Questions for Employers/Graduates related to Business

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I think some of you may have read my other posts. But, I’ll introduce myself again, I’m a student graduating with a business degree interested in an investment banking job. Unfortunately, although my university is top 5 in Canada, it’s not a “target school” and it’s not near financial centres like Toronto or New York. </p>

<li><p>Is it true that employers assume graduates took the easiest courses towards their degree? Since employers when looking at candidates’ GPA they tend to ignore the actual courses taken they can not “weigh” GPA according to difficulty of electives. Therefore, should I not take an elective which will decrease my GPA (eg. Calculus III versus Hockey History… no offense)? Likewise, graduating with more credits than required (say I took 6 instead of the 4 finance courses required) is also “useless” for employers? </p></li>
<li><p>Double options. How much more useful is an Accounting/Finance degree compared a Finance degree? </p></li>
<li><p>How important is the CFA for getting investment banking jobs? Will having a CFA prior to graduation dramatically improve my chance?</p></li>
</ol>

2

<ol>
<li>generally you get your CFA while you are working</li>
<li>do you like accounting/ are you interested in a career as a CPA? If not, why would you do it?</li>
<li>which employers? Are you a US citizen? If not, start networking really hard with Toronto firms via your alumni office, etc. Have as high a GPA as you possibly can, but dont forget to show math/finance courses.</li>
</ol>

3

<p>Employers will often ask to see your transcript, we are very interested in what you’ve taken.</p>

<p>An accounting degree gives you a trade. In hard times it’s more likely to get you a solid job. Only you need to do an honest analysis of whether you can be one of the few to make it into, and in, ibanking.</p>

<p>Banks don’t care about CFA’s for ibanking jobs.</p>

4

<p>hmom makes good points. Accounting, like math, is a skill/trade that employers don’t normally teach. Finance, on the other hand, is almost 100% picked up on the job. You’ll learn more finance in your 1st week on the job than in 4 years at a b-school. CFA is for asset management, not I-Banking.</p>