I have just passed Level 1 CFA last month and currently working as ERA in SEA. I’m a Canadian citizen (though I havent been there in like 8+ yrs). I’m wondering what are my chances of landing an interview through skype for an analyst/banking job in Canada… any ideas/suggestions?
What’s SEA? Seattle? Shouldn’t be an issue to travel to Vancouver or Calgary then? Interviewing through Skype to land a job is not something I’ve heard of happening here.
Do you have family here? Come here for a couple months to do some interviews. Use your family’s address on your resume. Obviously don’t lie when people as where you’re working, but you can always say, “hey I’m back in Canada, looking to stay.”
I’m currently working in South East Asia though. I do have family members back in Canada, but taking a few months off is not an option.
That’s what I thought… why bother interviewing through Skype if you have endless candidates locally…
I would stick in SEA. More upside.
it’s official. my city wins.
^ How many top finance jobs in Waterloo, outside of RIM and the university?
Don’t bother trying to come here, the job market is pretty bleak for locals. In case you need any more reinforcement, there are literally tens of thousands of people like you (Indian, and/or looking for jobs that aren’t hiring or are shrinking). Toronto and Montreal would be your worst bet. Calgary is not much better. The streets of Toronto are full of people who like to tell you they were X, Y and Z designation in India, I won’t tell you what they’re doing now.
Oh, and you ‘passed’ Level 3 of the CFA program. Don’t use funky terminology like ‘cleared’… Pro tip right there.
1000x this. The locals have a way of paying their way through school by working rigs, that experience opens doors all over the city. “Outsiders” don’t have a chance against that experience, unless that “outsider” is from Texas, Saudi, or similar.
For good reason though, you can’t analyze O&G if you don’t understand it, and you can’t learn O&G by reading a book (generally).
Edit: speaking about Calgary by the way
Can you provide some advice on how you got to where you are? Do you mind emailing me your resume, without the details of course?
^ I moved up within a corporation, made myself an expert on the industry and pushed like crazy for every opportunity. I worked with the same firm for much of my career, being in a role basically as assistant treasurer at the top. I started off as what could only be generously described as an admin clerk. My advice is, if your out here in the wild west, get in at whatever level you can, and absolutely bust your balls until you get where you want to be. As a hacksaw loser, you’re not going to start at the top. But out here, companies will reward those that provide results, more so than rewarding a top 2 MBA. There are more high school (at best) educated cowboys running companies in Alberta than Harvard grads, I can promise you that.
^I’m living in Toronto as of now. But of course I’m willing to relocate wherever opportunity arises.
haha. virtually nil. a few top actuarial and valuation jobs, and everything else is in corporate treasury or wealth management. the opportunity is clearly much better for IT professionals and researchers. still, the fact a “city” with a population of only 100,000 (in the summer) and 130,000 (during the school year) came in first is pretty crazy.
note: we have 2 universities, 2 think tanks, and also have OpenText, Sun Life Canadian HQ and Manulife Canadian HQ.
The competition is cutthroat there.
I can vouch for that. I left toronto so my MBA, CFA, and experience would actually result in getting paid cash money.
^ I hear cab drivers in TO now have their MBA and CFA.
Even as a Canadian citizen, I couldn’t even get a first round interview anywhere in Canada for any job I applied for. And this was with passing L1 and a graduate degree. IB, ER, corporate finance at a telecom, investment analyst b*tch at insurance companies, etc. I applied to more jobs than I could count. I had better luck getting interviews from US companies from Canada, which is why I wound up staying in the US… I was willing to head home, but there was nothing there for me.
^ Which city did you apply to? Whenever I apply to jobs in US, they end up saying that the jobs are only for US citizens and it feels like a giant waste of time. I’ve stopped applying to jobs online,there is no point.
I’m thinking of doing masters in Accounting. I figure it’s my best chance to get an entry level job utilizing the career centre at schools. What do you guys reckon? Also, is CPA going to be the only accounting desgination in Canada from now on?
They are merging the 3 designations.
^^ My CA friend who has the MAcc pretty much described it as a wasted year in her quest towards partner. This is probably even more so now that CPA doesn’t know what the hell their doing with curriculum and probably won’t offer exemptions for that work like CASB did back in the day. And yes, everything is being merged to CPA. What’s your background gunner? What’s your undergrad? Finding an entry level accounting job should be a cakewalk in most centres. The masters won’t offer you anything.
Business degree concentration in Finance from Laurier. 3.3 GPA. No relevant experience because I didn’t get into co-op.
I could do the classes provided by CPA and it’ll be significantly cheaper, but main reason for doing masters is the co-op program/alumni connections. I was thinking Schulich, but I most likely won’t be accepted. Then there’s U of Toronto and McMaster’s. I’m not too keen on Mcmaster’s