Hi folks,
Recently, some of our students told us that they have read forums and blogs about difficulty in finding a job after CFA Level 1. They were worried whether the job market for CFA Level 1 is depleting in India? Is it really hard for a fresher to get a job?
Frankly speaking, I don’t think so. What is missing is the right attitude for job, preparation and soft skills. Lets understand what all you need.
Top 10 things to do to get a good job after CFA Level 1:
1. Get Practical Exposure: You need to learn practical implementation of some of the topics, like Equity Investments, Derivatives, Fixed Income. At least learn how equity and debt market operates. Try to open a trading account and trade or sit near a dealer, get an internship with a broker.
2. Be expert in one sector: Try reading directors report of various companies in a particular sector. Study sector based reports, read carefully and try to work on your own. Analyse yourself and create few reports.
3. Soft skills: Most of the job openings are with MNCs, where you need to interact with foreign clients. So, you need good communication and presentation skills. Written and spoken both. So, if you are poor in English work hard to improve it.
3. News Paper: Must read newspaper daily. I don’t ask you to read Business News Paper, at least start with top business news which comes with daily news paper.
4. Advance Excel: You must have good command over advance excel. You can learn this on Youtube or join a advance excel and financial modeling course.
5. Networking: Have you gone to any networking event with your business card? If not, then please go. Also, don’t forget to attend all the free finance conference in your city. If you need to grow, you need to build network.
6. Linkedin: Be active on linkedin.com, This will help you connect with many professionals in your area. They might help and endorse you. You can also find job opening in your area.
7. Understand SEO of Job Sites: Most of the time while updating your CV/Resume on job search engines you don’t care about it’s ranking. Make sure to use correct title, intro, job requirements while updating it. Make sure you put keywords in your resume which an HR might be searching on a job portal. This’ll bring your CV on search top.
8. Go for profile not salary: Freshers don’t have too many choices, your priority should be to get a job in the industry you are interested. Focus on getting jobs. Look for small brokers, small research firms if not getting in big companies. But, please don’t sit ideal. Still, if you not getting any job at least start with any internship.
9. Ask Exam prep providers: You can also take help of your coaching classes or exam prep provider for placement assistance.
10. Interview skills: Read blogs and forums for questions asked in interviews. Do not fake anything in your resume, Try to develop analytic skills by solving financial quizzes. Be positive during interview and make sure your attitude should reflect stability with the company. Because, HRs focus on lower attrition rate.
Feel free to put your comment below if you need more help.
