Is one-page okay in terms of length to list your 4-years experience? how elaborative CFAI wants you to be when describing your work experience. I have seen the samples on CFAI website and it seems like one-page should be enough based on that. Any thoughts?
For my two positions with relevant experience (~7 years total), this is what I wrote; My work experience was approved very quickly as a result – a matter of a few days, I believe: 1) Institutional Investor: - Source new investment advisors and funds for potential investment and conduct a thorough due diligence process on these entities by conducting research and performing detailed analysis to identify and evaluate prospective real assets investments, writing investment recommendations to be approved, interfacing with legal counsel in negotiating legal documents, meeting with potential real assets advisors and attending pertinent conferences as appropriate, and interfacing with the real assets consultant in identifying and performing due diligence on prospective investment advisors. - Monitor and review the performance of the real assets portfolio and advisors by preparing periodic reports analyzing the underlying exposures and performance of the portfolio, conducting periodic conference calls with managers to thoroughly review the underlying portfolios, traveling to investment advisor offices for onsite review and attend annual meetings, monitoring amendments and other changes to legal agreements, as necessary, maintaining database on advisors, tracking meetings and periodic performance reporting, and interfacing with consultants to produce performance measures and portfolio construction analyses as necessary. 2) Consultant -Provided investment consulting, valuation, and analytical services for commercial real estate investment firms, funds, and other commercial portfolio and asset managers. -Participated in the pre-acquisition investment due diligence process by reviewing income statements, rent rolls, appraisals, balance sheets, and cash flow statements to generate opinions of fair market value and projections of future cash flows for commercial real estate properties and portfolios to support underwriting and investment decisions. -Evaluated market data for commercial real estate sales and leasing transactions to determine primary inputs to the discounted cash flow analyses used to support valuations and investment decisions, including market rents, expenses, and discount and capitalization rates. -Contributed to the investment management process through both periodic and annual review of inputs to valuation models to support adjustments to fair market value and forecasts for future cash flow and net operating income assumptions.
Ashwin Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Is one-page okay in terms of length to list your > 4-years experience? how elaborative CFAI wants you > to be when describing your work experience. I have > seen the samples on CFAI website and it seems like > one-page should be enough based on that. Any > thoughts? I put about two sentences for each job. If they don’t know what a private equity analyst and a credit analyst do, then I’m not gonna be able to teach them a whole lot. I did make sure to put “and that’s how this relates to the investment process” at the end of each of my job descriptions so that whoever was reading it knew my contempt for this process.
ok, now this raises another question. Do we put only the applicable experience (in our mind) or put everything since you’ve joined the workforce (including position at McDonald serving at the window 
and let them decide what is applicable and what is not? The most of the positions I held so far in my career included both investment-related and non investment-related activities so I am not sure what to list in my experience. should I put ALL the responsibilities and let them decide which ones are applicable and which ones are not? I am really confused now. I need your help.
I had a few non-investment jobs (IT consulting, publishing) earlier in my career and I simply provided the company name, title, and a statement saying “not applicable.” I didn’t want them spinning their wheels on positions with no CFA relevance. They still “rejected” these positions but wasted no time in doing so.
Ashwin Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ok, now this raises another question. Do we put > only the applicable experience (in our mind) or > put everything since you’ve joined the workforce > (including position at McDonald serving at the > window and let them decide what is applicable > and what is not? > > The most of the positions I held so far in my > career included both investment-related and non > investment-related activities so I am not sure > what to list in my experience. should I put ALL > the responsibilities and let them decide which > ones are applicable and which ones are not? I am > really confused now. I need your help. I am pretty sure they don’t care about the non-investments related potions. For the positions that were mixed remember that they require more than half you time spent in investment related activities (too lazy to look up the exact wording). So make sure you show that this was the focus of the position otherwise it may not be accepted.
ATH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For my two positions with relevant experience (~7 > years total), this is what I wrote; My work > experience was approved very quickly as a result > – a matter of a few days, I believe: > > 1) Institutional Investor: > > - Source new investment advisors and funds for > potential investment and conduct a thorough due > diligence process on these entities by conducting > research and performing detailed analysis to > identify and evaluate prospective real assets > investments, writing investment recommendations to > be approved, interfacing with legal counsel in > negotiating legal documents, meeting with > potential real assets advisors and attending > pertinent conferences as appropriate, and > interfacing with the real assets consultant in > identifying and performing due diligence on > prospective investment advisors. > > - Monitor and review the performance of the real > assets portfolio and advisors by preparing > periodic reports analyzing the underlying > exposures and performance of the portfolio, > conducting periodic conference calls with managers > to thoroughly review the underlying portfolios, > traveling to investment advisor offices for onsite > review and attend annual meetings, monitoring > amendments and other changes to legal agreements, > as necessary, maintaining database on advisors, > tracking meetings and periodic performance > reporting, and interfacing with consultants to > produce performance measures and portfolio > construction analyses as necessary. > > 2) Consultant > > -Provided investment consulting, valuation, and > analytical services for commercial real estate > investment firms, funds, and other commercial > portfolio and asset managers. > > -Participated in the pre-acquisition investment > due diligence process by reviewing income > statements, rent rolls, appraisals, balance > sheets, and cash flow statements to generate > opinions of fair market value and projections of > future cash flows for commercial real estate > properties and portfolios to support underwriting > and investment decisions. > > -Evaluated market data for commercial real estate > sales and leasing transactions to determine > primary inputs to the discounted cash flow > analyses used to support valuations and investment > decisions, including market rents, expenses, and > discount and capitalization rates. > > -Contributed to the investment management process > through both periodic and annual review of inputs > to valuation models to support adjustments to fair > market value and forecasts for future cash flow > and net operating income assumptions. Thank you for sharing this with me. This helps me understand how to frame my experience and the areas to highlight. Thanks again.
ATH, Did you also write the dates of your employment and your job titles as you would in your resume?, or was the text sufficient? Thanks
@Demirci - yes, I included the dates, company names, and titles but not in the body text. There are separate fields for all those items: Company Name Title Job Category Responsibilities or Specific Duties Start Date (Mon YYYY) End Date (Mon YYYY)
Thanks ATH!
Last year when I first applied, I had 5 years of front office IBD and PE experience, 2.5 years with large top investment banks. CFAI however gave me serious problems accepting one of the IBD jobs (perhaps bc that job was from a small non US, non European firm). I had to give them a 3 page description of all the deals closed and my involvement in each deal. This was rejected at first, but then later accepted after I made a number of phone calls and complaints to CFAI for not following their own rules.