Real-time market moves, high-stakes decisions, and a shot at a CFA Program Scholarship — this is not your average classroom experience.
For students wondering what a career in investment is actually like, the CFA Institute has teamed up with global financial trading and training firm AmplifyME to launch a global competition to give students the experience and the chance to win a scholarship.
From September 22 to November 25, full-time university students from around the globe will be able to assume asset manager and investment banking trader roles in the Investing Simulator Challenge using AmplifyME’s platform designed to let employers test an applicant’s capacity for quick thinking. Students do not have to be CFA members to enter the contest.
During the two-hour simulation, participants will respond to news and changing market data with investment and trading decisions. Peter Watkins, the CFA Institute’s senior director of university programs, told Institutional Investor that the program is designed to give students that experiential learning that companies crave.
“It’s very hard to get that experience,” Watkins said, adding that “the vast majority” of internships don’t give students the experience they need and don’t provide them with the ability to get the role they’re looking for. “There’s not enough and not enough of the right kind.”
The competition joins other initiatives the CFA Institute has launched to provide applied learning like its research and ethics challenges. Recent data from a recent CFA Institute survey shows that young professionals are turning to the finance sector for resilient careers that promise meaningful growth, with most reporting that “real world” skills acquired (56 percent) and work experience (54 percent) are giving them the biggest edge in today’s competitive job market.
The institute has spots for over 2,500 participants, which Watkins is confident will be filled. The top 10 percent of participants from each region will advance to the global final on December 2, where they’ll compete for international recognition and the chance to win a CFA Program Scholarship.
