give me some career advice

ok so ill probably be a chartered accountant(india) very soon and maybe a cfa l2 passed too. i want to break into fund management (maybe even IB,just for the money though). for those who dont know a chartered accountant is an indian version of CPA but with a more diverse field of study and a lower pass rate. they are mostly employed in accountancy and audit however some of them manage to break into finance too. what would your advice be as to how to break into fund managment?? should i apply to the summer internship programs many financial firms have, for ex: summer analyst program?they usually take only mba students into the program but i have some reference that could get me into the program and my c.a+cfa would put me over an mba atleast in terms of theoritical knowledge? or would getting an mba help? i am a nerdy kind of guy with strong math and will hopefully score a pretty good score on CAT/GMAT. any other c.a+ cfa here who is into fund management and would like to help? thanks and sorry for the long post lol

are you looking to stay in India?

^ That would be his first mistake if that’s the case.

^ i dont get it. if so many folk are trying to leave india, then who works in finance in india???

^ people like vicky_cool, who pass a couple CFA exams, then end up working in US outsourced jobs beacuse the US banks would rather outsource the terrible repetitive work people in the US hate doing

i wont mind moving out of india but dont have a problem staying here too. its like am neutral towards the place of my job. why do u ask that though??

@meee:

CA ke baad tumko job miljaega with CFAL2 in Mumbai/pune/banglore…mera ek friend ko 9 lakh ka mila hei job…so donot look for internship…look for job.

@OP: A lot of jobs available to freshly minted CA’s are available only with the Big4s and others (BMR, BRO, GT etc). Even the jobs in Industry are through campus placement by ICAI, it is very difficult to get a job in the Industry without the placement process.

As regards to IB etc, it’s really difficult because even the entry level jobs require 1-2 work ex. But a good option I felt personally was Due Diligence at Deloitte/ EY, work there for a few years, leverage your work ex and CFA to get something better elsewhere. For that matter, attend the IAIP seminars (i met a few senior CFA members from Delhi who offered me a job, though it was a very small boutique firm which I rejected) and you will meet a lot of people who can advise you.

Did you take the Nov13 exam btw?

rahul…c.a exams ke baad 3 months rehte hai for result announcement and other formalities so is time me if i go to goldman sachs,jp morgan inke summer training program it will add strength to my resume…plus ca + cfa l2 se job mushkil hai fund management me milna… agar finance me ni milli to ill go for mba

SIDtoaf no my attempt is due in may’15. i got a rank in cpt and i am pushing for a rank in finals too…

campus placement jobs usually dnt pay good…

ur opinion on mba? i feel i can get xlri or a better college

OP

If you cannot get into finance with CA+CFA in India then MBA will not help you.

If you have time then do financial modelling.

i can get a job in corporate finance very easily but in fund management its harder. ok thanks anyways. u wouldnt recommend getting into sunmer programs?

no.

Move to bigger cities,

ok thanks :slight_smile:

Being great at financial modelling is more useful than most designations.

if you are a god in excel and also know a programming language, you will make lots of money

yeah i tried learning financial modelling too…read like 100 pages of financial modelling by simon beninga before other things took over… dnt have any idea about programming, will never have any either

You have the right author if you want to learn it.

yep former trader…actually some1 from here recommended it only

like the millions of IT people in India?