Would the CFA help get an entry job as an analyst for a private equity or venture capital firm? I know a lot of these firms hire MBA’s or people coming out of I-Banking. Would the CFA look really good or is it one of those things that definitely won’t hurt you, but won’t make you stand out either?
Numi is the PE guru on this board. His general advice IIRC is that its a “nice to have” designation, but what really counts is being able to generate deals and/or have lots of experience with fundamental analysis and corporate strategy. This is why the PE shops like people with IB backgrounds.
definitely won’t hurt you.
One of my friend’s in PE is pursuing the CFA. He’s at the Associate level. I think several people in his firm have it, so maybe it depends on the shop. One of my friend’s at another firm (Associate level also) does not have it and most people in his shop don’t have it. So my guess is it may help a little and won’t hurt you.
By the time I plan to try to get into PE, I hope to be done wit the Level 2. I will be 23 years old, and will have experience as CFO of a $50million commercial bank. I hope that my exposure to upper management at a young age will look impressive, because I have a feeling that working for a small commercial bank will not. I’m hoping the CFA will help show that I’m competent to do any analysis they need.
23 year old CFO? wow
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Numi is the PE guru on this board. His general > advice IIRC is that its a “nice to have” > designation, but what really counts is being able > to generate deals and/or have lots of experience > with fundamental analysis and corporate strategy. > This is why the PE shops like people with IB > backgrounds. thanks bchadwick. that’s pretty much what i would have said. you’re correct in that the biggest value-add that you can have in order to get into PE is deal experience. as such, banking is the most helpful background, but accounting/due diligence at a big 4 while working on PE transactions is also another possible way in. the original poster is probably best off spending his time looking for jobs in this area as opposed to the CFA…a quick look at the CFA curriculum would reveal that the CFA is not the greatest value-add for PE