Hello all. So to start, my ideal career (or at least my perception of it) is in banking and trying to see how realistic my chances are and if there is a chance, where on the totem pole I'll be.
My background: I'm 31 years old, non-target school (Penn State) with a BS in business management. I've been in business development and FP&A for the past 8 years in the oil industry, responsible for planning/forecasting/budgeting over $1.5B revenue per year. Should get the title of Director FP&A within the next year. I started in logistics so I have more of an operational background but I worked my way into finance by saving my companies a ton of money by doing a lot of analysis into what we were doing right and wrong. Throughout my career, I've created from scratch and ran many valuation models and evaluated over $0.5B of potential acquisitions and divestitures, and created and ran full refining operating and financial models including balance sheet and cash flow. My current company is owned by a PE firm which is really what sparked my interest in this industry as I worked with and interacted with them. I realized that they (you guys) do everything that I love to do, just more of it. I justified to them many of our acquisitions (plants) and divestitures. My strengths and things I like to do are creating and running models, acquisitions/divestitures (including due diligence and research), and evaluating costs and finding significant savings. I'm pretty self aware of my strengths and flaws, where and how I rank amongst my peers so I'm pretty confident that I can hold my own. I spend a lot of time in the details, having answers for any questions that may pop up, and spend a ton of time on formatting to make sure anything I make can easily be printed and presented both at a high level for C-levels, and the details for backup when needed.
Even if I can't directly get into the industry, I would love to work in companies under PE umbrellas for a year or two to help restructure and find ways to cut costs to boost potential earnings then move onto the next one. I'm aware of my options for consulting companies but I prefer to be working with companies for slightly longer term (2+ years). I'm confident in my skill set to take my career to any other industry because I know that not many companies and industries will ever see the complexity or amount of money even a small oil company manages but my latest interest is in finance, particularly private equity but I see how difficult that may be.
So having said all that, what do you think my chances and options are?
at 31, you are on the older side but not too old, you get be on the last edge of the window where bschoool could be an option. Otherwise, maybe try and land a gig in a FP and A role at at the portfolio company of a pe shop that you respect and see if you can work your way into the fund?
Just my opinion, but you shouldn't have any problem getting a PE or IB job, especially in oil & gas. Remember, it's not "bulge or nothing." There are probably several IBs and PE shops that would love to have that experience that you have. Also, $1.5B in sales and $500MM in M&A are nothing to scoff at.
Thanks for your comments. If I were to find a shop that values my experience, should I be expecting to start at the bottom as an analyst or come in at least as an associate?
Obviously shoot for the higher positions.
Why don't you want the director position? That sounds pretty sweet. I'd much rather take Director of FP&A over Analyst. The latter is a huge step down in terms of title. (again, not saying you'd start at analyst, but if you were desperate to get in IB and had a few offers for analyst roles)
Seems to me like you have two opportunities pretty near at hand that you could start with already:
1) Network with the guys from the PE firm that owns your current employer, seems like you're doing a good job there, so should be as good a starting point as any 2) Given your track record and experience in the oil industry, look around for PE/investment firms focusing on your industry and casually reach out
Been in similar recruiting situations, and you gotta start from where you have something you can really leverage (existing relationships, your industry experience etc)...
Thanks for your inputs. I definitely want to go for the Director title but I was just wondering if the grass is greener on the other side and if I can even get there. The salaries, the type of work, and the responsibilities seem more attractive to me in banking unless I can find a company that is sitting on a pile of cash and ready to make a bunch of acquisitions or expansions (highly unlikely with an open position for my particular title). I like to work so I don't mind the hours.
One concern I just thought of as I was reading your posts and browsing some LinkedIn job postings related to PE were that most oil related transactions are upstream (primarily related to production fields) whereas most of my career have been in downstream, refining and terminals. Just minor details that I'm sure I can adapt to when the time comes to make a decision with my future.
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