Why holding a CFA will greatly enhance your chances of getting a job at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority

Relatively speaking, with around 1,000 charter-holders, the CFA is not a particularly prevalent qualification within the Middle East. If you have aspirations to work for the world's largest sovereign wealth fund in world, however, you should consider undertaking it.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority employs 93 CFA charter-holders, which is the largest number of any organisation in the Middle East, and has another 73 staff that have passed at least level 1 of the qualification, according to its recently released 2010 annual report.

In the context of the some 1,200 people it employs, this might not seem like a particularly large figure. However, it's worth noting that the majority its people are employed in support functions and, if you want to make it into a money management role, the CFA is increasingly becoming a pre-requisite at the SWF.

"ADIA is big on education, to the point where even administrative and secretarial roles require a decent degree," says one financial services headhunter in Abu Dhabi. "The CFA is something they're keen to offer their employees - particularly UAE nationals - but if they're recruiting externally now, they always ask for this qualification."

The good news is that it's recruiting. ADIA hired for a range of functions throughout 2010 - including its private equity, real estate and its new investment services division. According to headhunters, it's maintained a steady supply of roles throughout 2011 and shows no sign of slowing, even as the global picture looks increasingly grim.

Its most recent senior hires would suggest that ADIA favours recruits from Western markets. James Kester joined last November as chief investment officer for its private equity division and Keith Collins as chief accounting officer last October.

However, it's actually a fairly diverse picture; 37% of employees are from Asia, 31% from the UAE, 11% from the broader MENA region, 11% from Europe, 8% from the Americas and 2% from Australia and New Zealand.

If we had to speculate as to a reason for these ratios, we'd suggest that the majority of Asian employees (from Singapore, India and the Philippines) would be employed in high volume support functions, that the high proportion of UAE employees are as a result of ADIA's extensive Emiratisation push, and that most European and American staff are in highly-skilled investment roles.

This is just speculation though...