truthworthy right away. Look at the CFAI discipline page and see how many candidates and charterholders are ripped of their eligibility and charter.

Also, are you yourself a recent immigrant? Somehow there seems be more than just the story you are saying.

#10

Also, a word of advice and for your future reference. There’s NOTHING as “VERBALLY hired”. It’s either you are hired or not. There are contracts in place for everything from buying a car to opening a bank account, why should this differ. YOU ARE NOT HIRED UNTIL YOU SIGN AN EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT, so by you stating verbally hired is already suspicious enough for anyone to disocunt all you have said

#11

.

#12

the judgement appears to be pretty air tight…

#13

Yea. I read it and the judge had no choice but to go the employer’s way. If she knew all along she was just jerking you around she is really clever.

Edit: Can you say studying for CFA qualifies you to do XYZ? Also, what is a CFA graduate program?

#14

Well that sucks. Good that it’s out in the air though.

#15

Lol @ this passage:

“In Ms. Linton’s opinion, Mr. Boldyrikhine did not have the skills to perform the duties which he had identified in his October 3, 2010 email and she did not take it seriously. I note that in cross-examination, Mr. Boldyrikhine conceded that he did not have any experience in the areas listed in his October 3, 2010 email, although he maintained that as a result of the CFA program he was qualified to work in those areas.”

Really hammers home the disconnect between our own estimation of our skills and employers’ estimation of us.

#16

This only reinforces the key lesson: ALWAYS get it in writing.

If the person was honest, verbal and written should make 0 difference, and should have no problem signing.

Con artists like this woman keep taking advantage of people who are too trusting.

#17

I read the decision of the board from cover to cover, and have to say it was quite an interesting read. Based on the facts presented, I would have reached the same decision as the board. I feel badly for Mr. Boldyrikhine if what he said happened really did happen, but I guess it goes to show how important it is to have EVERYTHING in writing.

I have learned this the hard way myself too. That’s not to say you can’t take someone at their word, but if you REALLY want to take someone at their word, you might as well have them put their word on paper.

#18

she sounds like a total psychopath.

The manipulation required would be pretty labour intensive.

#19

There are so many sharks and dishonest people in every industry, all you can do now is to try to contact CFAI and see if they would file a report on her, if sufficient complaints are filed against her, perhaps they would seek actions?

I am not too sure what you can do now or what you could have done retrospectively. Even if she put it in writing, it is very hard for you to force her to enforce the contract, and it’s not always easy to get it settled in court for such a minor conflict.

I think it’s good for you to spread the words and remind other young candidates to be ware of these ill practices. as for the experience, well, you learned a huge lesson either way, you may not be able to put this toward your CFA work experience but it’s definitely a good life lesson!

Best of luck :slight_smile:

#20

Are you guys reading the same thing as me because to me, it seems like the guy is the one trying to pull a fast one. First, he sends invoices from some shadow company anyterm which he says is his friends company but then says hes co-owner. Why the change of facts? Second, since when was this other company even in the original employment discussion? Third the 1000 he was paid was clearly indicated as payment from the first day he started working as stated in the email. He is trying to get off on some technicality on what bonus vs wage means. Also he sends these list of skills relating to investment management yet has absolutely no experience, which he admits…Sorry buddy but having a CFA charter or just being in the program does not automatically make you qualified to begin managing money. I dont think anyone in their right mind would automatically agree to begin paying you 40 or 45 an hour.