Christian Dreyer, CFA, CEO, CFA Society Switzerland, speaks to Connexions about how the Society constantly aims to raise the professionalism and ethical standards of the Swiss investment profession.
Supporting CFA Program Candidates: Pilot Program
To help support local candidates who need to re-take the CFA exam, CFA Society Switzerland launched a pilot program that provided these individuals with the opportunity to speak to CFA charterholders about their preparation strategies and experience.
Read more CFA Society Switzerland called for members to volunteer their time and received a positive response. Christian Dreyer, CFA, CEO, CFA Society Switzerland, said: “This volunteering opportunity seemed to resonate with CFA Society Switzerland members, as many members have been there before. We had 72 individuals offering their time for one, or more, half an hour slots.”
CFA Institute sent email invitations to applicable candidates in Switzerland, as currently contact details for these individuals are not shared with CFA Societies, and candidates were able to book in-person or telephone meetings with a member in Basel, Geneva and Zurich. The booking process was made possible by using the scheduling platform Acuity . The platform allowed volunteers to enter their available time slots and then candidates were matched with a mentor.
“In Switzerland, candidate engagement is consistently low,” Christian explained. “We find candidates are not as engaged with the Society, despite opportunities being available.” This pilot helped to address this issue and meant CFA Society Switzerland could actively support local candidates. 40 candidates scheduled a session – equivalent to a 11.4% market share. Christian highlighted that, “Importantly, the participants that took part provided extremely positive feedback, with a Net Promoter Score of +67.”
Adekola Adebiyi, a Level III candidate from Basel, shared his experience:
Video not found or disabled: FULL CFA exam post mortem (22)
The society plans to run another pilot after the December exams. “Overall, we were very happy with this pilot project, especially with the candidates’ positive responses and the overwhelming response from volunteer members, ” Chris concluded.
Building Brand in Switzerland
As part of Society Brand Activation, CFA Society Switzerland held a high-profile event on 25 October, entitled “What in the World is Going on?”. The main goals were to increase brand awareness to high-net-worth individuals and employers, and influence practitioners. Therefore, in addition to members, this event targeted those individuals who had hiring authority but were not members.
Read more Non-members were invited with personal, mail invitations from board members. Christian Dreyer, CFA, CEO, CFA Society Switzerland, explained: “It was a huge effort to run paper invitations, as opposed to email and online registrations, but people are not used to paper invitations and, as a result, we received quite a high degree of response.”
The event was hosted at a prestigious location in Zurich and consisted of a high-profile speaker panel, including Brigadier General Tim Waugh, former NATO Chief of Staff, and reception. In total, over 90 delegates attended the event, from over 50 companies.
The event had a very high overall satisfaction from guests, with a Net Promoter Score of +50. Christian noted, “It is interesting that feedback from the audience of non-members was particularly positive. This audience was more satisfied and more likely to promote the event than members.”
To build on the success, CFA Society Switzerland is considering hosting this event every other year.
Spotlight on CFA Switzerland Spotlight on CFA Switzerland
Recognising CFA Charterholders and CIPM Certificants
In the run up to its Charter Award Ceremony, CFA Society Switzerland launched a series of charterholder recognition advertisements in the Swiss media.
Read more Funded by Society Brand Activation, CFA Society Switzerland placed full page advertisements congratulating new CIPM certificants and CFA charterholders in both the French and German-speaking parts of Switzerland.
Christian Dreyer, CFA, CEO, CFA Society Switzerland, noted, “The Society has been running this campaign for CFA charterholders for a number of years but this year, we felt it was important to also include CIPM certificants. We hope that giving a higher profile to the CIPM designation in Switzerland will increase participation.”
Using the funding, a website was developed to list the names of all 238 new CIPM certificants and CFA charterholders and acted as a landing page for the advertisements. LinkedIn posts also promoted the campaign and congratulated the 2018 CIPM certificants and CFA charterholders.
Cutting out the noise: CFA Society Switzerland launches new career center
In collaboration with CFA Institute, CFA Society Switzerland has recently launched a new career center for members and CFA candidates that will enable companies and recruiters to receive quality applications “without the noise”. Using the center, HR professionals and recruiters, will be able to find applicants that are CFA charterholders, Society members, and candidates preparing for the CFA exams.
Read more Christian Dreyer, CFA, CEO, CFA Society Switzerland, said: “We want to make the CFA Career Center the number one niche job platform that allows employers and recruiters to tap into a target group of top educate finance practitioners in Switzerland and beyond.”
This will also be a huge benefit to members and CFA candidates, as they will be able to:
Access job listings for Switzerland, as well as opportunities around the world
Create a profile and upload their CVs – these profiles can be set as private or open to companies and recruiters
Create and manage job alerts
Apply for jobs
Access all CFA Institute Career Advice (articles, webinars, etc.)
Chris added: “The CFA Society Switzerland Careers Committee came together to support the launch of the site and quickly established agreements with UBS, Credit Suisse, and Lombard Odier among others to participate as launch partner employers and provide feedback on the site during the initial promotion period.”
The society is offering complimentary job postings until 30 June 2019 and hopes this will help to promote engagement on the site.
https://switzerland.careers.cfainstitute.org/
Through these initiatives, CFA Society Switzerland is successfully raising its profile in the local market. In a recent study, Swissbanking, the umbrella organisation of Swiss banks, used the high market share of the CFA designation in Switzerland as a key proxy for the Swiss investment IQ. Christian said: "While we’re obviously pleased with that kind of recognition, it comes with the challenge to keep on raising the Swiss investment IQ by promoting professionalism and ethical behaviour for current and future members alike."
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