So after almost two years after passing the Level 3 exam, I finally decided to apply for the membership. Now, I’m trying to update my work experience, however, I’m struggling with what to write about my work and how to best phrase it. For you who got your CFA work experience approved, how much did you actually write and how much did you go into details? I have heard that I’m suppose to pretty detail but then I noticed the examples that the CFA institute posted at http://www.cfainstitute.org/about/membership/process/Pages/work_experience_descriptions.aspx and they seem to be very generic. Any advise or sample work experience descriptions (that got approved) would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.
Write it like a level 3 essay. No fluff. Hit the key points and nothing more. Tie your experience, including descriptive words directly to curriculum LOS’s.
What’s your experience in? About half of my experience was denied first go round but approved after I sent in a detailed description. Per a discussion during the last society board meeting, CFAI is going to relax experience rules to include temp and intern positions. Contact me off board for more info.
Don’t just assume they know that your position is related to the investment decision making process, even if it is painfully obvious to anyone in the industry. I found I had success when every one of my bullet points had the phrase “and this contributed to the investment decision making process by…”
Mine just got approved first time, zero questions asked, and I do not even work for a big well known company. Here’s what I said more or less: I explained that I am the managing director of a company that invests in real estate. As company director I am responsible for signing off on financials, valuations, budget and cash flow projections, making all capital allocations and reporting to the investors. I might have used a few more words than that but that was it. Bing! Thanks everyone for their great advice on this subject. It worked for me. Be specific about the type of things you do (provided that they apply to the curriculum).
> but approved after I sent in that’s key to remember. If you think your WE isn’t quite on the mark, then be very careful how you phrase it – because if you are turned down and re-submit, they will have your whole history of submissions. Thus, don’t expect to turn “I check new-account forms for clients’ signatures” into “I manage several multimillion $$ portfolios for HNW clients” as a resubmission.
BTW, the most WE discussions are on level 3 forum, in september-october every year (right after test results come out, and then for a couple of months for those who are turned down the first time)
Thanks for this information, it was very helpful. joehogue: what’s you email address? Thanks
jhogue99 @ hotmail