Did you know that 66% of employed CFA candidates globally are looking to change some aspect of their careers? 😲
Career changes can be hard as your pitch has to highlight why your career path so far makes you the best candidate for the job, in spite of the career switch. Especially if you want to change job function within the finance sector.
Our new Finance Career Change Planner guide should make this process easier:
Read on to find out more!
It’s worth bearing in mind that this survey data on career change focuses on employed CFA candidates only (76% of respondents) and excludes students (15% of respondents). This provides some useful insights into the career goals of CFA candidates who already have some work experience under their belt.
Based on CFA Institute’s 2015 survey, majority of employed candidates (48%) are keen to change their job function, followed by the desire to switch firms (33%) and change industries (21%):
In this logical, step-by-step guide:
We will first take a look at current job roles CFA candidates are working in, understand what their target jobs are, and finally connect the dots on how to get those dream jobs with our recruiter-approved Finance Career Change Planner.
Let’s do this!
Comparing what CFA candidates do vs. CFA charterholders’ typical career paths, two interesting points stand out from a finance career switching perspective:
This chart is jam-packed with lots of information, let’s go through them to see what we can learn for individuals wanting to change their financial career:
OK, so now we know what CFA candidates currently do, and what their dream jobs are.
How do we connect the dots and make the career change work? There are still some questions unanswered:
To find out these answers, I’ve extensively interviewed 3 finance recruiter friends covering these sectors, who specialize in recruitment of candidates with 1-9 years finance work experience.
Combining all these information, here’s our ultimate Finance Career Change Planner for candidates and charterholders!
Our Finance Career Change Planner is designed to show the most popular career switching paths to a particular target job, given an existing finance role.
In other words, this planner helps you determine what exit options you have with the highest probability of success. A few things to note:
So what can we learn from the CFA Career Change Planner?
| Job Function | Notes / Comments |
|---|---|
| Accounting | Typical exit options: Investment banking, corporate finance, research. Accountants have sought after accounting knowledge applicable in many other finance sectors, especially at a junior level. |
| Consulting | Typical exit options: Investment banking, research, private equity and corporate development. Consultants have a broad analytical skillset and industry knowledge that are transferable to other finance sectors (both buy side and sell side), especially at the manager level. |
| Risk Management | Typical exit options: Consulting and portfolio management. Generally, people working in risk management are specialized and happy to stay at their role. This is probably due to the relatively lower burn out rates compared to the other job functions listed here. |
| Private Equity (PE) | Typical exit options: alternative investments (not shown in chart) and corporate development. Private equity firms tend to hire junior bankers, consultants or accountants with less than 5 years experience to join at a senior analyst or manager level. Roles in PE start to heavily specialize in certain sectors or asset classes, hence the typical exit routes reflect that specific expertise. |
| Investment Banking / Corporate Finance | Typical exit routes: private equity, investment research and corporate development. A great starting point in finance with high transferable skills to various other sectors. Analysts and associates (1-6 years work experience) typically exit to other finance jobs in search for better work-life balance with similar nature of work. |
| Corporate Development | Typical exit routes: investment research and private equity. Corporate development focuses on acquisitions, divestitures, joint venture deals, and partnerships internally at a company. Depending on how the team is structured at a company, sometimes corporate finance and business strategy are grouped together in that team. It can be an interesting alternative for candidates in investment banking, consulting, private equity and research who would like to move to the ‘industry’ and gain sector expertise, with a broader range of work and better work-life balance. |
| Investment Research | Typical exit routes: portfolio management, alternative investments. Research is a frequent stepping stone to portfolio management and hedge funds. It’s also common to switch between buy-side and sell-side. |
| Portfolio Management | Typical exit routes: investment research, alternative investment and wealth management. Most CFA candidates in portfolio management are happy with their role, with minimal desire to switch job functions. It has a good work-life balance and competitive pay, depending on sector and asset class specialization. |
Changing careers into finance is difficult as is, but switching job function at the same time may prove challenging, unless you don’t mind starting at the bottom again. And sometimes that isn’t an option at all at a more experienced level.
For an easier pitch to recruiters and employers, a better strategy may be to first aim for an industry change into finance, without the job function change at this stage. Breaking it down in two steps may increase your chances of securing a job in the finance sector, while building your network internally for your future target job.
Make sure your resume and LinkedIn profile is up to date, else learn how to write a good one.
Otherwise, it may be worth getting your CV professionally updated/written by companies like TopResume. Remember to craft your career change narrative – your unique story and background of why you’re an awesome (or an even better) hire in spite of the career change.
Your chances of securing a job offer dramatically improves if offered an interview, and the goal of your CV is to get you an interview. I think that makes a good investment.
Often not mentioned, but I found recruiters a great source of insights to what works and what doesn’t for a particular job.
After you’ve updated your CV, reach out to a few finance recruiters and offer to bring them out for a coffee (or a video call). They should know what employers want and by getting ahead of the game, it will show them that you’re proactive which helps set you apart from the competition. When you have an idea of what skills they look for in a potential hire, focus your efforts on those areas.
Once you know what employers look for in a particular job function, assess your skills and interest to see if you fit that profile.
If not, you may want to consider volunteering your time in related roles (at work or personally) to gain relevant experience, or take up a course to upgrade your skills.
Manage your own expectations that it takes time and effort for a meaningful career change. Especially with the current market conditions.
Stay motivated, keep taking small, consistent actions towards your career goals. You will get there in the end.
Wow, that was a long one! If you’ve made it to the end, leave a comment about your career change plan with us 🙂
Meanwhile, here are other awesome career-related resources which you may find useful:
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View Comments
Well detailed and easy to understand. Thank you for being a value add as always.
You're very welcome!
Thank you I enjoyed reading it. I'm now more equipped towards my CFA journey.
I see. Thanks Sophie!
Hi, what do you think about MBA? will it help to ease the transition from audit to investment banking or portfolio management? Do you think it is worth the investment if a person already has CFA?
Hi Michelle, I think if you already have a CFA, then adding an MBA on top of it may be unnecessary (although it certainly would not hurt) if your goal is to switch from audit to PM. You already have the credentials and skillset that are sought after in these 2 sectors, just have to focus on applying and interviewing well for a job. Having an MBA can only help your case more, but in my opinion may be an expensive/high cost way with no guarantee of switching successfully.