When considering whether to pursue a credential such as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, the next question likely to come to mind after "Will it upgrade my job prospects or compensation?" is, "Will what I learn improve my job performance?" A review of published research "reveals a patchwork of studies that don't uniformly and unequivocally show outperformance by charterholders," writes Christopher Wright in the January-February issue of CFA Magazine, published... Read more

What'll it be - a graduate degree in finance or a CFA charter? A growing number of universities have set out to provide the tools to acquire both. Around the world, some 41 educational institutions have signed on to a partnership program that the CFA Institute initiated in April 2006. The schools embed in their graduate curricula at least 70 percent of the "body of knowledge" that forms the basis of... Read more

Their best practitioners earn sums to make an investment banker drool. But they rarely post job openings. How, then, can you get a job at a hedge fund? ClusterStock's latest slide show purports to answer that burning question. It's drawn from an informal survey of "a few young hedge funders, and one older one," by writer Courtney Comstock. Of course, the tried-and-true suggestions are there: Network, always have an elevator pitch... Read more

A study by The Wall Street Journal indicates the days of an Ivy league degree being the key to success everywhere may be over. But not on Wall Street. Ivy Leaguers remain perched atop the pecking order. Jobs in investment banking, for example, are still dominated by those from elite academic institutions. A Harvard MBA or a degree from Wharton remain the best way to gain entry into firms like Goldman... Read more

Are fundamental equity analysts doomed to be replaced by machines? That's the implication of a recent Reuters story by Dane Hamilton. The sources quoted are mainly quantitative investment experts from the hedge fund community, but also include Brad Hintz, an influential financial services analyst at AllianceBernstein who was once Lehman Brothers' CFO. "At an increasing number of Wall Street investment banks, hedge funds and elsewhere, computers are churning out investment analyses culled... Read more

You are nearing the end of an interview with a potential employer. It has gone well, in the sense that there were no questions that made you sweat or stutter. At this point, you are suppose to ask the interviewer some questions which bedazzle her with such insightfulness that she will not let you out of the meeting without your signature on an employment offer. But let's for argument's sake assume... Read more

Okay, you've scored and aced an interview at a hedge fund, but you didn't get a call back or even an e-mail to say "Thank you, but no." According to Adam Zoia, chief executive at Glocap Search, it's not much of a surprise. "It's more common not to hear back from a hedge fund than it is from a bank or investment firm," he says. If you have an intermediary... Read more

Finding a great job in the financial markets can be challenging in the best of times, but when Wall Street firms announce the kind of headcount reductions we’ve been seeing lately the search becomes down right daunting. And according to a survey eFinancialCareers conducted this month with financial professionals, recruiters may not really help job seekers all that much either. The survey found that while nearly four out of five (78%)... Read more

While investment banks hemorrhage jobs, hedge funds continue to hire. But crossing the aisle is no easy task. One William Street Capital Management, a new asset-backed securities hedge fund launched by ex-Lehman securitization chief David Sherr, is one of at least 10 fund startups that plan to raise more than $1 billion each this year, according to Bloomberg. To be sure, the job opportunities within these funds are dwarfed by the more... Read more

With hedge funds showing signs of life, banks are polishing up their prime broking arms. The Wall Street Journal reports that Citigroup has added 18 people to its prime broking business so far this year and that Bank of America/Merrill Lynch intends to add 40. A month ago eFinancialCareers News picked up indications of New York-based prime broker hires at Goldman Sachs. The return to prime broking recruitment comes amidst a... Read more

The expected cost of new regulations being implemented from financial reform was cited at the SIFMA Dodd-Frank impact Analysis conference as one reason banks are reluctant create new jobs. "There's a capital strike going on in corporate America," said Larry Kudlow, economist and host of the CNBC program, "The Kudlow Report." Speaking at the conference, Kudlow went on to say banks are "afraid to take the risk of hiring until... Read more

Fidelity's agency broker unit, Fidelity Capital Markets, is adding 100 New York slots for traders and support staff for a new trading floor slated for completion in this year's second quarter. The firm is hiring in equities, fixed income, sales, sales trading and prime brokerage and other areas, Fidelity Capital Markets Services President Mark Haggerty told Advanced Trading, an industry Web site. Key decision-makers over the new team are Mathew McConnell, who... Read more

Douglas Bisio, president Greenwich Fund Services, a hedge fund administration firm based in Greenwich, Conn., says those born between 1979 and 1995 are plagued with qualities that are tough to stomach. Click to Watch Bisio, who graduated from college in 1995, sees an immense disconnect between his contemporaries and younger colleagues. "Today people don't have the patience to learn what it takes to really be successful in a job," he said to eFC... Read more

The hedge fund job market is robust in the Chicago area, particularly for mid-level professionals in due diligence, risk management and hedge-fund administration. Experienced professionals with Ph.D.s in sciences or math are also in demand. "So far this year, there is still strong hiring," says Scott Ruoti, Vice President at Harmer Associates, a Chicago-based recruiting firm. His firm is seeing a "surprising amount" of hedge-fund hiring activity, he says. Industry insiders agree... Read more

Wall Street is on its back, but scientists would be wise to take a contrarian approach and investigate careers in finance, says the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In a three-part feature on financial careers in its official publication, Science, the association likens preparing to enter the industry to the old investing maxim, "buy low, sell high." It also predicts demand for quantitative expertise and rigorous analysis will grow... Read more

"Since Obama was elected, we don't have a diversity issue anymore," one HR consultant I know said recently. She was being sarcastic. And, indeed, a number of black professionals continue to face high hurdles as they search for work, even when they have experience with top firms and degrees from top schools. Between January and October 2009 the disparity in joblessness between whites and blacks with college degrees was more severe... Read more

The ranks of Charter Financial Analysts in Canada are growing. More than 9,990 are registered to take the CFA exam in June, up 68 percent from 5,914 in 2006. Bob Johnson, deputy chief executive of the non-profit CFA Institute, says that's a sign of growing interest in the certification by employers, and the greater availability of training at colleges. Moreover, Johnson says, the number of candidates taking the exam for the... Read more

Most hedge funds lost money last year. So hiring must be in lockdown mode throughout the sector, right? Wrong. "We're looking for all talent related to the hedge fund space," says New York recruiter Kyle Ramkissoon, principal and founding member of IJC Partners (a search firm, not a hedge fund firm). Despite a "huge slowdown" in overall openings and hiring, some fund firms are going against the grain by expanding staff,... Read more