Looking for FP&A roles, How to Contact Firms

Hi,

So I am trying to find more FP&A positions to apply for and I was wondering what the best way to go about finding contacts for these roles is. One person said that it's better to connect with recruiters at the firm rather than financial analysts currently working there on Linkedin. The problem I'm having is that I'm unable to add people because they don't go to my school, so when I try to add them as a connection, the only option that will allow me to connect with them is "friend", but I'd feel really weird indicating someone as a friend when I've never met them.

Does anyone have advice regarding whether to contact recruiters vs the analysts themselves and how to work around being able to add a connection without them going to the same school as you?

Thanks!

 

I've never had great success with LinkedIn, I find it works much better after I've already met the person. So, I can't really recommend this method. If you can't find a recruiter and its for a smaller company, its best to just cold call or email them and introduce yourself. Tell them who you are, what you're looking for, and what they recommend should be your next step in under a minute. You'll need to contact many firms to secure an interview, I emailed about 300 firms this past spring, of which I scheduled 4 interviews and got 2 offers.

 

AllDay is spot on. An analyst isn't going to be able to influence hiring, although I guess they could pass on your resume if they knew a hiring manager.

FP&A Roles exist at every company, they shouldn't be difficult to find. I'd connect with HR, look on Corporate websites, network with Managers and above, etc....

The only thing you'll have working against you (I assume you're in school) is that most of the large companies recruit on campus for their entry level positions. I know that's how we fill most of ours. So, all of the advice given here is true, the best roles will probably be filled by OCR.

twitter: @CorpFin_Guy
 
accountingbyday:
AllDay is spot on. An analyst isn't going to be able to influence hiring, although I guess they could pass on your resume if they knew a hiring manager.

FP&A Roles exist at every company, they shouldn't be difficult to find. I'd connect with HR, look on Corporate websites, network with Managers and above, etc....

The only thing you'll have working against you (I assume you're in school) is that most of the large companies recruit on campus for their entry level positions. I know that's how we fill most of ours. So, all of the advice given here is true, the best roles will probably be filled by OCR.

No I'm actually working right now in a corporate finance job that isn't FP&A and is at a really small company (roughly 40 million in revenue), so I'm looking to lateral to a bigger place with more opportunities for advancement,greater variety of work, and in a more interesting industry. Since I'm a recent grad, I can still access my OCR, but it's fairly limited and I'm going to need to network to break into the companies I want.

 
Best Response
westcoaster12:
accountingbyday:
AllDay is spot on. An analyst isn't going to be able to influence hiring, although I guess they could pass on your resume if they knew a hiring manager.

FP&A Roles exist at every company, they shouldn't be difficult to find. I'd connect with HR, look on Corporate websites, network with Managers and above, etc....

The only thing you'll have working against you (I assume you're in school) is that most of the large companies recruit on campus for their entry level positions. I know that's how we fill most of ours. So, all of the advice given here is true, the best roles will probably be filled by OCR.

No I'm actually working right now in a corporate finance job that isn't FP&A and is at a really small company (roughly 40 million in revenue), so I'm looking to lateral to a bigger place with more opportunities for advancement,greater variety of work, and in a more interesting industry. Since I'm a recent grad, I can still access my OCR, but it's fairly limited and I'm going to need to network to break into the companies I want.

Ohh ok, how long have you been out of school? If you graduated in May most places will probably want you to stick at your current place a little longer before looking to hire you.

Once you have a year or so of experience a headhunter can help as well. I wouldn't go spamming your resume to every head hunter, but find 1 or 2 that you like that can help you look.

Out of curiosity - where are you located?

twitter: @CorpFin_Guy
 

Tons of success with LinkedIn at f500's. Usually found the person I wanted to talk to on LinkedIn then inserted their name into the company's e-mail format -- reached out to Manager or above (Director-level is ideal) when I was looking for jobs.

Highly recommend not going through the company recruiter. No offense to HR/recruiters, but many don't know what the hell they're talking about.

 
Poff:
Tons of success with LinkedIn at f500's. Usually found the person I wanted to talk to on LinkedIn then inserted their name into the company's e-mail format -- reached out to Manager or above (Director-level is ideal) when I was looking for jobs.

Highly recommend not going through the company recruiter. No offense to HR/recruiters, but many don't know what the hell they're talking about.

Well when I want to contact analysts in the past, I just did a quick intro on Linkedin by adding my own message (for the ones I've spoken with in the past, they went to my school so it made it easy to add them) and then usually they will accept my invitation and then we start talking through email or linkedin's messaging system. Is this not the best way to do it (i.e. is it better to just do it through email using email formats online)?

 

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