Looking for advice on how to switch to FP&A
Hi all,
I'm looking for any advice on how to break into FP&A roles. I started my career doing engineering and project management within infrastructure and utilities space for 5 years. My undergrad was in engineering (non-target state univ) and got my MBA from USC.
I have one BB internship, but the internship didn't work out.
Just my luck (and probably due to my unorthodox background), I only managed to land an internal strategy role at a utility company (I did receive interviews from big4, bcg and bain, but did not land anything sadly).
My current role involves some business/operations process improvements, some IT project management, some finance (capital budgeting for our assets and sometimes off-balance sheet finance modeling / project finance modeling) and some data analytics.
Basically jack of all trades master of none, and at this point I realized my resume is probably very f**k'd up. I do learn a lot because of the variety of the work and exposures to a ton of people in the organization, and it's a very stable job, but... I don't see myself doing this forever.
Back in B-school, I turned down a FDLP FP&A internship at F500 for the BB internship (which did not work out sadly), so now I was thinking maybe I should try FP&A because the path is more defined.
Can anyone give some advice on what strategies I need in order to break into FP&A? Is this even realistic given I've been out of school for almost 2 years (since Aug 2016)? Honestly, I don't mind taking a paycut at this point and don't mind taking a demotion to just entry-level analyst to get my career paths straighten up.
If anyone can give me some ideas, I'd so so so appreciate it very much...
I would say internal networking would be a good place to start, I would try and leverage the financial work you have done in your current role and let your manager know that you want to do more financial focused work in the longer term. Would also try talking to folks on your FP&A team and let them know you're interested. I would imagine the road is a little easier to go from strategy -> FP&A, than FP&A -> Strategy (currently am trying to make this move)
Thanks for your inputs. I've tried this, and basically the chances for internal transfer is slim to none.
I worked with USC's career service and have gotten a few interviews through referrals (not on campus recruiting, just referral to someone in HR) for Sr FA FPA jobs in LA area, but they always fall through.
Perhaps they're giving me interviews just to maintain relationship with the school? or perhaps they're just giving me interviews because they want to see what this idiot looks like? lol...
Also perhaps they don't think I'd stick around in FPA because my background is too weird (resume makes me look very unfocused). Not saying that I'm unfocused, just that life isn't a straight line for me.
jackofallfruits,
Wondering how your story panned out with a move to FP&A.
Thanks
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