Financial Analyst. What should be expected?
Sr. Financial Analyst interview. What should be expected? I can model, of course, but that's not what they're looking for. So how should I prepare? I REALLY need this job, great F50 company with great pay and salary. Cost Accounting/Revenue Management? Details from current financial analysts please. Thanks!
@arigoldness" I would focus on the job description (assuming you have one) and make sure you are able to perform financial modeling if explicitly mentioned. More importantly I would also research the company, understand its financial position, and be aware of any major news surrounding the company (i.e. potential merger, restructuring, acquisitions).
Usually Financial Analyst interviews tend to be laid back and are generally done to see how you fit into the company and the team. The work is fairly easy to grasp so I would use the job description as your guide for what to expect.
Lastly be sure you know how to use specific software such as SAP, Peachtree, or any other software mentioned and be able to understand how financial reporting is performed for generating reports (in the case of SAP how the ERP system interconnects with sales as an example).
RedRage Thank you for the feedback. So there is not job description, I had a recruiter reach out to me via LinkedIn, we had an initial chat after which she said she would pass my resume to the hiring managers/team and see if they feel like pursuing me as a candidate. She got back to me within a day, and told me I would be interviewing next week. I asked her what I would be doing exactly? She said I would be a financial analyst in either Revenue Management, Cost Accounting or FP&A.
So, not much to go on. My hunch is that they basically rape the financial statements, digging deep, forecasting and what not. But, the question is, how should I prepare? Any sample worksheet I can work on? Websites? I know they're not looking for people who can model, so to speak, so other than brushing up on my accounting, what else?
Thanks!
@arigoldness" don't take this as the end all, be all but here is how I would approach the interview:
1.) Check Glassdoor, Indeed, and other websites and see if you can find interview questions, company reviews, and other relevant information to get an idea of what opinion employees have of your position.
2.) Review the financial statements and understand how they link together and how different scenarios affect the statements. Reviewing basic accounting principles wouldn't hurt as well.
3.) Research the company and read about any major news effecting the company or the industry. You should be able to speak intelligently about this instead of regurgitating information.
4.) Financial ratios and understanding what they mean would also help. Perhaps you can Google search sample interview questions for FP&A or Financial Analyst. Also YouTube and Khan Academy have quick videos that you can watch about financial statements that will make concepts easy to understand.
I wouldn't sweat it too much but do your research and relax. Most of these roles are entry level and IMO HR and hiring managers aren't looking for someone who has 5+ years of experience in this realm so they should be understanding if you are lacking in a specific area.
Good Luck and let us know how it goes!
Not a current financial analyst but have interviewed for the roles within the past 10 years and interviewed candidates more recently. The interview should be primarily to assess fit and see if you have a basic understanding of the concepts you will be working with.
Study the industry and find a way to really "connect" with the company in some way. I'm most impressed with the candidates that can tell me why they want to work here in a really personal way (not because it's a Fortune 50 and located in their city or pays 10% above market) - it makes me think they really have tried to understand the company and want to be here.
@Managerette" Thanks for the reply! Question 1: When you do get candidates to come in and interview, apart from the cultural fit part, what kind of technical questions do you tend to ask? Do you show them the financial statements and say something like, ' What can you tell me about this company?' or what in general?
Thanks!
None. I can usually get a pretty good idea of their level of experience just by talking to them. If they have applicable work experience I may ask about what they have done in the past. If not, I'll talk about the sorts of projects they worked on in school. I will definitely ask "What would you do if __________?" questions, but they will be situational and designed to get an understanding of how you operate and what motivates you. Someone will tell you if they can do financial modeling, synthesize data, etc. and you know they aren't bullshitting if they can speak intelligently about it. Frankly; if someone can analyze the shit of of something and has the personality of a rock, no one in the business is going to want to work with them and they are not the right candidate for the job.
As long as someone isn't a complete moron my staff or myself can teach them how to use Excel or our systems. I'll even teach you technical accounting concepts and how to generate financial statements. I can't teach you to work independently, operate strategically, think logically, function collaboratively or be a self-starter. It's more about understanding a candidate's soft skills, thought process, fit, and that they have a basic understanding of finance/accounting (the general concepts of debits, credits, assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, costs and what they mean). If I can get the right people on the bus, we can develop their technical skills internally.
I know there are others that have different approaches (testing relevant experience, etc.) but they tend to be at smaller organizations with less ability to internally develop resources. You also shouldn't need to prepare for those questions if you truly have the experience they require in their job reqs. If you do have the experience and are caught off-guard it means they are not clearly defining expectations from the start, you don't want to work for those people anyways.
RedRage Been going over all the fin. statements and ratios but was wondering if I need to get into the details of EPS, Stocks etc. or is that something that financial analysts don't focus on much?
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