The CFA Exam’s Toughest Question: What’s the Payoff?
The odds of a big immediate payoff appear to be low. About 73 percent of job postings that specified compensation and included a reference to the CFA designation offered a salary below $100,000, according to research by recruiting company Phaidon International.
One reason for the mystery is that the CFA Institute, which generates $260 million in annual revenue while running the tests, doesn’t track it.
The organization stopped asking applicants for data such as job titles and university degrees after the exam’s registration section reached 40 pages, taking candidates roughly 50 minutes to complete, said Steve Horan, managing director of credentialing for the Charlottesville, Virginia-based Institute.
“It’s definitely got a value proposition for both employers as well as employees,” he said. “It’s just that it’s difficult to quantify.”
nearly 25% have compliance / audit / reporting jobs.
“Career advancement/development” was the top motivation cited by candidates who took the June 2015 exams, drawing 37 percent of responses on the Institute’s survey. Another 11 percent said they hoped it would land them a job.
Recruiters were generally less enthusiastic.
“It does have a mild signaling effect to me this one’s a hard worker and is disciplined,” said Adam Zoia, chief executive officer of financial-services recruiter Glocap Search. “I don’t read it as meaning that they are going to be a better investor.”
–
Somehow I bet most of the CFA holders didn’t dream of working in reporting or compliance. seems like they didn’t get the job they wanted, and just stuck with something in finance.
