Acquiring courses and certificates can improve your chances of getting an offer
In addition to relevant work experience, further studies and acquiring relevant courses and certificates can improve your chances of getting an offer (and return offer)! But among the qualification certifications and courses, which one is most relevant to the industry you most want to enter, like investment banking such as IBD, PB, AM, S&T, Big 4, Consulting, etc.? If you want to know the answer, continue reading!
✅Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)⠀
⭕Industry: investment banking, especially for Private Bank/Asset Management/Sales & Trading, etc.!
▶️CFA is not an easy test😎, it covers a wide range of Econ, Account, Derivative, Professional Ethics and Fintech. Taking CFA Level 1 is equivalent to reading books in one semester. There are 3 levels in CFA. Level 2 and 3 require students to have examinations after graduation! Hence, students can prepare and test for the Level 1 exam before graduation
✅Financial Risk Mgnt (FRM) ⠀
⭕Industry: Risk Mgnt, Corporate or Global Bank⠀
▶️Involves two levels of risk management knowledge, you could take the test before graduation. Level 1 mainly tests for Quantitative, while Level 2 tests for Qualitative. There is no difference in difficulties between the two levels. You can take the test according to your ability or even take them at the same time
✅Common Professional Exam (CPE)⠀
⭕Industry: Law, Compliance, Consulting, Banking and Real Estate⠀
▶️It is a course for the current British legal professional qualifications, designed for graduates who are not majoring in law to study. CPE is also known as the Conversion Course of Law. The condensed course content is equivalent to an LLB. After completing the CPE and completing the conversion of Hong Kong law, you are eligible to apply for PCLL. Many undergraduate students are not studying LLB, but after graduation, they enter Compliance, Consulting, Banking, and Real Estate. If they want to study law or consider changing careers, they will consider studying CPE⠀
✅International Compliance Association (ICA)⠀
⭕Industry: Compliance⠀
▶️These are recognizable compliance qualifications, including different professional scopes, such as AML, General Compliance, Financial Crime Compliance and Managing Sanction Risks, etc. You can take this test before graduation. Students who are interested in Compliance, or major in Law and would like to switch to Compliance can take the test⠀
✅Project Mgnt Professional Certification (PMP)⠀
⭕Industry: IT, finance, government and public relations promotion⠀
▶️This is a professional qualification for project management, many IT Consultants, Project Managers, and Business Analysts also take this test. Project management is not dedicated to IT, as the life cycle of products is constantly shortening, mergers and acquisitions are more frequent. Many business activities have become independent projects. Thus, project management talents are becoming more critical, even finance, government and public relations promotion are having a talent shortage.⠀
✅Certified Financial Planner/ Associate Financial Planner (CFP/ AFP)⠀
⭕Industry: AM or insurance⠀
▶️This is a highly recognized international certificate in the Mainland, issued by the International Financial Management Standards Committee. As China implements a two-level certification system, in order to take the CFP test you need to pass the AFP test first. Hence, it is more difficult than the Hong Kong Insurance Test IIQE but easier than the CFA. Many insurance or Asset Mgnt employees also take the test⠀
✅HKU Professional Certificate in FinTech⠀
⭕Industry: Bank, FinTech⠀
▶️Even with the prevailing development of FinTech, the number of talents with FinTech-related experience are still relatively little, hence, accumulating relevant knowledge can help you outstand others. Students who want to get started could consider to take this course to pick up related knowledge!
We help university students like you to get into Investment Banking, Banking, Property/ Conglomerate and Advisory/ Consulting. Follow us on Instagram (ig: hkcareers) to know insider tips about grad job/ internship hunting. Visit hkcareers.hk to know more about the result-based career coaching program.
