WF FAP Program (Salary Expectations, Growth opportunities, exit opps, etc...)
Last month I applied to the Financial Analyst Program at WF (Commercial Capital - Retail Finance). Had my first interview Friday May 14 and 3 hours after my interview (that's the fastest follow up I've ever received) I received an email that the managers wanted me to go onto the final round. They also mentioned that they wanted me to do the interview ASAP because they wanted to "wrap things up". I did my second, and final, interview the following Monday. Managers stated that they received very good feedback on me from the first interview.
Little background about myself: I have 2 years of corporate accounting/analysis experience. 4 years of analysis/project management experience with my family residential real estate business. Double major in accounting and economics from a non target/small state school in MA. Also am 3/4 of the way done with an associates degree in CS from a community college in MA. This position is located in MA and is a Full-time role. Based off of what I've said, do you guys think I'll get it? I believe I should be hearing back this week.
My Questions (If I get the job):
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What sort of salary should I expect? (position only required 0-6 months of experience)
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What is the annual bonus/raise percentage?
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What are the growth opps?
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What are the exit opps?
Lol is this troll
Oh I just realized you’re probably referring to “FAP”. No, it’s literally called FAP = Financial Analyst Program.
Surely HR could've done better with that name
100%
Hey man. Just some insight, rushed interview process bc the firm is going through a lot of turnover right now and analysts are needed to pick up the slack.
So the route for FAP is coming in as an FAP I which is hourly around mid $30s and then FAP II after a year. Depending on location FAP salary is between $70k to $85k with a 15-20% bonus.
You seem like you have experience so you should really try to come in as a FAP II or ask about fast tracking to FAP II if you come in and prove you’re a rockstar.
Wells CRE is very credit/finance based so you’d spend a lot of time in Excel but also getting early exposure to client calls and deals in real time. The teams are thin and analysts play a huge role so the experience is good, it’s a FO role starting from the first day you get brought in.
Not too sure about exit opps, maybe someone else in that industry can chime in.
Not sure how to edit comment LOL but for clarification... FAP I is hourly around high $60k a year with 10-15% bonus. And FAP II is salary around $70-$85k with 15%-20% bonus.
This varies based on location.
Appreciate the insight! It does sound like a really great opportunity. You think I’d be able to get into FAP II without any credit experience? Position is located in Boston btw.
I’m assuming 15-20% is the performance bonus? What about the yearly base salary bump?
As for exit opportunities I’ve seen from my office:
I would not enter this program with the intent of exiting. There are better jobs out there for exit opportunities.
I’ll never understand why they named it FAP haha. Anyways I’m nearing completion of the program and can pass off some insight. I think a big thing to consider with this program is how culture at each office differs. I still talk to FAs I met throughout the program and we each have had a different experience. Some become Portfolio Managers (PM) and Relationship Managers (RM) quicker than others and some find themselves in an office with not a lot of upward mobility. A lot of the time it just comes down to the right place at the right time.
I entered the program with a couple years of CRE experience, but entered as FA1. As mentioned in earlier post, with your experience you could try to come on as FA2 or asked to be fast-tracked to FA2. I never asked because even though I had CRE experience, I wanted to strengthen my credit understanding from the “ground up” and didn’t care about less pay in the short term.
As mentioned earlier, the pay ranges from $60K to $70K (at least what other analyst told me) in MM for FA1 with approximately 10% bonus. This is paid hourly when you are a FA1, and goes to salary at FA2. I was able to work as much overtime I wanted as my office was running very lean, so if I wanted to work 40hrs, no problem. However, if I wanted to take on more deals and work let’s say 70 hours my office didn’t care. FA2 salary increase about 10k with approximately 15% bonus. After FA2 you either become a PM or RM, with those salaries w/ bonus being over 100K.
Overall, I think it’s a great program for those that want to work in commercial banking/corporate banking. A lot of individuals like to rage on commercial banking comparing it to IB/ S&T, however this program allows you to live in cities and states there’s no IB/S&T. If you have any questions feel free to reach out.
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Thanks for the insight brother. I just want to ask how long did it take for you to hear back from the managers when you were applying to the job? My interviews went well and the managers mentioned they wanted to “wrap things up asap”, so i assumed I would hear back that week or the following week. Next Monday would make it 4 weeks since my first round. I’ve been applying to jobs for 7 months, so I’m just really eager to get in and start working.
Yes I don’t think I’ll ask to be placed into a FA2 position because 1. I don’t have any credit experience and 2. I’d rather learn from the ground up. As for the first year pay, my commute time daily would be about 3 hours round trip (an hour each way plus an hour of traffic)… so 15 hours a week of commuting. Having some experience and taking into account the commute, do you think it would be reasonable for me to ask for 70k/34$-hr? On my application I listed 65k as the minimum I would accept, but I’d like atleast 70k.
Coming from a small state school in MA, I never would of thought that I’d even get an interview for WF. You would think all the workers at WF are from top schools, so they wouldn’t even bother with non target schools. If I got in, I’d have no intention of leaving. From what I’ve read, it seems to be a very good position, with great mobility and can be very lucrative. It’s not often that you hear people speak highly of their role, but most posts that I’ve read have spoken highly of this program and the overall environment at WF.
If I get hired, I’ll reach out to you again and ask for any tips and ways for me to really shine. I’d like to move up as fast as possible.
It took along time for me to hear back. I can’t recall how long, around a month I’d say. As for pay, I wouldn’t try to negotiate. It’s based upon cost of living index for your office I think. So Boston should be 70k base. Plus everybody in the program gets a 5k signing bonus (unless they took that away).
I personally think upward mobility does depend upon location. However, it all depends upon the persons capabilities and some luck. A person on my team was a PM in another major city (LA, SF, NYC) and they wanted to transition to a RM position. There was no timetable when they would be made a RM so they transferred (applied through recommendation) to another office in a another large city to become a RM. 4 years later they are one of the top producing RMs in the office. They’ve told me if they never moved office they feel like would still be on the credit side.
In addition, it’s not uncommon for some people to be told they won’t be a RM in their current office. Obviously they don’t advertise this, but I’ve seen coworkers be told this and they left for other banks. I don’t blame them for this. But don’t think because you go through this program it’s a shoe in to working on the relationship management side.
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