If you were aspiring to be a chief risk officer, rank the following items in the order of importance: CPA CPCU top 20 MBA CFA FRM Other (_____)
1… 2… 3… 1000… … 100000000000… 1000000000000000000000001… CFA … … …
chief of risk? connections
…would not consider someone for the position who was so unconfident in their ability that they have to seek the advice of an anonymous chat room forum
If you’re being considered for any “C” role, your job experience is probably overwhelmingly more important than any formal credential. If you were hiring Steve Jobs as the CEO of your company, would you care that he never graduated from college?
All the CRO’s I know have Ph.D.'s. The rest don’t mean squat.
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JoeyDVivre Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > All the CRO’s I know have Ph.D.'s. The rest don’t > mean squat. There is a point in that. You will be strong in maths (calculus & statistics), but not necessarily have “a degree”. You will probably have to know how to read the stuff that’s mentioned inside the FRM/PRM curriculums (GARP/PRMIA). I’ve noticed a tendency that people who work at lower levels inside the risk departments, and who are any good at all, seem to have graduated in mathematics or economics, and have strong computer skills i.e. programming skills. It’s probably not random. But if you have all of the above, I’d say “CFA” is the more internationally well-known and definitely the more impressive three-letter combination to put next to your name (if you can).
You have to have a degree because that’s firm risk management - the people who come and do due diligence check out your resume and need to know that you have fine academic credentials. I also think that virtually everyone at the risk conferences attended by CRO’s has a Ph.D… If you want to be a CRO, get a Ph.D. (I’ve been a the director of risk management at two $2B+ hedge funds and only one of them blew up).
Hm. What I was thinking was “a degree in mathematics” but I forgot to type it out! You have to have fine academic credentials, naturally, but from what I see in others I don’t think you have to specifically have a degree in mathematics/statistics nor a PhD but it sure helps if you actually would want to understand your job. Nor do you need to have a PhD simply in order for someone to hire you and for them to put the title “CRO” or “RM” on your business card. I worked next to a so-called CRO a few years ago and I seriously don’t think he had a PhD because I would have known about it if he had, but he sure did have piles of mathematical stuff floating around on his desk and he was also well-known in the business and had an overall good reputation. Then you have all those people who work at the basic level with risk management stuff, checking limits etc, and at that level you can find the most varied backgrounds. You also have to have high integrity, that is very important - without it you could not function well as a CRO I think. It is not normally a job for girls. I have only heard of one (1) female CRO, she’s now become a CEO.
>It is not normally a job for girls. Wow, a flashback to Neolithic times!
I have those sometimes, I think. Does Neolithic times mean the same thing as “1970’s Grateful Dead concerts”?
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > >It is not normally a job for girls. > > Wow, a flashback to Neolithic times! C’mon, isn’t this to be considered a pure factual statement, concluded from observation? How many female CROs do you know of personally? I only know of one.
I’ve seen more than one company where the CRO had only a BS degree and no CFA/FRM. I think they do look more for experience than credentials at this level.
- you need MS in Financial Math or Financial Engineering or another hard stats/computational degree (even actuarial sciences). 2. Bschool wouldn’t hurt as well, though not required. 3. CFA (if any credential outside traditional schooling) FRM, CPA or any other type of educational discipline means nothing for CRO.