Do you think a firm would reimburse the cost of the CFA exam if they hired me after I signed up for it? I have to sign up for the CFA Level II exam tomorrow. I have an interview this week and if I get the job it will be incredibly difficult to study in time to pass while transitioning into the position and moving to a new city. Do you think they will only reimburse the cost if I pass or does that not matter?
Probably worth asking AFTER you have an offer, if you get one.
you’ve obviously contributed nothing here.
@robber07, it really depends. The firm I worked with previously only reimbursed you if you passed but the firm I’m with now will give you a set amount of money and will reimburse you for all education/exam prep related expenses. I would check with the HR department (not the hiring manager); after you get an offer then speak with the hiring manager about this because you’ll have more leverage that way.
Gotcha…Thank you
I believe the firm I’m at will reimburse for any costs after offer acceptance date, but nothing before.
I registered for L3 while unemployed in Oct. last year. Got a ER job this year, and told them I’m already set to take L3. The firm reimbursed me for the exam AND paid for a brand new set of Schweser notes for me.
Sorry, thought you’d already signed up; my mistake.
Whatever. Just sign up. It’s not like $600 should be enough to derail your test taking plans in most scenarios.
$600…I wish…Not when you wait till the last cutoff date …$970 but you better believe I’m taking the $40 discount for online books. It’s either I get a job, work 80 hours a week and fail, or remain unemployed out of college and try to study 50 hours a week in order to pass. Lose Lose situation
Isn’t it not just this job that might make it hard to pass, but any new job you get before the exam? You may want to think about it in those terms and either put it off and just focus on job hunting, or sign up knowing that you may very well not pass because you may get a job and you’ll have to prioritize that over studying if you do.
If you knew for sure you wouldn’t have a job until after the exam, would you take it? If the answer if yes, then if I were you I’d go ahead and sign up and mentally subtract the $970 (assuming you fail, which you might of course not) from your (relative) financial windfall if you do get a job before the exam.
Also, I would think the chances are pretty good that you could get reimbursed for the exam fees by your new employer as a condition of accepting their offer, even if they wouldn’t pay for them for whatever reason if you already worked there.
exactly windjammer…the big problem is that I have an ER associate job interview this week with a guy I’ve been networking with (I had lunch with his whole team and he wrote me a letter of recommendation to both directors of research). I’ve been getting a lot of interviews (only due to the amount of effort I’ve put into networking, since I come from a non-target school). My biggest thing is that I want to go into this interview saying I plan on taking the CFA Level II exam this summer.
Ah, so you might not take it right now otherwise (other than for its perceived value in interviews, that is)? That’s a tougher call. I guess then it would depend on how much help you think it will be interviewing (not sure about that, as compared to saying you intend to take it at some point, though it might help some), how motivated you are to both job hunt and study, and how difficult you think the exam will be for you. $970 is not that much in the grand scheme of things and it will be good to get the exam out of the way if you can, or get some way toward learning the material even if you don’t pass.
Continue networking. Taking level 2 won’t make you more employable. You have to avoid having that dreaded big gap in your resume.
robber07 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I want to go into this > interview saying I plan on taking the CFA Level II > exam this summer. If this is the only reason why you want to take the exam, then former trader has a point. It won’t make you more employable and you should avoid having a gap in you resume. On the other hand, Captain also has a good point that it will be good to get the exam out of the way if you can. Once you starting to put things off, you might never finish anything. I would take the exam because the Level II curriculum is probably more relevant knowledge you might need as an ER associate than any other level. You only have about 2 1/2 month though. This is a tough call.
Yeh very tough call. I think I have to sign up for it. I need some sort of insurance policy in case I don’t find a job. Studying for, and hopefully passing the exam could benefit me in that situation. Thanks for the input
It hadn’t occurred to me there are only 2 1/2 months left before the exam. It is going to be very tough to pass it (read - very unlikely you will pass) in that amount of time even if you focus on it exclusively (and intensely), let alone trying to job hunt or having a job. Good luck with whatever you decide.