Investment Banking and the CFA

Water Cooler Careers
#1

A boutique IB firm wants to meet me regarding an associate role. I need to be careful about PTO for this kind of thing, I don’t want to sneak away for an interview unless I really feel good about the opportunity. Isn’t the CFA really rare in IB? I worked so hard to pass those tests, I don’t want to entertain a career path that doesn’t even consider the CFA program as valuable.

My current function isn’t ideal, which is why I’m looking. I don’t want to go into detail but currently my job focus is credit analysis and isn’t a complete joke, but I really want asset management. I just mention that to provide context, I’m not unemployed or in a pure back office role. Anybody see value in flying over to this interview?

#2

arnt most associates staright from mba programs? or do you have a connection

#4

To be quiet honest, bankers do not care about CFA because most of them don’t have it and don’t need it. Good luck on your decision.

#5

CFA is mostly for ER, IM and AM.

#6

I thought IM and AM were same thing.

#7

I would say that it is fairly common for asset managers to have previously worked in IB.

#9

Almost.

Asset Management: institutional money management i.e mutual funds

Investment Management: private wealth management, investment advisory, private banking

#10

Interesting - I was not aware of that. It seems that many people use these two terms interchangably.

Saying investment research applies to both though right?

#11

I am not familiar with “=/=”. What does that mean?

#12

it means does not equal

#13

The following is from London Business School Career Site "Here are the sorts of things that Banking recruiters care about

IBD:

  • Degree from a top tier university.
  • Academic excellence at university
  • An exceptionally high GMAT (730+) -

Markets :

  • Academically rigorous, preferably quant based, degree from a top tier university.
  • Highlight coursework which demonstrates an interest in Markets
  • CFA Level 2 or above -"
#14

I think you should entertain a career path that aligns with what YOU want to do. Your CFA isn’t paying your bills, and it’s basically a sunk cost at this point.

Go interview if you want to working in banking. If not, pass. It’s that simple.

You “worked so hard to pass those tests” is sort of like me telling someone that I went to such-and-such school for middle school, and when they act like they don’t care where I went for middle school, I tell them “but I worked so hard to pass fifth grade!”

Come on man.

#15

@ numi said, "…You “worked so hard to pass those tests” is sort of like me telling someone that I went to such-and-such school for middle school, and when they act like they don’t care where I went for middle school, I tell them “but I worked so hard to pass fifth grade!”…

Well accentuated. OP’s search for such a careerpath may prove to be more of a reverie in the long run.

#16

Is this the new Edupristine?

#17

Where on their site did you find this?

#18

you gotta log in as a student, and click on careers

#19

CFA is a sunk cost, you shouldnt let that influence whether you take the IB job. Forr all you know, the job after this one may benefit from CFA.