To give a little bit of context: I have 2.5 years as a Product Manager in a Tech company in India. I’m interested to work in Finance in Toronto and am joining Schulich in September. I have no prior experience in Finance. I would ideally want to work in PE/MnA/Hedge Funds. My question:
Is a CFA level 1 (which I’ll have by the time I start looking for jobs) good enough to get a foot in the door of top IB firms in Canada?
Is the marginal utility high enough to warrant the opportunity cost ($1100, many hours of studies) as opposed to learning new stuff (projects with professors, courses on Coursera) in stead?
Will this help me make up for the lack of work experience?
Hey! Don’t know but I am just getting started with Finance. I know CFA is useful for Asset Management and maybe Corporate Finance too, but not so interested in those areas. Maybe I’d want to get into a consulting firm if not for PE/M&A roles. What are your thoughts?
You can still take CFA if you think the material is useful. However, assume it does nothing to help your career placement. Talk to your MBA career office and ask for job placement statistics of their graduates.
First, I’d never heard of Schulich before but maybe it’s a recent naming. I thought Western Ontario was #1 in Canada but York says that they’re #1. A colleague of mine at bulge bracket IB in NYC went to Western. No other Canadian schools were represented for MBA. However, you may be able to get a good job in Canada or at other IB firms.
At York, 28% went into Financial Services. The report doesn’t say what % went into “Capital Markets/IB”. The firms listed are ones that “recruit” at York. It doesn’t say how many they hired or what positions. Since you’re not interested in invt mgmt or research, I’d say you need to focus on making the best grades possible and network like crazy to get the best internship possible. IB will ask undergrad grades, current grades and GMAT. The only thing you can control at this point is MBA grades. They need to be perfect.