CFA program benefits, for non-Analysts

I started as a regular analyst, did that for a few years then joined a startup. I met the founders through various contacts and it led from there. In the bay area of course it’s easy to find tech and startup people but it is also quite easy in major cities – just look for meetups online and join them.

thanks for sharing your experience @justing. quite often a cfo role (at least from recruiters perspective), a chartered accountancy seems to be the key requirement rather than cfa. good to know!

It really depends on how you choose to sell it. I am currently CFO in a small startup – I believe I got the job partially due to selling my CFA credentials. Your job seems a lot more relevant to CFA than my job description.

Honestly using the CFA charter to market yourself is not hard at all, you just need some time to figure it out for yourself and your particular situation. If you’re looking for a quick 5 min hack from the internet, there isn’t one.

Steps on how to make the most out of your CFA charter / program:

1. Identify specifically what you would like to gain. “More money” or “a better job” is not specific enough. Instead, you should be identifying e.g. “a promotion into role X” or “that specific job with this job description”.
2. Look closely at the objective and the CFA curriculum.
3. Treat the exercise like a college essay – “In what ways do the CFA program help a person in (insert your goal here)?”
4. Actually spend time (like a proper hour or so) to researching and writing that paper.
5. You now have a primer to refer to when writing your resume, going for interviews, talking to your boss/colleagues etc.

@justing, have you always been in startups? What was your career path to your current role if you don’t mind sharing? 

Hey @Akamri, it depends on what you want to do for your career in the future? Assuming you want to stay put in the same field, it would seem that a Chartered Accountancy role would suit better?

Hey @Akamri, I don’t think one ever needs to start a career from scratch really, working experience in related field always counts if you know how to market your transferable skills. 

I think CFA would add credence, and at least “some alphabets behind your name” which is known in the finance field, the rest is up to you to sell yourself in interviews for the job you want to get hired for. It’s not really a golden ticket to jobs really, so first thing is to have a sense of what jobs you would like to do. I think it always adds some value in a finance role regardless.

@Akamri overseeing our financial reporting, making sure our cashflow is stellar, agreeing fundraising milestones, identifying the right investors and preparing for said fundraising.