I am a final year economics and politics student, who decided to study for a CFA (i sit this december). It has come to that time where have to consider grad schemes and interns. I have little knowledge of where i want to be in the investment world, as i know little of it, I AM ALSO AWARE THE CFA LEVEL 1 GUARANTEES NOTHING. I would like to know what grad schemes and jobs would look most favorably on a student who invested their loan in taking the CFA level 1? i have read a little about investment analysts and figured i would enjoy that, i also have enjoyed quantative analysis, and found it very easy thus far. I enjoy the competitive meritocracy of the investment world and want to head for the most meritocratic place i can find. So to whom and how do i sell myself?
if you do get any interviews, be prepared to get the question “why finance? you decided to study econ and political science, and now you took the CFA L1. Why not study finance in school and the CFA?” The CFA charter is heavily geared towards asset management. To other areas of finance, the CFA is just a nice background to have. Unfortunately, these days a ton of candidates for any investment job are in the CFA program. There are many on this forum that passed L2 or L3 and also job hunting.
What country are you in and what tier university do you attend?
Goldman Sachs, if you can “somehow” enter there. You got answer to first part of your question, there’s no definite answer to the second part.
I think you should read up more about the industry and use your alumni network etc so you get a better image of what you would like to do. This is something you need to research and decide for yourself. If you do not have a clear picture of where you want to be, answers here will not help much. And more important than that, hesitating is a deal breaker during interviews, if you are not “hungry for the role” it will not take much for your interviewer to toss your resume out. You need to have a story and be able to back it up. Why did you use your loan to take the CFA to begin with? Reading up on vault-like guides may not be your favourite past time, but during your job search you will get questions like “Why sales and not trading?” and you need to read up in order to answer those. Or get someone in the industry to talk you through it, if they have the time, I do not know if that makes up for you not doing your own research though. You should find out by yourself what you like to do most.
mjbizzle87 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So to whom and how do i sell myself? i’ve been trying to answer this question my whole life
thanks for the responses. where can i read up on the different roles within finance? i know there is no holy bible that will reveal all, but aside from knowing i want to work in the most competitive branch i can, (i like the challenge of having to stay on top), i have no clue. i took the CFA as i wanted to differentiate myself from others graduates with economics degrees and give myself the best opportunity of getting my foot in the investment world. i also hoped it would give me some knowledge of where in finance i belong. hopefully it has done the former to some extent, but it most definitely hasn’t done the latter. truth is i didnt decide on this course until a few months ago (economics and politics just seemed like a respectable degree). i have been driven in studying for my cfa, but still have no idea where i belong in finance.
thanks for the responses. where can i read up on the different roles within finance? i know there is no holy bible that will reveal all, but aside from knowing i want to work in the most competitive branch i can, (i like the challenge of having to stay on top), i have no clue. i took the CFA as i wanted to differentiate myself from others graduates with economics degrees and give myself the best opportunity of getting my foot in the investment world. i also hoped it would give me some knowledge of where in finance i belong. hopefully it has done the former to some extent, but it most definitely hasn’t done the latter. truth is i didnt decide on this course until a few months ago (economics and politics just seemed like a respectable degree). i have been driven in studying for my cfa, but still have no idea where i belong in finance.
The Vault Guides are very helpful. Your school career office may have access to them. They have guides for all different jobs in finance, and go through all about them. You still didn’t answer the question of which school you go to? That makes a huge difference.
im at university in england its a top 20. maybe top 10 for business school im unsure. but in england if you didnt go to oxford or cambridge. the other top 20’s are all just as highly regarded.
mar350 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > mjbizzle87 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > So to whom and how do i sell myself? > > > i’ve been trying to answer this question my whole > life Make sure you wear a condom.