How possible would a move like this be? I’m putting the cart in front of the horse here, as I have an interview at a buy-side shop (roughly $20B AUM) this coming week for a Marketing and Client Service Associate position and this is not an area I’d like to stay in long-term. I’m writing my CFA L3 next June, and have like 4 months experience as an ER associate (was laid off, and have not been able to secure the same position thus far and really need to simply get back “in” rather than remain unemployed for much longer).
I’m a little surprised I’m getting interviewed b/c the job ad wanted 2 years of relevant financial services experience, and well I’ve had 4 months. This makes me wonder whether they’re interested in me in part b/c of my CFA/ER experience and will entertain the possibility of me moving over to analyst with time (this may be an overly optimistic view though, I realize lol).
Btw this shop has no more than 40 ppl working there, which I think would help in terms of networking with analysts.
Hi OP, I’m in somewhat of a similar situation as you are. What were you doing before ER? I’m imagining you are a couple of years out of college given that you’ve passed LII.
I’m not surprised that you were invited to interview despite not making the requisite years of work experience–those types of client services roles are not incredibly competitive; ER experience + CFA LIII candidate make you a strong candidate. I interned at a asset manager that has $30bn AUM and I knew of a few people who made it from operations/portfolio admin/client services to the front office. I think it is doable especially with your experience at a firm of that size. You should be forthcoming about it and ask the hiring manager or just look on LinkedIn to see if people at the firm have had mobility. Either way, it isn’t a terrible option because you will be able to work a cushy job, finish the CFA and try to figure ou the next steps. Business school might be an option if the firm has employees who went to top-MBA program, you could get them to write rec letters and try for ER after finishing school.
Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you, been a busy week (3 interviews - I swear if I don’t land an offer from one of them…). Thanks a lot for your informative feedback.
Interview went really well, but almost too well. Eg. the interviewer jokingly (but with a hint of seriousness) told me I might get pretty bored in this role, after hearing about my experiences from my job as an ER associate (got to experience quite a bit under a challenging analyst). She also mentioned they were looking for someone to grow into this Client Services/Marketing role, so naturally I didn’t bring up my aspirations of moving into a more analytical position. A lot of the top external Marketing/Client Services members of the team have their CFA, and are the front-lines to all the clients - most of their daily meetings with clients do not involve the PMs, etc. so they have to know the finance side quite well. This may actually interest me down the road, who knows.
Anyway, I’ll continue to try to land work in this industry, and it’s definitely looking like I’ll need to “settle” for a less challenging role to start with, and prove myself in the industry for a while. Looks like it will be a challenge to move into a more front office analyst type role at some point but I’ll be closer at least than being unemployed…
No, I actually wasn’t continued in the hiring process. It doesn’t quite matter the reason but I have an idea that they didn’t see me as a long term fit in the role, and was simply using it as a stepping stone/short-term fix, which isn’t entirely inaccurate. I’m getting closer to an Investors Relations gig, which is along similar lines with maybe a bit more responsibility/autonomy to leave my own imprint on my work.
I am in a similar situation. I will be taking Level 3 exam next June. I just took a position as a Client Service Representative at a large investment firm. Prior to this I worked as an accountant at a small business. There was no real investment experience with that job. I am hoping that I will be able to make the jump over towards an analyst position as well. I am having a hard time getting taken seriously for an entry-level analyst position since I am not straight out of college with a high GPA and don’t have any experience.
I started in Client Services and made the move to the front office. It’s definitely possible but not particularly easy, CFA helped for me despite the groupthink on here. It really depends on the firm and on the hiring manager. Some firms simply won’t hire anyone that isn’t either a graduate from a target school or already has direct experience, others are less cunty about it and realise that they’re looking for a skillset, not a series of credentials and will be open to internal hires. I kind of lucked out as the head of desk had hired a few Oxford, Cambridge fresh graduates that hadn’t worked out and was open to looking elsewhere, she also hated client meetings and ultimately wanted someone to be a back up PM (meaningless title actually) that could go and do a lot of client interaction for her so it worked for both of us.
Just for info, it may seem like the bar isn’t that high for Client Service positions and it may be relatively straightforward to get interviews if you have a decent CV but the bar for converting that interview into an offer is extremely high, especially at top tier buy side firms. The salary for senior positions is much higher than most front office people think. Bear in mind that these people make their money by representing their firm at a senior level, they need to be likeable to everyone, have gravitas and be able to steer their way through situations/meetings where they could lose big chunks of business if they say the wrong thing or talk themselves down the wrong path. They’ve got to be highly intuitive and they were probably working you in the interview without you noticing it, eg when they said they thought you might get bored they were most likely looking to see how you’d react and pitched the question in a way that would get a more genuine answer than if they’d asked you directly, if you’d really wanted the job you should have said that you absolutely wouldn’t get bored and that you love working with clients and really see yourself doing that long term etc etc