I have always thought ‘networking’ sounded pointless for this very reason, but I constantly hear of its importance, so I thought I was in the wrong. Was to the point where i heard so much about its merits, i thought that it was me that needed further practice and development of my social abilities to where I am so charasmatic, memorable, and loved that they wouldnt be a waste of time
Tend to agree with you to a great extent. But it certainly is not ‘pointless‘ though it is not an ‘essential’ requirement to succeed in finance or even life. Often due to networking you become a part of an inner circle where you get the advantage of being insider and, therefore, some preference when it comes to selection and tie with another person who is equal to you in all other respect. Other than this it may often lead to considerable saving in the time and effort that you may require to find quality alternatives in your search for a better career at any stage.
It is neither a substitute for good qualification (knowledge) or credit-worthy experience. If you have these two in your favour then the networking only supports you to some degree and may (note may) give you the initial push that otherwise you may not have. Even with the networking support ultimately what matters is your self-belief and your competence which comes only thro’ experience and relevant qualification, like CFA, meant to provide you the necessary skill, knowledge and expertise.
With outstanding social skills you may prosper but it does not guarantee success in professional work unless complemented by expertise earned because of solid qualification and experience; but converse may not be true (otherwise all introverts are doomed to fail in professional life despite their expertise!).
Do both. I got way more efficient in time management during the study periods, simply waisted less time on doing “nothing” , left time for both studies and a social life.
As much as I wanted to stay out of this one, I have to contribute…
I have been involved with my local society for the last 4+ years (“Networking”). I am the volunteer chairman, work with the education committee, work with the local universities and their involvement/awareness of the CFA designation and the local society. I go to as many events as I can. I coordinate the Live Review course at a local university. Throughout the last 4+ years, I would guess my involvement has amounted to about 600 hours of networking and/or building my “brand” with that network.
I still have been involved with other groups - friends from high school, college, coworkers, etc. I go to the gym in the early mornings. Granted, I am a young, single guy who is trying to develop his career. I would rather go out than sit at home and watch TV. I think this has a lot to do with why I’ve been successful in continuing all of these activities/relationships.
It is not hard to do both 1,000 hrs of study AND 1,000 hrs of networking. My social life is packed with activities. I have told all of my social groups that I’m out of commission and will decline almost every invite from January until the first Saturday in June (hopefully this schedule changes for me in a week given an L3 pass…). After that, everything picks up again socially. I have a lot of hobbies and am always starting new projects.
All of this has been done while working full-time, 40-50 hours per week. I’m not saying this to boast - I just simply want the OP to know that it can definitely be done. You don’t have to choose between study and networking. You will get much more value out of the CFA Charter while combining it with the CFA Society networks.
do both? CFA doesn’t really take that much time out of your day unless you are a try hard that tries to score 100% on iit.
Thanks for the nice input and story. No doubt being single helps. If you have a wife/gf/ and/or kids, alot of the socialzing with various groups turns into socializing with them
Networking is the name of the game, my friend.