Creating a new thread here as the other thread was specific to Jobless CFA charterholders in London.
Would like to share my personal experience - Worked for a decade in Sales and Trading, obtained the CFA charter some years ago, retrenched recently, and have not been able to secure a job for months. Kinda disappointing that the " most respected and recognized investment management designation " actually counts for nothing in a job search. From my experience in the job search game, your previous work experience counts far more than the CFA charter. I bet a Bachelor of Arts graduate, with no CFA credentials, with three years experience as a research analyst would fare much better getting a job in investment management than a CFA charterholder without any work experience in the investment management industry.
So for anyone still struggling to complete the CFA exams, I hope this post will help to manage expectations…the charter itself is not going to help you “break into” the finance industry, much less the investment management sub-sector.
Just depressing that the CFA took up so much of my youth yet failed to deliver on a tangible ROI. Sure, it did cover a lot of good content, gave me lotsa respect with clients and peers. However, from a job search perspective, it did not make a difference. If I could turn back the clock, instead of spending those hours on the CFA examinations, I would rather spend the time networking, learning to code, or perhaps, learning another language. I am sure any of these will lead to better job prospects.
What has been your experience?
My 2 cents.
Unemployed Charterholder