Past few weeks I have been interviewing at some IBs. I completed my level II this past summer. Was very excited, until an interview at The Carlyle Group last week. I sat across two men, David Marchick (MD) and the other a Sr. Analyst. The interview seemed some what short to me, so I guess in some act of desperation to prolong the inevitable, I asked something along the lines of, “I just completed my Level II CFA this past June. Do you have any questions regarding the CFA?” “Uhm…that doesn’t really pertain to what we do here.” was the reply. I was so embarrassed. Would have been an ideal time for an “earthquake”.
With the questions you really want to engage them with something specifically related to their company/culture if possible. It is a tricky thing to do because you don’t want to come across as insincere. You definitely want to avoid asking about something related to yourself like the CFA. Sorry to hear the bad news. 
If you dont mind, how exactly did you get an interview with Carlyle w/o previous IB/finance experience?
MiserableLawStdnt Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Past few weeks I have been interviewing at some > IBs. I completed my level II this past summer. Was > very excited, until an interview at The Carlyle > Group last week. I sat across two men, David > Marchick (MD) and the other a Sr. Analyst. The > interview seemed some what short to me, so I guess > in some act of desperation to prolong the > inevitable, I asked something along the lines of, > “I just completed my Level II CFA this past June. > Do you have any questions regarding the CFA?” > > “Uhm…that doesn’t really pertain to what we do > here.” was the reply. I was so embarrassed. Would > have been an ideal time for an “earthquake”. hilarious, still a great story to tell nevertheless. And how the heck did you get an interview with them?
Errr… I recommend that you edit out the names of the guy and the place where you interviewed…
That was one dumbest question ever to asked during an interview.
^ it might be too late for that now. You can’t edit posts after a certain time. Maybe chad will kill this entire thread instead.
Hey, at least you’re getting the interviews and trust me, I’ve had worse situations, but it is pretty funny and at least you have the good sense to just laugh it off.
Sounds like you were in over your head. Congrats on getting that far at least. I’m sure you will do just fine. Don’t think you should worry about the thread. You admitted the mistake on your part and it is in good humor.
What happened to the trading path you were headed down? What area were you interviewing for at Carlyle? And the other IB’s? Just curious if you’re keeping your doors wide open in your recent search, or if you’ve already hitched your star to a potential trading spot. Could you fill us in on your background? I believe you went through with law school, but don’t want to be a lawyer? Any finance background before law school? Keep your head up. I approach each interview as well-prepared as I can, and also use it as a learning tool. I’ve vastly improved my interviewing skills simply by going through many interviews.
ChickenTikka Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sounds like you were in over your head. Congrats > on getting that far at least. I’m sure you will > do just fine. Don’t think you should worry about > the thread. You admitted the mistake on your part > and it is in good humor. +1. Big deal about adding the details.
i never mention the cfa unless the interviewer brings it up. it carries about the same amount of weight as the personal interests section of the resume. you should always have enough questions to keep the guy going or just say you have nothing else and will hit him up later if you do. seems like the md is more of a strategic direction/operating type of guy at the firm rather than a transactions guy, not the typical AF user. don’t think it’s a big deal unless some fools on here try to hit him up for a job. but yeah generally the less you disclose the better.
Is this post serious? The op can’t seriously be this dumb. And people seriously wonder why experience will always trump CFA. Have you ever had an interview in your life? You essentially insulted an MD at the f&(*&&^ing Carlyle Group. PE/ Wall Street is a small town, i.e. see Jeffrey Chiang. You did yourself a huge disservice here.
^ i don’t think that’s the case! the op was just trying to be engaging but it didn’t work out for him and he may learn from this.
MissCleo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Is this post serious? The op can’t seriously be > this dumb. And people seriously wonder why > experience will always trump CFA. Have you ever > had an interview in your life? You essentially > insulted an MD at the f&(*&&^ing Carlyle Group. > PE/ Wall Street is a small town, i.e. see Jeffrey > Chiang. You did yourself a huge disservice here. Whoa, easy there. You sound as if you’ve never been pressured during an interview and ended up saying something you regretted. I’m pretty sure an interview with Carlyle has some sort of “justify your existence to me!” component to it, so they can throw you off your game despite every sort of preparation. Ever see videos of bank executives testifying before Congress? When asked the wrong question, they seem pretty stupid as well.
MissCleo is a neurotic idiot, please disregard it.
MiserableLawStdnt Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > “Uhm…that doesn’t really pertain to what we do > here.” was the reply. I was so embarrassed. Would > have been an ideal time for an “earthquake”. You could have used the opportunity to point out specific topics from the CFA curriculum that are relevant to the job you were applying for… private equity, hedge funds, commodities, real estate… I can’t imagine what group within Carlyle would be doing something that is entirely unrelated to financial analysis and portfolio management.
For all you that think having passed level 2 is of no benefit in the eyes of the employers…well, I feel the complete opposite. Lately in my interviews, they’ve been very impressed with passing it and it goes along way…I think it depends on what type of role you’re interviewing for… Mine have been buy-side…everyone i’d be working with who is above me is a Charterholder so obviously it’s very important. If you want to move into equity research, having passed the CFA exams is very important…they also love the master of finance program…so far toronto job market is really easy.
For me, passing L2 made the difference between being tossed out of the interview and eventually being offered the position. So don’t believe all the cynicism you hear. Situations can vary quite a lot. However, if I recall correctly, Carlyle Group is very private equity oriented, and the PE folks don’t value the CFA as much as traditional asset management firms do.
I suspect the real problem with this situation is that the OP was apparently interviewing for a back office legal role, at least based on the description of what the named MD actually does. Most PE investors wouldn’t get too excited about the CFA to begin with, and that level of excitement deminishes the further from the front office you get. Anyway, good learning experience – sometimes mistakes are the best teachers and we’ve all probably said the wrong thing in an interview at least once. My bet is that the OP was probably considered in the first place (and ultimately dinged) based on his law knowlege, not the CFA; maybe that is the area that he should focus on improving and let level 2 speak for itself depending on the employer.