CFA and quant AM

[Zeuge]

I've read that the CFA is very useful for asset management positions, but how helpful is it at more quant-oriented firms such as AQR?

 

[Eric Cartman]

why do people care so much about CFA GRE GPA GMAT, except that they are the few quantifiable items in their profile? A good score doesn't mean anything, but the poor ones do - that's when top MFEs want to filter out kids with GPA < 2 or GRE quant < 50 percentile without even wasting time on their lengthy essays. as for experienced hires, there are just way too much means to accurately assess a candidate's credentials. many people i know who are CFA charterholders either simply because its their hobby or pathetically hope it is going to make a change to their career life. employers? THEY DON CARE

 

[Zeuge]

as for experienced hires, there are just way too much means to accurately assess a candidate's credentials.

Given that I'm still a student, I'm not sure that all this applies to me. A CFA would give me an advantage vis-a-vis other applicants for entry-level and early-career positions, no?

 

[glyvin]

One of my best friends is a level 3 CFA candidate who works in trading. The CFA at this point in his career- 2 years out of undergraduate will do nothing for him. When he tries to climb the ladder within his bank later on is when it will matter...assuming that is your goal. Again, it all depends what your goals are, a CFA would be useful in some areas, and irrelevant in others. Look at job postings, I've seen some that require CFA, although I can't say if they were for quants or not.

 

[Trev]

The stuff on your resume might gain you some slight advantage in securing interviews. If you have nothing that illustrates an interest in finance, taking the CFA level 1 exam might help there a little bit. Taking any exams beyond level 1 would be a waste of time with no experience and hiring managers will see right through it, and you cannot be a CFA without experience. You cannot even call yourself a CFA level 1, you are limited to expressing the somewhat awkward sounding fact that you "passed cfa level 1 exam". Search for cfa on www.indeed.com, are the jobs that come up the type you want? Once you are in an interview, it's up to you to know what you're talking about and be someone they want to work with.