CFA NEWBIE'S

Is it fate, bad luck or outright bad timing to those newbie’s who were hoping to break into finance? Is there any of you who has lost hope before even beginning the journey? Any idea of how long this madness lasts, and how it affects your resolve to pursue the Charter? Any reason to keep hoping?

I hope many people do give up. So when I sit for my L1 in Dec I don’t get overwhelmed by a gazillion people fighting for a seat.

If your just starting out, I would say best bet is to move to a city like Cleveland or Minneapolis.

cleveland is def hiring…I left the midwest to come back to the east coast and am paying dearly for that move… I have not give up. i have some previous experience and know we will cycle out of this just like everything else.

JOE2010 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Is there any of you who has lost hope before even > beginning the journey? Any idea of how long this > madness lasts, and how it affects your resolve to > pursue the Charter? Any reason to keep hoping? You’ll probably be just fine but it might require some extra effort on your side. When I graduated from university back in the 1990’s a finance company folded that very month, and this later led up to a few major banks barreling toward bankruptcy. Needless to say it was next to impossible to break into finance at that point in time. Unemployment leapt from 1.6% that year to as high as 12% in t+2 (years). I don’t remember this, but later (maybe t+4) it had turned and I didn’t find it overwhelmingly difficult to land a job. You might very well get your charter just in time for t+3.

I am trying for corporate financial analyst position now, but I am not sure if that leads me towards long term goal of equity research/money management. Do you guys have any idea? As a corporate fianancial analyst, capital budgeting, raising capital, doing analysis for acquisitions may be involved. By the way, do you think I could use this experience for CFA charter?

buddham Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am trying for corporate financial analyst > position now, but I am not sure if that leads me > towards long term goal of equity research/money > management. people do it, but you wont learn much in corp fin after 2 years…

daj224, Even if you get to do analysis for merger and acquisitions, say for Intel? I am going through the on campus recruiting right now, there are lots of finance related jobs, but most of them are for corporate financial analyst and other back office financial analyst roles. There are some for IB, but I am not that interested in IB. Of course, the competition for IB jobs are intense. I am in an evening MBA program, so that also goes against me.

I know people @ INTC and can get more color for you. they recruit so hard at MBA schools it is crazy

buddham Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am trying for corporate financial analyst > position now, but I am not sure if that leads me > towards long term goal of equity research/money > management. Do you guys have any idea? As a > corporate fianancial analyst, capital budgeting, > raising capital, doing analysis for acquisitions > may be involved. By the way, do you think I could > use this experience for CFA charter? generally not. you may get some partial credit, but generally this type of experience does not qualify.

Gecco Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > buddham Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I am trying for corporate financial analyst > > position now, but I am not sure if that leads > me > > towards long term goal of equity research/money > > management. Do you guys have any idea? As a > > corporate fianancial analyst, capital > budgeting, > > raising capital, doing analysis for > acquisitions > > may be involved. By the way, do you think I > could > > use this experience for CFA charter? > > generally not. you may get some partial credit, > but generally this type of experience does not > qualify. ACorporate credit analyst or Leverage finance roles definetely count as experience for the CFA charter…a couple of my friends just got it.

In terms of getting more education as opposed to competing in this horrid job market, are there options aside CFA, MBA, or MFE? Of course, the goal is to once again, break into finance after this bloodbath is over (1-2 yrs?).

MehdiOchre Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > JOE2010 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Is there any of you who has lost hope before > even > > beginning the journey? Any idea of how long > this > > madness lasts, and how it affects your resolve > to > > pursue the Charter? Any reason to keep hoping? > > You’ll probably be just fine but it might require > some extra effort on your side. When I graduated > from university back in the 1990’s a finance > company folded that very month, and this later led > up to a few major banks barreling toward > bankruptcy. Needless to say it was next to > impossible to break into finance at that point in > time. Unemployment leapt from 1.6% that year to as > high as 12% in t+2 (years). I don’t remember this, > but later (maybe t+4) it had turned and I didn’t > find it overwhelmingly difficult to land a job. > > You might very well get your charter just in time > for t+3. Thank you for the insight.