This is the Part-2 of my article on ‘Finance Jobs after CA’.
I the first part I have explained the different profiles in core-finance (click here to read the first part). Here I am going to discuss how you can get into one.
Before we get into details, I need to admit that with more and more CAs passing out each year and with even more CAs tilting towards finance jobs, getting into a finance job are getting difficult. But having the right weapons in your arsenal and knowing how to use it, makes the job relatively easier. So here is some of the criteria’s looked upon before hiring someone for finance roles (presented in order of importance):
Practical working exposure: You might have got an exposure to M&A during your articleship or any valuation assignment for a client, or Industrial Training at a Bank or Capital Market Company or a 2-3 month Internship in related role. All this hugely increases your chances of getting hired.
Basics of SFM, Account and Other CA subjects: Most of the candidate focus on getting more and more interview call, but it would be smart enough on focusing on increasing the chances to convert them.
Basics about finance & Stock market: This the primary thing one should pose before he/she even thinks he deserves a core-finance job. Thankfully, this can be acquired in few months.
Add-on Certification Courses: It includes CFA and Excel Modeling.
First Attempt: Many of the finance companies I have interviewed with were very particular about 1st/2nd attempts only. Some companies have strict criteria of hiring just first attempt CAs (e.g. Ambit Capital, Multi-Act). But, there were also some companies that didn’t care about attempts. With the market flooded with CAs who wants to move into finance, it becomes obvious that First Attempters will be preferred over others.
Brand Name: Articleship from a Big4 or Industrial Training from a top company adds credibility to your CV.
If you don’t pose any of this in you arsenal, then I will be relatively more difficult to get a finance based role. Once, your CA Results are out. The very next day you'll find your phone ringing for Job Interviews from companies. (Goldman Sacs will be the first company to call you). You won't really have a time to think then. Work on it now. Here are some suggestions on how you can approach this problem:
a) Get a Mentor:
MBA students definitely have an edge over CAs when it comes taking smart decision related to placements (i.e. with respect to CV building, selection of job profile, interview preparation, etc.). MBA colleges have not directly contributed much on this, but this edge is due to a culture created by their seniors towards actively mentoring the juniors. And, this is where we CAs lag behind. Our seniors don’t give a shit about all this.
Getting a mentor helps you because the mentor was in your place one year ago and he has faced the same issues that you are likely to face. Your mentor can be any one: your senior at office, your friend who cleared CA before you or even me (you can Whatsapp me on 8319205893).
b) Practical working exposure:
Very few CAs get the opportunity to work in M&A, Valuation or Investment Banking during their articleship. If you still have time left for industrial training, they try getting into any finance roles at companies like Goldman Sac, JP Morgan or any mid-size brokerage firms (try to gather some reference or apply at job portals like CAjobportal).
If you haven’t got any practical exposure then you can try taking a 2-3 month internship at small brokerage house (You must be thinking why a qualified CA should take an unpaid internship – you need to keep your ego aside). The best way will be to ask a friend/reference to arrange a short term internship for you or apply for any internship openings for MBA students (via LinkedIn Post or Intensala), they will be more than happy to take a qualified CA instead of an MBA (I landed up for an Interview for Internship at an Investment Firm in a similar fashion).
c) Basics of SFM, Account and Other CA subjects:
After three years of articleship, tuitions and exam preparation, I understand it will be very difficult for anyone to go through the CA notes but, trust me if you don’t give a good fight for these 3-4 months you are going to regret clearing CA in the first place.
Preparing for exams and for interviews are two different things, as you don’t need to solve any numerical or mug up any theory. The interview just wants to test whether the candidate has logical understanding of the academic subjects. So it won’t take more than a week for this level of preparation. SFM is the most important subject to prepare (especially the valuation & ratio analysis part). Also, you need to have a brief understanding of all the important Ind-AS (Indian-GAAP is now history).
d) Basics about finance & Stock market:
When I was a CA fresher I didn’t had a clue about why SENSEX is moving up or why rupee was falling (which I think was the main reason for not converting most of the interviews). Here are some of the things you can do to load this weapon in your arsenal:
Basics of fundamental analysis: This is a very vast topic in itself. Here are some of the resources that will get the work done for now:
Zerodha Varsity (https://zerodha.com/varsity/) is an excellent compilation of almost ALL the basic you need to know.
YouTube is filled with plethora of videos about financial analysis (FinShiksha’s and Safal Niveshak’s YouTube channel contains some quality videos on how to read BS, PL, CFS and on ratio analysis)
To get an idea about India’s economy refer Economic Survey 2017-18 by Arvind Subramanian (http://mofapp.nic.in:8080/economicsurvey/) & the blog http://economyria.com/
Start reading any financial newspaper: TOI and other regular newspapers are filled will 100s of non-relevant article that won’t help much. So start following newspaper like Mint, Economic Times etc. or via their mobile app (I avoid watching Business channels, but if you prefer videos you can try Bloomberg’s Quint YouTube channel). Initially the news won’t make much sense, but over time you will be able to connect most of the news.
Start Investing: This will give you a direct incentive to follow stock market news. Start your demat account at any of the discount brokerages like Zerodha (in this digital age it takes hardly 15 minutes to open a demat account).
Be an expert in the sector you have dealt in: As I had done audit of some listed cement companies, many of my interviews were about the business model of cement companies and the current market situation of cement industry (ex. what are the main raw material of cement company, what is the future of cement companies in India). So, go through the basics of the company you have dealt in during articleship and the industry they are in. You can reads brokerage reports on the same.
e) Add-on Certification Courses:
Having an extra degree like CFA, Excel Modeling, and Actuaries etc. shows your interest in finance.
Chartered Financial Analyst: CFA on its own doesn’t open the door for finance jobs, because it is more of a certification course then just a degree (CFA is always preferred in Equity Research roles). But, it shows that the candidate is serious on pursuing a career in finance and thus, increases selection chances. Also some companies have strict criteria of hiring CA+CFAs (like Ambit Capital, Unifi Capital, etc.). So, a CFA degree always helps.
Other short-term course: Some other courses worth considering are FLIP certification, NSE certification courses (not much relevance now), FinShikhsa (they run various courses), TheMoneyRoller (they provide online equity research internship).
Financial Modeling Course: Most of the CA fresher don’t have exposure to Valuation or complex Excel Model (primary skill required for a core-finance job), so this course can help you a lot in finance job. You can either join a full-time course (approx. 15 days) or go through video courses (udemy, coursera & YouTube). Some of the full-time Financial Modeling course providers are:
TheWallStreet School: One of the best in terms of quality of teaching (as per my discussion with few of their students). They even guarantee placement in finance profile. But, there fees are quite high, so please go through their website to make your decision. (http://www.thewallstreetschool.com)
Ibinstitute: I have done my financial modeling course from this Delhi based institute. The faculties were good but the quality of students was a big letdown. So please ask for a demo class where ever you are planning to join
Edupristine, Proschoolonline & Imarticus are also popular
Now that you have sharpened the weapons, you need to know how to use them smartly and get a job. CA Campus hardly gives you an opportunity to interview for finance roles. So here are the ways through which you can market yourself:
a) Reference:
One dark truth no-one is going to tell you is that most of the Off-Campus Jobs are in reach of people who have contacts or references working there. Companies like ICICI, Big4s (TAS department) call people through reference. You won't even get to know about it when they complete their recruitment.
Second truth is, contrary to what is believed it is quite easy to get a reference. Call all your seniors working in various companies right now. Try to network; catch every neighbor, uncle, Sharmaji & senior who you think can help. Don't be ashamed message someone on LinkedIn and ask for references and job referrals (in most cases they will be cooperative, because they are going to earn referral bonus of about 10-20k; so they will surely refer you if they think you are capable enough to convert the interview).
b) LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is considered as ‘just another job portal’. But, if used smartly it can do wonder. Firstly, make an attractive Profile. Connect to a large number of people (atleast 2-3k).
Go to the feed section (content section in linkedin and not the job section) and search for ‘CA Fresher’ you will get lot of reliable post about vacancies (I landed at my current job at Ambit Capital via a post from them on LinkedIn).
Message any of you connections about job vacancy in their organisation. You don’t need to know him personally, but to increase the response rate make sure there is some-thing common between both of you (like he should also be a CA or should be from the same college).
If you're jobless, post the fact that you've this & these skills & you're looking for a job. Someone will definitely help you. (As seen below, the post eventually garnered 35 responses).
c) Job Portal:
There are a lot of job recruitment websites out there. You never know where some recruiter might solicit you:
‘CAjobportal’, ‘FastIndia’, ‘Phenom Placements’ - This are the most RELEVANT site for CA Vacancies. They post just a few opportunities, but each of them is relevant. Don't miss out to register in this site.
Most of the jobs interview calls you'll get in the first few months through job-portals like Naukri and Timejobs won't be relevant. But still create a profile, because who knows when you might get a relevant offer. You don’t need to go through their job feeds as 95% of them are either useless or redundant.
Create a Professional LinkedIn Profile and regularly visit the content/feed section (LinkedIn Jobs section is a waste of time).
iimjobs: They provide a lot of finance jobs but the response rate is very low (1 in 50).
Note: It is advisable to avoid going through the job section of LinkedIn/ iimjobs/ Naukri because the response rate is next to zero.
d) Direct Calls & Whatsapp Groups -
There are some firms that would directly call you for an Interview. You have an equal chance of converting those offers. But the issue is, a LOT of candidates applies for this. You'll have to face huge competition here. For Instance, Goldman Sacs will be the first firm to call you once, your results are out. In 2017 Attempt, there were around 400 CAs who appeared for its interview in Kolkata.
To make sure you don’t miss out at any of these opportunities, you can:
Register yourself at Job Portals like FastIndia, CAjobportal & Naukri;
You can create/join a Whatsapp group of all your Job Seekers, so that you're well informed about such opportunities.
Keep checking the Career Page of the companies which generally have vacancies for CA.
Click on this link to join our Whatsapp group exclusively regarding finance job for CAs
e) Career Page & Consultants
Send resumes through the Career Page of a Company. This has a low rate of conversion, but it's still worth it.
For Instance, I applied through the Career Page to around 40 Companies for finance job. 3 companies called me for an Interview. I converted on of them, EY GSS (Valuation).
A friend of mine downloaded a list of all Investment Banking firms in India. He went to their career page, and sent his resume to the company mailing handle. He received an Interview call from 1 company (i.e. Mape Advisory).
There are many third-party recruiters who provide recruitment service to their clients. But hardly few of them are of any help. So of them which I know of are: Peoplerealm. Black-turtle, Aristo Consultants and Berlin Consultants. You can contact then through their website or LinkedIn. Best of Luck !!
(This article is prepared by Ajit Agrawal (CA, CFA L2, Buy-Side Equity Research Analyst at Ambit Capital) and Amit Agrawal (CA, pursuing MBA from IIM Calcutta and Intern at Bain Piramal PE). It is based on our interaction with 100+ CAs and IIM graduates working in financial services space, our own experience at work and from 30+ finance interviews)