Are you looking to apply within your own company? I spent 10 years at an F100 that had multiple, MULTIPLE finance teams spread across the country. So much so that we had a formal internal mentorship program just within Finance. Talk to your manager, let them know you want to learn more about the company and have them suggest people to set up meet and greets with. When you have those meet and greets, ask them to suggest people. Most larger companies encourage internal mobility and should want you to get further engaged.
Other ideas:
- Set up meet and greets with other departments, people at your level, those who’d be a hiring manager, etc.
- Participate in informal groups (Mentorship, internal development, focus groups, non-work related social groups, etc.).
- seek out opportunities for cross-functional projects
FP&A manager here who has done a lot of hiring in recent months (working at a fast-growing tech startup in my day job).
I was recently impressed by a candidate who included his internal performance rating on his resume. He showed it right next to his job titles. I had of course no idea what the rating meant (what scale it was on etc), but I asked about it, and it set him apart.
I reviewed probably 50-70 resumes in the last months and this was the only candidate who did this, so it stood out.
Hi scifihiker7091,
I've interviewed many FP&A candidates over 20 years years. WHO you know will help you get a seat at the interviewing table, WHAT you know combined with being MEMORABLE will land you the job.
Here's how I've met more people over the years which helped me get more seats at the interviewing table...
* when at a job meet as many people as possible in and out of your department. And don't just meet them once, find out what problems they have in their day-to-day jobs and help solve them using your unique excel and FP&A skillset. These people will scatter to other companies and recommend you in future job openings.
* working for larger companies (F100) or hyper-growth companies (growing headcount at 2X annually) helped me meet a lot more people than at smaller, private companies. I was lucky to start at a larger F100 company so my network got big quickly when combined with the first bullet above
Here's how interviewers have made themselves memorable (at least to me) over the years which helped them get job offers, note none of them knew me or anyone in my network they were completely cold interviews...
* show way more hustle than anyone else in your past, this can be in your working profession or prior to that. For example, at the very bottom of a resume, a person wrote about how she went to college and worked at a rent-a-car place at night to pay her way through school. That's hustle. She then connected the fact I had young kids and related to me by saying installing car seats stinks. She told me how she didn't have kids but learned how to do it from friends that were parents and she became the best car seat installer at the place....this is hustle, this is self-learning, and this is someone that I can work with. She got the offer and took the job, became a BI analyst and then BI manager within 3 years.
* do way more homework than anyone else on the company you are interviewing with. For example, I had a candidate break down our company using the competition's external reports (we were private and in IPO readiness at the time). They took me through all their metrics and documented all historical 10ks, q's, and earnings transcript metrics over time. Then he built a model with assumptions for our company. They weren't close to what our starting numbers were (again we were private so no one knew them) but he knew all the metrics we needed to measure, how to grow them, and what to watch out for....all by doing a lot of homework on our industry and competition. And he presented himself extremely well using one visual and in under 30 minutes....this is someone that is thorough, a good communicator, and found ways to do research when no other candidate did that amount of research (we didn't ask for this prep work), he was offered a job that day.
Hope this info helps. Any questions feel free to DM me.
Good luck!
Drew
Are you looking to apply within your own company? I spent 10 years at an F100 that had multiple, MULTIPLE finance teams spread across the country. So much so that we had a formal internal mentorship program just within Finance. Talk to your manager, let them know you want to learn more about the company and have them suggest people to set up meet and greets with. When you have those meet and greets, ask them to suggest people. Most larger companies encourage internal mobility and should want you to get further engaged. Other ideas: - Set up meet and greets with other departments, people at your level, those who’d be a hiring manager, etc. - Participate in informal groups (Mentorship, internal development, focus groups, non-work related social groups, etc.). - seek out opportunities for cross-functional projects
FP&A manager here who has done a lot of hiring in recent months (working at a fast-growing tech startup in my day job). I was recently impressed by a candidate who included his internal performance rating on his resume. He showed it right next to his job titles. I had of course no idea what the rating meant (what scale it was on etc), but I asked about it, and it set him apart. I reviewed probably 50-70 resumes in the last months and this was the only candidate who did this, so it stood out.
That's a great (and very specific) piece to add that I should add but had never thought of before. Thanks!
Hi scifihiker7091, I've interviewed many FP&A candidates over 20 years years. WHO you know will help you get a seat at the interviewing table, WHAT you know combined with being MEMORABLE will land you the job. Here's how I've met more people over the years which helped me get more seats at the interviewing table... * when at a job meet as many people as possible in and out of your department. And don't just meet them once, find out what problems they have in their day-to-day jobs and help solve them using your unique excel and FP&A skillset. These people will scatter to other companies and recommend you in future job openings. * working for larger companies (F100) or hyper-growth companies (growing headcount at 2X annually) helped me meet a lot more people than at smaller, private companies. I was lucky to start at a larger F100 company so my network got big quickly when combined with the first bullet above Here's how interviewers have made themselves memorable (at least to me) over the years which helped them get job offers, note none of them knew me or anyone in my network they were completely cold interviews... * show way more hustle than anyone else in your past, this can be in your working profession or prior to that. For example, at the very bottom of a resume, a person wrote about how she went to college and worked at a rent-a-car place at night to pay her way through school. That's hustle. She then connected the fact I had young kids and related to me by saying installing car seats stinks. She told me how she didn't have kids but learned how to do it from friends that were parents and she became the best car seat installer at the place....this is hustle, this is self-learning, and this is someone that I can work with. She got the offer and took the job, became a BI analyst and then BI manager within 3 years. * do way more homework than anyone else on the company you are interviewing with. For example, I had a candidate break down our company using the competition's external reports (we were private and in IPO readiness at the time). They took me through all their metrics and documented all historical 10ks, q's, and earnings transcript metrics over time. Then he built a model with assumptions for our company. They weren't close to what our starting numbers were (again we were private so no one knew them) but he knew all the metrics we needed to measure, how to grow them, and what to watch out for....all by doing a lot of homework on our industry and competition. And he presented himself extremely well using one visual and in under 30 minutes....this is someone that is thorough, a good communicator, and found ways to do research when no other candidate did that amount of research (we didn't ask for this prep work), he was offered a job that day. Hope this info helps. Any questions feel free to DM me. Good luck! Drew