Chicago firms that value CFA Candidacy

Guys, can you tell me of firms you’ve heard or experienced with, that have shown interest in a candidate due to his involvement in the CFA program? I would be very interested in knowing. Thanks in advance to all who respond.

GKST

If it’s CFA Level 1 candidate, don’t put it on your resume. My friend worked in Chicago at an Ibank for 2 years and in PE for 2 years and he would mention that people who put Level 1 “candidate” were a complete joke b/c they hadn’t passed anything yet and had merely paid money to sign up for a test. It’s another story if you have passed a few levels.

What if I have IBD experience and passed two levels of CFA? Any inv. management firms in mind that I should consider, say if I wanted to look around?

Calamos manages roughly $45 bil. and is located near the Chicago in Naperville. I’m fairly certain they place a high emphasis on the program.

I’ve heard of Calamos, but they’re not downtown. Also, I have a feeling that they’re slightly cut off from the financial center here. You dont see their people around in the city, and I might be wrong here, but neither do they attend the CFA Chicago Society a lot… (I didnt see any one from Calamos in the 2-3 events I have attended).

bm, maybe it’s b/c they manage 45 bil is why they don’t have much time for the nonsense… cut off?? what do you mean by that?.. when you manage this kind of money you don’t have time to hang around the city… and if you need to see someone, chances are others will find the time to drop by your place…

Calamos is a great firm, and is very well respected nationwide - not just in Chi-Town. I actually applied for a job there, and got turned down because I live in NYC and they only hire local applicants.

bm_chicago, two other firms that you might be interested in looking into are Nuveen Investments and Northern Trust.

Ive heard a lot about NT, but they just seem too small market, dont you think? And last I heard about Nuveen was it being bought out by someone… Not sure how that would change anything, but Nuveen has always intrigued me… when I was an analyst in FIG, we did some capital raising (IPOs and secondary offerings for their CEFs)… They did have some high caliber individuals. About Calamos, I was just giving my opinion… again, like i said before, I might be entirely wrong. And I know what $45bn means, its no joke… then again, how much of that is active management, huh?

Citadel?

How many people here have had interviews with Citadel? Most of my friends who are engineers from Carneggie Mellon get IT interviews there, while others (who are bankers, etc) get interviews for non trading and research positions… Also, I’ve heard people there are slightly odd… Anyone has had experience with Citadel? I’ve always been intrigued by the articles I have read about them and ken griffin… Does anyone have information about the following Chicago based offices: Windpoint Partners Wynnchurch Capital Ltd. Prospect Partners LLC Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. Frontenac Co. Edgewater Funds American Capital Strategies Ltd. Allied Capital Corp. Adams Street Partners LLC Thanks,