MBA vs. CFA an the rest

cbreeze
Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:28:08 +0000

CFA is only valuable for those who wish to do investment management and equity research, it is not necessary for those who want to be traders, investment bankers and general management.

You conclusion that CFA is not as valuable as MBA and other designations by the numbers of jobs posted on one website is misleading.The absolute number of people working in IM is small and movement within the industry is through word of mouth and networking. Many vacancies are easily filled through campus recruiting and screening of unsolicited resumes sent into the companies. There is no need to advertise at all. The sheer scarcity of vacancies confirms the difficulty of launching a career in IM.

Passing the CFA exams without relevant work experience will not bring you the official CFA charter, therefore eliminating many job opportunities for CFA candidates. IM is a field that is hard to ‘break into’ without prior experience