What Kind of Job Can You Get After Passing the Level I CFA Exam?

After months of studying, reviewing, hard work, and probably some nervousness, you’ve passed Level I of the CFA® exam. Now that you’ve conquered this first milestone, you might be wondering if it can help you in your career. If you’re in the final year of earning your bachelor’s degree, perhaps you’re wondering if passing Level I can open doors for you in your job search. Or, if you’re already working in finance, maybe you think it could help you get a better role. This article has the answers for you.

Key Takeaways

1. Passing the CFA Level I exam can help you get an entry-level finance job, such as intern, accountant, or investment analyst.

2. It won't guarantee a job or a raise, but it shows your commitment and knowledge of basic financial concepts.

3. To advance in your finance career, you'll need to continue pursuing the CFA charter by passing Levels II and III.

Table of Contents

• Common Roles

• Salary Increases

• Job Titles

• Career Search

• Career Opportunities

Jobs Commonly Held by Those Who Passed Level I of the CFA® Exam

In 2016, an online job search company, eFinancialCareers, analyzed the resumes in their database to see what job roles candidates who had passed the different levels of the CFA exam held. Despite the fact that 37% of the resumes were not specific enough to make a determination of the role, they were able to identify ten roles. Here are their top five findings:

• Asset management: 15%

• Accounting and finance: 13%

• Equities: 8%

• Risk management: 6%

• Interns at finance firms: 6%

Based on these numbers, if you’ve passed Level I, the job roles most likely available to you are intern, accountant or assistant accounting manager, investment administrator, fund analyst, investment product analyst, and junior equity research analyst (which is often the first step toward getting into asset management as a career).

What Is the Salary For a CFA Level I Completed Candidate?

The salary you earn after passing Level I of the CFA exam is dependent on your current job responsibilities and employer. You do not automatically qualify for a salary increase by passing the CFA level I exam unless that was agreed upon between you and your employer.

However, in a recent Kaplan Schweser CFA Survey, one-third of our respondents claimed to have received a salary increase after passing their latest CFA exam or becoming a charterholder.

On average, our respondents who were working in a financial professional role both the year before and year after passing their most recent CFA exam or becoming a charterholder stated they experienced an increase in their earnings of 15%.^# Earnings increase varied somewhat by the most recent exam passed or becoming a charterholder.

Get More CFA Insights From Charterholders and Candidates.

Do People Get Jobs After Passing Level I of the CFA?

Before you start envisioning your new career as an asset manager or risk manager because of your Level I credentials, there are a few things you should keep in mind. Yes, those job prospects look good, especially if you don’t have one yet. But the problem with them is that there is no information in the statistics that shows whether passing Level 1 of the CFA exam made any impact during the hiring. And if you search forums like analystforum.com, Quora, and Reddit to learn whether passing Level I helped anyone get a job, you’ll get a mixed bag of responses.

Some will declare that passing Level I won’t help you at all. Others say passing Level I can help you get a good finance job with a competitive salary in some parts of the world, but not everywhere. And, there are still others who say it absolutely helped them in their careers in one of two ways:

• Passing Level I was a deciding factor when they were competing with someone who was equally qualified for the position but hadn’t passed.

• They had already held careers in finance when they passed Level I.

Why are there so many different opinions? The answer to that question depends on how the forum posters approached job hunting after they passed. Quite a few job candidates think that passing Level I should be enough to get them their dream job. They’re looking for a shortcut on a career journey that is competitive and requires hard work. They are the ones who will tell you that passing the exam didn’t help. If you take the same approach, you are likely to be disappointed.

Those who say they were able to get a good job at a finance firm after passing Level I had a different view of how to leverage this accomplishment.

Top 5 Job Titles for CFA Charterholders

According to CFAI, the most common job title for a CFA charterholder is Portfolio Manager. Below is a table representing the 5 most common job titles for CFA charterholders and which function of investment management they work in.

How Passing Level I of the CFA® Exam Can Help in Your Career Search

Those who have successfully found employment in a finance capacity after passing Level I applied the same determination to their job search as they did to studying and passing. They parlayed the techniques they used to create a CFA study plan, stick to that plan, learn the material, and stay calm on exam day to finding a job.

They networked, used personal contacts, joined a CFA society, spent hours on social media, and attended career fairs. They honed their presentation skills, worked on portraying a specific image or showcasing a specialized skill, and didn’t let themselves get discouraged. With concerted effort, this could be you. You can also use the fact that you passed as a confidence builder when going into an interview. After all, passing Level I means you have a good grasp of basic financial concepts, and that is something for which you can be proud.

Interested in more advice from CFA® charterholders? Download this free Before You Decide to Sit for the CFA Exam eBook.

Career Opportunities for CFA Level I Completed Candidates

The general consensus is that you can only get so far in a finance career if you don’t continue pursuing the CFA charter. In the eFinancialCareers research, the odds of moving up the ladder in asset management firms and corporate banks increased with each level passed, culminating in good prospects for CFA charterholders.

Those who found good entry-level jobs or gained a better position after passing Level I all said that it helped them even more if they showed they were willing to continue pursuing the charter. Some even said that it was better to put that you were a Level II candidate on your resume than to say you passed Level I. They told stories about how firms viewed the fact that they were registered for Level II very positively.

Although being a CFA charterholder doesn’t guarantee you a job, you are much more likely to advance in your career or find the perfect finance job if you’ve earned your charter.

Will AI Language Models Make the CFA Charter Obsolete?

No, ChatGPT and similar language models are nowhere close to be able to perform the tasks that CFA charterholders do on a daily basis. Remember that to become a CFA charterholder you will need on-the-job experience which cannot be replicated by any AI model.

Ready to Tackle Level II of the CFA® Exam?

If you’re excited about demonstrating your commitment to earning the CFA charter to a potential or current employer, why not get started today? Find answers to frequently asked questions about the CFA exam, or explore our CFA Level II study package options.