I’m currently pursuing a PhD in organic chemistry. I’m getting tired of it and started reading about business and economics in my spare time, which I find very interesting. Unfortunately, in general chemists with my background seem to be able to transition into business roles only after 10-15 years of scientific work in a company. At least that’s what I’ve been told by the few experienced people I’ve been able to talk to. I’d like to get there much quicker. Would having a CFA help me with that? I’ll have 3 months of complete free time soon due to parental leave and was considering to commit to a full time study to pass Level 1 in December. It would probably look impressive if I could show that I’ve got a PhD as well as a at least a Level 1 exam. I’ve heard of people getting an MBA after their PhD and getting good jobs quickly. MBA would be too expensive for me though.
Your biggest barrier will be to show potential employers that you are serious about a finance career. I don’t know how many hours you need to put into your PhD until next May, but passing L1 in December or in June should be doable, and if you can bear not to have a life you can even get through L2 in June. Worst case, you’ll gain some basic financial knowledge, even if you don’t get a job.
Best advice - look via LinkedIn (get a premium membership) for people whose jobs look interesting, then call them up and ask them to sit down over coffee or even a 15-min Skype interview. Then come prepared, nicely dressed/shaved and LISTEN. Send them a nice thank you note afterwards / a book from Amazon. If you still like any of the jobs you’ll both have some knowledge on how to move forward as well as a potential contact. I’d assume that your best bet would be IB or AM in Basic / Specialty Chemicals or Pharma.
Your likely an intellingent guy if managed to do a Phd in Chemistry.
Best bet is likely to develop your business knowledge from reading FT, Economist and some introduction to finance books. Then… write a paper on your view of how the big pharma companies are likely to do in the short to medium terms (i.e. GSK / Roche / Pfizer).
Will be in reasonable place to get into sell side research. Look up a few front office recruiters and speak to them
No need for CFA immediately, your Phd will provoe any employer you have the brain. Finance is easy
CFA is a good way to get inside on this market… But I think (my opinion) that without experience you can have some problem to get a good job… but only on the beginning
Thanks for the responses so far. I’ve got a few new questions:
“Best bet is likely to develop your business knowledge from reading FT, Economist and some introduction to finance books.”
Are there any particular books you’d like to recommend?
“write a paper on your view of how the big pharma companies are likely to do in the short to medium terms (i.e. GSK / Roche / Pfizer). Will be in reasonable place to get into sell side research”
Thanks for this info. Apprciate it a lot. What’s this usually like in terms of work-load, working hours and salary? Who would typically employ me?
Also, great advice using linkedin! I’ve used it before for something else and it was worth it. I’ll totally look into this.
I’d like in the long term to build a small side-business. For that I’d need some spare time. Are the jobs you’ve mentioned similar to investment banking in terms of 90h work weeks? I think I can do 70h for a while, but I’d like to go down to around 40h after a few years. Is there a typical career progression from the mentioned positions (sell side equity research, AM)? If so, where would it lead?
Hello OP. I think you are overestimating the difficulty of the CFA program relative for someone of your academic qualifications. You should be able to pass the exams with minimal difficulty. You should just do it if you are at all interested in finance.
In general, I have a hard time believing that your best short term opportunities are not related to your current field of study. I do know people with chemistry or biology PhDs who have moved to other fields. However, these usually involved business school or law school.
