Advise needed for switching from Mechnical Engineer to CFA

The manufacturing sector is hurt too much in this recession, and my hu*****and got laid off as a Mechanical Designer. He is a well qualified workder with Msc. in engineering. We are in a small town and no firm is recruiting engineers nowadays. He is claiming EI and waiting. But we are afraid that the waiting period might be too long. He is in his early 30s, and we have a 2-year old to take care. So we are thinking if it's possible to pass the CFA level I exam and find a job in financial service industry? We are serious about the industry change as we don't see very bright prospect in manufacturing sector in Canada in the near future.

With his background, will the CFA be helpful? We really do want to spend years in school again.

Please give us some advise. Thanks in advance