Hi I have read many different posts in regards to the opportunities the CFA opens depending on experience and skill set but please take the time to read my situation…
I am 23 years old have a Bachelors in Economics from a SUNY school with an average GPA (3.2ish)… I am looking to get into finance specifically I am most interested in asset management but would be able to justify building a career in private equity or corporate finance. I am working at a position as a “recovery analyst” (nothing to do with finance) after experience in more sales/marketing type jobs. I completely understand the CFA is not my “golden ticket” into any field of finance but can it help me “get my foot in the door” along with a good interview of course??
I have had opportunities to work at banks and similar type of positions as positions like “credit loan admin” and “middle office” type positions but the salary is about $10,000-$15,000 less than my current position (with more hours and longer commute) and had not been able to justify the switch…
Any answer to my question or direction/advise would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
You’re 10 years behind the competition for jobs you want. 99% of people in your situation will go nowhere. For the 1% who do succeed, obviously you have to do everything that you can. If there is even any possibility that CFA could be useful, you should take it. The same would go for networking, learning quantitative skills from books, going to toastmasters to improve public speaking, writing sample finance models, etc etc.
The “10 years behind” statement is a bit harsh, but ohai is right that you may have set your sights quite high with respect to private equity or a role where you would have direct influence over the management of client assets.
The asset management industry is incredibly competitive and for you I think the biggest hurdle at this time will be your GPA. Once you get some experience under your belt that will no longer be as important (if at all), but my recommendation if you really wish to shift over to a career in asset management is to enroll in the CFA program and consider looking for an ops role which may be a little bit easier to get interviews. As you make progress in the CFA program you may be able to make a lateral move from there. At 23, a career change is not a big deal. You may need to accept less money in order to make a shift toward something that will help you get closer to where you want to be long term.
If you plan to pursue the charter, just make sure you are truly ready to devote the time needed to commit yourself to passing the exams. It is not something you can just meander through without making considerable sacrifices.
No, it is not too harsh. Those kids who got into Goldman’s analyst program - what do you think they were doing as teenagers? I’m sure they weren’t trying to get into SUNY to get a sht GPA. While others were pulling ahead and being the best in their generation, OP was enjoying a mediocre existence.
I won’t say it’s too late to catch up, but it will need superhuman effort to make up for the fact that others have been working at this the whole time while OP was f*cking around.
Thank you for most of your helpful responses. I am not expecting to get into one of the better positions in the finance industry. I’d like to just get experience with a decent to good salary to build my knowledge/resume about the industry. What jobs do you think are good entry level/operational opportunities that I can apply to for each of the three (asset management, corporate finance, private equity)?
haha I knew some one would point out the wording of that part… I do not feel entitled to anything although it may have came off like that. I should have said “I would be very happy with any of the three but asset management has seemed to be the most appealing to me” but if you don’t want to help go comment on another post please…
PE takes a very specialized and advanced skill set, so I’d probably cross that off my list if I were you. The Vanguards of the world are always hiring. You’ll probably end up in a sales type role but you may have the opportunity to make a move after you’ve demonstrated some level of competence and progress with pursuing the CFA charter.
Smaller independent RIAs are also a decent introduction to wealth management. As mentioned above, your GPA will be an obstacle to getting interviews at more prestigious firms who are hiring more qualified candidates.
Every single analyst that comes on board at my shop speaks multiple languages, has sailed the Atlantic, raised $20k for poor kids in Africa and/or built some website which attract 1000’s of visitors a day. They all have gotten As in everything their whole life and is either 6ft tall rugby dude or a smoking hot Russians chick.
Your crappy GPA and no experience ain’t gonna cut in this industry any more. It is way way too competitive unless you have some srs niche that stands out, over and above ur crappy GPA and mediocre school.
Back in the day, you could have done it. But these kids flying through here are the real deal 2nd gen IB’er with private schooling, mountaineering, skiiing, poshing white kids.
23 years old! that is young…In terms of 24 hour clock, 23 years old is equivalent to 10AM…You still have a whole morning, day and evening to still make the day truly special!!
my answer will be the same as before for someone in your shoes.
Take whatever job you can get and really give it 100% and kick ass.
Also, take few classes at local colleges to boost up your grade and do couple hours of community service on weekend mornings. Study for GMAT and get into a business school in 3 years when you’re 25 years old. Top20 MBA or since you’re in NY, there is NYU, Columbia and even Fordham. Because of its location, Fordham MBA can and will land you a front office role (not at Two Sigma, Renaissance, Blackstone, etc.) at small funds or as SS analyst. Of course if you get into top10 MBA you would never even look at finance industry as this has been the trend in recent years at top B-Schools.
In the meantime, you could get lucky and land yourself a FO role - always a possibility so to prepare yourself for this unknown expire-less Call Option, know how to, at minimum, create proforma and financial modeling.
Other naysayers…you don’t need to listen to (sorry fellow AF folks)…You have a goal and you need to work for it. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth getting in the first place. Although bit harsh, I do agree with Ohai that you’re 10 years behind. Taking 3 levels of CFA exams will not make up for those years you “slacked” off compared to those who went to top undergrads. So now is the time you put in your work.
Anywhere between 15%-30% of Ivy League (Asians are 5% of US Population) undergrads are Asians and overwhelming majority of these kids are First Generation Americans. Their parents are dime a dozen working class middle class doing businesses as you guessed - cleaners, small restaurants, etc. These kids didn’t come from the 0.1% or from well known family last names…It was their grit , hard work, that got them into Ivy. Then naturally after Ivy, they land jobs at Goldman, Google, Facebook, MS, MSFT, etc…
The 0.1% are well 0.1% so of course there are those who met the right parent but again it’s 0.1%…
Now with Jews, persecuted almost everywhere in the world but one of the most powerful groups now…Certainly can’t be from “picking” the right parents because after all the parents of now prominent Jews were all working class and fled their home country to avoid arrest…