How is the job market in Toronto for CFA level 3 pass out with business degree but very little CFA work experience? There are lots of job postings in Toronto, however there are lots of finance professionals as well with Masters and Phd that you compete with.
Please explain CFA work experience.
Toronto is highly competitive and I strongly believe that the CFA doesn’t mean anything nowadays because everyone has it. Work experience and connections are pretty much what work on the street. Can you start in back office?
CFA work experience = any work that is accepted by CFAI as relevant work experience to earn the charter. Any positions - financial analyst, portfolio manager, hedge funds, private equity, quantitative analyst, etc.
I am not sure if “back office” job means a position which does all administrative work in a company. But if it is, I would be disgraced to accept it after studying so much to pass 3 levels. I don’t wanna be in the same position I was before starting CFA.
If I am getting an analyst position, I would be willing to accept as long as the total comp is >$80k. I came up with $80k since we are talking about Toronto and considering I have passed all exams.
I’m not from Toronto, but I’m in Canada. And I’m working with a CFA level 3 pass out plus a master degree in Econ. And we make about 60k. However that person does have some CFA related experiences, (retail banking and junior investment analyst thru co-op). If you had no fiance experience at all what so ever, I’d say it’s pretty hard to land a job that pays more than 80K and also gives you CFA qualified exp, even in Toronto. I know a friend from Toronto, he’s a CFA charter holder and used work there as a senior real estate analyst, and he was making about 85k. With that being said, you can still network your way thru and try to find a junior analyst job or whatever other position that gives you CFA experience. Cuz i think at this point, if i were you, i’d worry more about getting a CFA qualified experience than getting paid X amount. At the end of the day, based on my experience, employer cares more about your relevant work exp than the certificate you got. Hope this helps.
OP: It looks like your a new poster here so I’d suggest that you go through some of the post history here as some of the comments may be helpful to you. Unfortunately your in a position where you have a lot of education with little finance experience, and I wouldn’t necessarily say that its bad being in T. because there should be more entry level jobs that you can apply to. In your case, it doesn’t appear that you have picked a clear job path that you want to pursue. If your not sure what you want to do that’s fine - then just try to get a job doing something you think you would like and see where it takes you. (You may think you want to work as an Analyst or whatever, then once you start doing the job you may realize you don’t like it and end up moving onto something else).
You just need to get some real experience and the pay increases will come. Trust me, everyone goes through it. Your doing all the right things. But thinking your going to me making over $80k with little experience is likely unrealistic - unless perhaps in a sales role.
One of my favorite subs. People are insane.
This really helps. Appreciate the feedback. I do have experience as a corporate analyst (that CFA recognizes as eligible work experience) but only for last 6 months and this is my 7th month working at that position. I want to move to Toronto and get a better position so I can work my way upto the portfolio manager position (the ultimate goal).
I am disappointed after knowing the fact that people after master degree and all CFA exams cleared working at 60K. I am sure it will be a temporary thing.
Your friend working as real estate analyst for $85k seems reasonable as he has passed all 3 exams. Since he/she is a charterholder, i suspect that he/she must be looking for another position.
Thanks for the reply.
I am trying to dig into the posts to get more info. I would agree I have little analyst experience as I am in my current role for 6 months only. My current role is an analyst role. The aim was just to clear the exams and then focus on gaining work experience which I am doing now. Now i think $80k is very optimistic from my side. I guess i will have to work my way up before earning more.
Like i said in my first reply, employer value experience over your certificate. I am sure if you can put a couple more years of experience under your belt you’ll see significant change in your pay check, but everything takes time.
And as for my friend he later on got a asset manager position out side of Toronto that pays him over 100k. But I suspect CFA is the main reason he got the job, as none of the ppl working in his office has CFA.
So to sum up my point, experience and education/certificate are like twin pillars, you need to seek a balance between those two, tilting towards any one of the two is not gonna be healthy/organic growth. You’re on the right path, just be patient and focus more on work, you have proven yourself to be academically strong, now you just need to prove that you can be just as good at work.