Anybody Have a Career Change after Level 3 pass?

CFA General
#1

I know… It has been discussed to the death in many different venues at many different times…

Just curious to know if anybody has successfully managed to make a career change from a non-financial background into finance after the completion of the CFA Level 3 exams this June…

If anybody has, please share the story with us. So that the rest of us can be inspired and keep trying.

One request, please do not bombard this thread with negative comments etc. I already have enoough negativity in my life at the moment plsss…

#2

I had already partially made the transition before L3, but I can say that after L3, I started working on asset management in a full-time capacity.

Having the letters helped with my credibility for sure, but as someone who was not a finance undergrad or an MBA, the CFA material probably helped more in terms of my own confidence in understanding the key issues involved in managing money. CFA doesn’t help so much with the marketing side of the issue, although I do find myself writing a lot of white papers for people outlining why specific investment approaches make sense, and those are marketing docs to some extent.

To be honest, I’m a bit shocked and surprised at how much can be accomplished simply by implmenting lots of principles in the curriculum. Lots of people don’t believe in diversification, or don’t have a systematic way to link security valuation to portfolio sizing and decisions.

#3

bchadwick for president

#4

Which parts of L3 reading did you implement or found useful as a tool, could you give some instances?

#5

I’ve only passed Level I so far, but I do have a few thoughts on the matter. I made the career change before even starting on the program, and with little experience but general office and IT work. Out of work and looking for a change, I found (through an employment agency) an entry-level position as a financial analyst. It was my new employer who encouraged me to enroll in the CFA Program. My concern is that a Level III pass might land a candidate squarely into “overqualified” territory if one is too up-front about it without enough relevant job experience in finance, not that you shouldn’t disclose it, but do be careful and even a little reticent in how and when you initially present such a high level of attainment in your professional studies if you are trying to find what is, after all, an entry-level job in a new field. I’m just a newb myself, so everyone please feel free to shoot me down, but my advice, in today’s economy, is to at least consider _any_ job whose description will fulfil the requirement of experience for the CFA Charter. Remember that very few applicants for most entry- or mid-level job openings will have passed Level III of the CFA Program, and in any case you should tout your non-financial experience, education, and qualifications, with an eye toward demonstrating skills you can transfer to work in the new field of finance which you have chosen. So don’t be afraid to start “at the bottom” in order to gain qualifying experience.

#6

I do a fair amount of performance analysis and comparison to benchmarks. I’ve had to separate out currency effects from benchmark effects in order to boil out how much value a given strategy is adding.

I do a fair amount of analysis on different weighting techniques, optimization, effects of transaction costs, etc…

I don’t do a lot of options stuff, but the options combinations in L3 are usueful in our macro portfolio. I don’t manage that portfolio directly but I am asked to recommend trades, some of which get incorporated into it.

When I write up investment cases for funds and strategies (Unlike a lot of people on this board, I don’t do equity analysis very often, I do more macro and trading system stuff), I find I incorporate a lot of stuff about how the strategy works and what kinds of investors will want to have it and how to use it with an existing investment strategy. Lots of that is informed by L3 material.

Level 3 is most useful for giving you the overall context of portfolio management issues. There have been many times where I have done various kinds of analysis or tests that just seemed logical based on the knowledge that the curriculum gave me. Then my supervisors sometimes come back and say “hey, we need to know X, Y, and Z because we have potential investors asking about that and we didn’t do it.” And I respond “Oh, I actually already did that a little while ago, let me bring it up for you.” It gives them the warm and fuzzies. Even when I haven’t already done the analysis, 9 times out of 10, I’ve arranged my work in such a way that it is easy to do it.

It’s been long enough since I’ve passed L3 that I can’t point to particular pages in the curriculum and say “L3 did that for me” versus “my experience says that this would be a good approach,” but I can say that in the early days, L3 was pretty important and useful for me in terms of having the sense that I knew what I was doing. There are certain aspects of how transactions work, particularly with banks and counterparties that the long-term traders knew and that I didn’t, but to be honest - in a world of increasingly electronic trading - those things, while not unimportant, really haven’t been quite as important as the others would make them out to be. Some of the “well, you haven’t been there like I was in 1992” sound suspiciously like “well, no one should be allowed to drive without first mastering the buggy-whip.” At the same time, these people often don’t have the broader historical knowledge of trying to figure out how crises in the 1930s or 1870s might be relevant to think about… they simply remember collecting trade orders on paper so that they could be reconciled at the end of the day.

I don’t think people need to hide doing the program for fear of being overqualified. If you don’t have much experience, you have to demonstrate competence. CFA is one way to do it, and needs to be combined with samples of your work (for an employer or on your own) that can demonstrate it. If you want into the industry that badly, you need to be 1) competent, 2) connected into networks, and 3) willing to be paid less than the people you’re competing against. Then network further and demonstrate value once you’re there.

#7

Pretty sure the OP was talking about recent L3 passers, not from years ago when finance was a hot industry and every extra bit propelled people forward.

#8

Very good point.

I got news of being approved to use the CFA letters on the day the Dow fell 777 points. I found that I had passed L3 the month before. So I guess I’ll let readers decide whether that when finance was a hot industry and every extra bit propelled people forward.

#9

if im not mistaken bchadwick has a phd, which would make transition easier than someone in IT for example.

#10

what phd did you do bchadwick? was it quantitative?

#11

I was going to respond, about trying to leave finance after graduating LIII.

Keep your head down, you’ll get there. You keep bombarding your resume out there and network with everyone you can. Another great option is a one year program like an MSF (Villanova for instance). The networking and on campus interview will go a long way.

#12

SJKen, I’m in a similar boat. Living in Australia, passed level 3 in June and on the look out for investment roles. If I could figure out how to private mail you we might be able to exchange experiences and hopefully help each other out.

#13

Did my MBA from one of the top ranked universities in my country, did everything to get a get job in a bank/brokerage house, did not and accepted a job offer from a Non-Financial institution. Cleared Level 1, cleared level 1 of a prestegious local banking exam and still could not break in. Have tried enticing my people where i interned during my undergrad days but to no avail.

Will clearing level 2 and 3 help me break in to the financial industry? I am starting to doubt now :frowning: but i am not throwing in the towel just yet.

#14

If you can’t break in without the charter, then you’re not going to break in with the charter. That’s the harsh reality we live in these days. Obviously, each case is situational. For instance, you already have your MBA so that makes you marketable than someone like me who holds a BBA. I think a good starting point would be to look at countries whose economies are expanding. I’ve spoken to quite a few individuals currently doing their MBA and have lived abroad, not necessarily because they wanted to live there, but because that is where the opportunities are. I can tell you right off the bat that NYC shouldn’t be on your list.

#15

I’m starting to feel sorry about myself :frowning:

#16

why so sad :frowning:

#17

I made the switch but before passing L3 and getting the charter. It’s all about right place and right time. Working in IT supporting a financial platform in some capacity is where you wanna be if you’re in IT. Treasury,some accounting system, Hyperion, etc can provide a nice springboard. You’ll be in front of the right people and if something opens up your IT skills will come in VERY handy in Finance. Don’t let anyone ever tell you different.

I did it which means anyone else can as well.

#18

I think I may have confused people initially, because I don’t think the OP specifically mentioned IT. Now, I can’t say “I did it” like you, because I’m still just a beginner, but “I’m doing it.”

Certainly nothing at all wrong with that, and a great encouragement, too. It’s hard to explain, and perhaps I think about it a little differently, because I would never have the feeling about my career that “I did it” until I was ready to retire, (whether or not it was something to be proud of,) or maybe it’s more that I’m just not the kind of guy who would ever consider myself a “made man,” even though I do hope and expect to “make it” to goals I have set for myself, and one should have a feeling of “I made it” or “I did it” upon reaching a significant personal goal.

My attitude, too, is that those who feel Schadenfreude at your failures are most likely the same ones who will feel envy and jealousy at your successes, so you just don’t want to pay attention to people like that anyway.

#19

I guess jlive1975 used the phrase “I did it” to say that he made a successful transition from non finance job to a finance related job. I guess that is all he meant.

These inspirational stories are the ones I, and many like me, are on a lookout for.

#20

Just to clarify, I don’t think it’s ever wrong to say “I did it!” I’m just trying to speculate why I personally don’t seem to get excited as it seems like I should when I reach a significant goal. I guess that’ll have to be my goal: to become a more goal-oriented person!