Work Experience?

CFA General
#1

Guys, I’d appreciate any help/ opinions/ thoughts on my work experience situation…

I just passed Level I this summer, but last fall, when I was registering for the exam I came to the question where they ask you about relevant work experience. Obviously there are many unique situations and circumstances that the guidlelines and self-quiz do not help with.

In my case, I’d been at my internship starting the January of Senior year, and had graduated by May. I only worked 2 full days (16 hrs) per week while I had a full courseload. Right after I graduated, I worked full time (40 hrs) in the same position for four months. Meanwhile I was taking my MBA with the intention of completing all courses in one year. So fall came and I went back to my 2 day per week schedule and working full hours during any school break. May 2014 came around and I again worked all summer (4 mos.). Basically, I was performing portfolio surveillance and analysis, as well as analyses needed for bond issuance. My title was “Financial Analyst Intern” for the entirety of the 1.5 years I worked there. I started another job as an analyst in September '14.

My honest interpretation of the CFAI guidelines for applicable work experience is that the part-time component of my internship does not count, but the full time summer portion does count (8 mos.). It’s still not clear, however, so I emailed CFAI with the question when I came to it on the registration and I got a response saying that they could not answer questions on a case-by-case basis because they did not have sufficient resources. I was forced to use my judgement and include those 8 mos. in my work experience. Obviously, it would be best for my careeer and financial well-being if I earned my charter 8 months earlier in the event I pass Levels II and III on schedule.

Any thoughts on whether this counts and if there will be any repercussions if I was wrong despite the fact that they basically disregarded my inquiry?

#2

Part-time work does not count. The other 8 months should count, but you might want to shorten your title to Financial Analyst when you officially submit your experience for approval.

#3

This is what I wondered. How much does job title matter? The way is works is you essentially just submit a list of you duties at each position and then have a co-worker sign off on it, right?

What about something self-employed where you don’t have a boss? Would a client signing off work for that?

#4

Good question.

For example, my title included “Intern” but I aside from the CFO and Treasurer I was the only other Finance employee so my duties were basically that of any entry-level analyst except I got paid less. The comprehensiveness of internships definitely vary by firm.

And also the definition of “part-time” comes into question. I worked part-time during parts of the year and full-time during other parts (basically any free time from my MBA requirements).

#5

I don’t think title really matters that much, but having “Intern” in the title is likely to draw additional scrutiny from the reviewer, so why risk it?

#6

Do they validate this stuff? Can you adjust your job title or are they going to call up your companies to investigate?