Fund Administration Experience - Valuable for career advancement in finance?

Water Cooler Careers
#1

Hi all,

I’ve seen that career section has a lot of useful posts to gain valuable knowledge of financial industry. My question is regarding the usefulness of Fund Administration work experience. I am working as an Operations Analyst in a known Fund Administration company from last 1.8 years. This is my first job which I started after doing Master of Finance degree from a second tier Canadian school (My business school was AACSB accredited though). Now after passing Level 2 in the CFA program, I am looking for career advancement. My current job revolves only around reconciliations of cash, trades and positions and I feel that my knowledge and growth is stuck by doing just the reconciliations.

I want to work in Investment/ Wealth Management industry now at a starter level. Can you guys please advise if this experience would help me a bit? Should I continue doing this job until I find a new one or just quit and devote all of my time in job search?

Any advise would be appreciated as I some career advancement is a must for me right now, more than focusing on CFA Level 3.

Thanks!!

#2

Look while working at your current job, fund administration has no applicability to investment management, it’s basically back office stuff for asset managers. I’d try to look for something more closely related to research while working at your current role. But the longer you work in fund administration the harder it is to move out.

#3

Thanks Klaudnine. That’s why I dont want to cross the 2 year mark while working at this job. I guess I’ll take the risk and leave this job as I don’t want to stay stuck for the rest of my life. I am thinking of long term benefit.

Appreciate for your thoughts

#4

It’s not a good look to look for a job while unemployed, I think it’s best to apply for jobs while working at your current role. It raises a flag to companies if someone is looking while being unemployed.

#5

Do NOT leave this job so you dont hit an artificial 2 year mark and think you are “locked in” people make it out of admin after more than 2 years I have seen it myself. If you think you are in a tight spot in admin, good luck looking while unemployed with no direct experience.

#6

Thanks for the suggestion. Can you please explain a bit about making it out of admin after more than 2 years and share your experience regarding what you’ve seen or noticed. Would really appreciate that!

#7

The scenario which I am in is that I want to move to Toronto from a different city in Canada. According to you, is it possible to get a job in Toronto if I keep on applying jobs online. There are some very reputed universities in Toronto, and mostly employers prefer local candidates. Any advise on this?

#8

Isn’t Toronto extremely competitive? All the Asian kids take the CFA right out of college, your best bet is probably network some of your fund’s customers, some of the smaller funds might give you a shot if they are looking for someone with operations experience to cut cost so that’s always something you can highlight as your value proposition. I’ve seen people land analyst roles at smaller shops with completely unrelated work experiences.