The Moscow Times published an article today about the CFA charter and its benefits in the very competitive Russian job market.
“Russian employers are obsessed with qualifications, and this is one qualification they take very seriously,” Luc Jones, a partner at Antal Russia and a board member of the Canadian Eurasia Russia Business Association, told The Moscow Times.
“Job-hunters need a way to stand out from the crowd and, in the field of banking and finance, the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification provides an opportunity to do so. It requires passing three integral levels of examinations to become a full-fledged charterholder. Most who attempt each test fail.”
Apparently the supply of Russian CFA charterholders is quite small:
“Currently only 400 fully qualified charterholders live in Russia, according to the CFA Association Russia, the local charterholder society.”
And the lack of supply is creating value for CFA charterholders in Russia:
“Russian employers are obsessed with qualifications, and this is one qualification they take very seriously,” Luc Jones, a partner at Antal Russia and a board member of the Canadian Eurasia Russia Business Association, told The Moscow Times.
Like any good or service, when demand exceeds supply the outlook is good. If you hold the CFA charter in Russia, your future is as good as gold.
Thanks for that. Would have missed it today had it not been for your post. Gives me some extra motivation to continue studying. I live in Moscow and am going for L3 this June. CFA is definitely well-known and respected here. Wouldn’t totally agree with the characterization that CFA is “good as gold” in Russia, but for sure having the charter is a super way to set yourself apart from the competition. Foreign banks have indeed been scaling back (Citigroup most recently) and you need every advantage you can get to land an interview and hopefully an offer.
I used to intern at this newspaper when I was an exchange student in Moscow. I don’t believe anything they write. Most of their staff are underpaid or not paid at all students who wouldn’t know the first thing about this stuff. I got friends in Russia working in finance. They just want you to be math geniuses from the right university programs. They don’t give a damn about this charter. You would be better of in Russia impressing them some other ways: be a chess grandmaster, a quant jock, or best of all the nephew of an important government figure. @Newsuper - there are loads of jobs in finance available in BKK but are you willing to work for a Thai salary? No? You want an expect package trust me. Those can be harder to get.
“I got friends in Russia working in finance. They just want you to be math geniuses from the right university programs. They don’t give a damn about this charter.” Dude, like wtf? I’ve been working in Russian finance (research) for almost 12 years and CFA is totally respected over here. Trust me - go around dissing the charter and you will come across as ignorant, jealous or both. Your stereotypes about Russia and the Moscow Times are lame too. Gimme a break.
12 years is a good time in Russia. I’ll give you respect for that. However, the Moscow Times is crap even in a country with crap newspapers. They have a new editor every year and they pay their journos absolutely nothing - you get what you pay for. My ex girlfriend used to be one of them. The only good use for the Moscow Times is if you can’t read enough enough Russian to find a hooker on your own then you can call up one of those expensive English speaking VIP Escort services that they advertise in the back. (FrankArabia that’s a pointer for your next business trip to Moscow) The only good English Newspaper in Russia was The Exiled, but Putin shut that down, sadly. I think the fact that in all of Russia there are 400 charterholders is fairly demonstrative of the fact that this charter holds very little weight currently (maybe this is changing - I hope so). The entire nation is obsessed with money and studying finance: when I worked for a minigarch he sent his five year old twins to a “Economics Kindergarten.” Yet only 400 people have gotten around to getting the charter since they started holding the exams in Russia. Compare that to India and China where tens of thousands of people are sitting for the exam. I’m personally glad you disagree with me, because I would love to move back to Russia someday with my charter and have it be respected. So let’s hope that you are right. BTW, my gf is an attractive 23 year old level 3 candidate with perfect grades from St. Pete’s Economic U and fluent in English and German with internships working at the United Nations and in India. She has been trying to get a job which is the source of my “stereotypes” about Russia. She majored in commerce which to me sounds similar enough but apparently not enough in Russia. She says that nobody gives a damn about her CFA work - they just want to see math skills, previous internships, finance programs from top Unis, and of course well connected parents. I do not know what you study in a finance major, as this major didn’t exist at my university, but I have a hard time imagining that there is much a 20 year old finance major knows that she doesn’t know from the CFA curriculum. Yet, not having the finance degree appears to be a huge roadblock. Furthermore, the HR chicks usually do not know what the CFA is or if they do, they do not care. She’d love to work at a bulge bracket (in any role other than making coffee) so if you have any advice on how to go about doing that then I am all ears. I don’t get it, in my mind her CV should be bullet proof (especially compared to mine). I have been blaming it on the economy.
P.S. I went to AntalRussia.com which is the head hunter quoted in the article. I ran a query on analyst and it turned up 27 hits. I ran query on CFA and turned up 0 hits.
Hi. I’ve noticed that you live in Russia. I moved to Russia last year and currently working here. I’m going to retake Level 3 in June 2013. I’d be glad to acquiant with you. I also noticed that you purchased 3-day exam workshop. I’m considering it for this year and would be interested in your advice. I would appreciate your reply.
How does her being “attractive” have any relevance to the CFA’s acceptance in Russian finance circles? Not sure why you use that to “support” your claim.