Help, I'm stuck in a Financial Analyst Role
Title says it all, I was an acquisition analyst who took a job as a financial analyst to move to a bigger firm. No accounting background, no accounting in the job, what I do is development, budgets for financing, financing, acquisition. I am basically the underwriter for everything, I am getting the chance to do all our debt deals by myself.
But I feel like I am pigeon holed, on the accounting side. Despite my title, I literally don't do any accounting. I don't even really talk to the CFO(quarterly not exaggerating). Also, I am not a Fund or REIT. I feel like this title doesn't let me interview at other companies, and they keep getting to low ball me in comp because I'm not an "acquisition associate/asset management associate", but I do the work of one.
Can somebody shed some light onto this, or anything plausible or creative? How should I position myself in this company and to others. Company recently brought in a head of acq with like 3 years principal experience(they told me title was inflated to give credibility), we don't work off a template and I structure/underwrite all the deals that are not single tenant NNN. I also don't report to him, but he asks me a LOT of questions, stuff he should know.
What did I just read....
Financial analyst doesn't mean accounting only. If you look at brokerage shops, all their investment sales analysts are financial analysts.
The amount of roles actually called "Acquisition analyst" are few, most of those are labelled Financial Analyst / Investment Analyst.
Sounds like an accountant that hasn't had reality set in yet imo......
Probably a good idea to start studying for the CPA.
“Financial analyst” is in no way an accounting title in real estate
I have to admit, I am confused as well as some other commentators have said. Did your duties substantially change between jobs? I mean, simplest solution is to amend your title on your resume and LinkedIn to "Analyst" if you think that really is an issue. After all, you can then describe what you do to frame as you like so long as it's accurate. Why would someone assume you are doing accounting unless you place that kind of duties on your resume? Maybe some HR/HH types are thinking you mean you are in FP&A? I guess that could be possible, but then your resume would have those duties.
How long have you been in this role with this firm? Are you trying to jump soon? so many open details here, but really, I cannot see why this is an issue unless your resume/linkedin just makes no sense.
I have a heavy debt and equity capital markets background on the sell side. Duties, didn't change they just expanded...to everything. I do financing, acquisitions, development, and portfolio management/ad hoc analysis.
I've literally been the only "analyst"(includes associate level too) at my last two companies.
Got it, honestly the only thing I can say is that it has to be one of two items (or maybe both)
1. You are not explaining your role/experience well on resume/linkedin and/or in interviews
2. You are applying (or being HH'd) for roles mis-matched for what they are looking for and what you can do.
How long have you been in your current role? And the last one?
Are you looking to do accounting? I don't understand the piece of "I feel like I am being pigeon holed, on the accounting side. Despite my title, I literally don't do any accounting."
So you say you are being segmented into accounting, but don't do any accounting? What are you looking for from this post? Have you had any conversations with your superiors?
I am not looking to do accounting, nothing wrong with it, it just doens't fit with my personality.
I spoke to my superiors, they disagree about the title, but at review talks I brought up handling the debt by myself and they agreed. So I will be doing the debt, and underwriting for acquisition. Primarily becaseu the new acquisition guy can't model and understand structure.
But, I feel like the LinkedIn recruiters always message me about this FP&A role, or that FP&A role, then when i send my resume I get ghosted. So, I think
No one should look to do accounting. vomits
I needed this response to figure out what you were asking. Just call yourself an “analyst” on LinkedIn and your resume. No one will think twice
If I'm understanding your post correctly, your title is "Financial Analyst" and your responsibilities are that of an "Acquisitions/Asset Management Analyst," but you are afraid that you will be perceived as a financial analyst in the accounting/FP&A sense because recruiters on Linkedin are hitting you up for FP&A roles? I think you are placing too much importance in your title. In my very short career in the corporate world, I've realized that titles aren't very important. I've met "Senior Analysts" who have 7+ years in development experience and would be considered Development Managers at most developers. What's most important is what you actually do at your job and I'm pretty sure every employer understands and agrees with this. Also, your title isn't technically wrong. You are a "Financial Analyst"...you analyze financials... it's just a very broad title. No one is going to ding you for not having "Acquisitions Analyst" as your title. When hiring managers skim through your resume, they will read your bullets to see what you actually did. But as others have mentioned, you can modify your title to just "Analyst", or "Commercial Real Estate Analyst," or just put "Acquisitions Analyst" if the work you're doing is actually that of an acquisitions analyst. Your potential future employer is not going to ask your current employer if your title is correct...they'll ask them what your responsibilities were and if you were a good analyst. As for the Linkedin recruiters, they just blast out messages to everyone. I've gotten recommendations for FP&A roles too from Linkedin recruiters but I only have Acquisitions/Development titles on my Linkedin
You ever think that the "senior analyst" of 7-years wants to leave for more pay but can't because he is lowballed with the title.
It's certainly possible, I can't know of their exact situation and if they've tried to leave for different roles. But I think it's highly unlikely that that's the case. From my experience interviewing and job searching, the process was always 1.) submit resume, 2.) interview, and then 3.) receive an offer and salary negotiation. From what I gather, the point of the interview is to see if I am the right fit in terms of experience and fit. In order to do this, the interviewer usually has my resume in front of them that shows the number of years I've worked at each of my previous firms and then the interviewer will ask me questions about my experience, projects, etc...I've never had a process go 1.) submit resume, 2.) receive offer/salary information nor have I ever heard of anyone ever experiencing this type of process. If the senior analysts are getting low balled because of title then they must not even be interviewing and the firms they are applying to are jumping straight to offer/salary negotiation because if the firms they applied for actually interviewed them, they should be able to gauge the senior analysts' actual knowledge and experience and also see the number of years worked on their resume before deciding salary based on just the title. Furthermore, when I look at people's resumes myself, I always look at how long they've worked at their previous firms to gauge experience and not just at title. I think most competent hiring managers understand that title can be very different from firm to firm. Alternatively, it is possible that the firms the senior analysts are applying to are basing interviews/offers entirely on titles, but I think most firms/hiring managers would agree that this is a very poor way of screening candidates and gauging experience level.
It sounds like you're not marketing yourself or describing your current functions well enough when you interview. It doesn't matter if you're called an Investment Analyst vs Financial Analyst vs just plain Analyst. As long as your responsibilities obviously involves underwriting/investment analysis work, people will understand what you do. If it really bothers you, then do what others in this thread have said and just give yourself a slightly different title on your LinkedIn and resume.
Anyone know of recruiters who could help if you're legitimately stuck in a Financial Analyst focused role after 4-5 years (with some capital markets activity), other than sinking $200K into debt for a MBA?
You could/should send your resume into the various HH firms if you are at the approx 5 year mark, that tends to be where they start taking an interest in tracking people. Just know, they work for the employers who pay them, not the candidates... so don't expect responses or really "help". If you can help them by filling the role they are retained to fill, then you are valuable. The legit firms won't shotgun your resume around.
Thank you very much for the thoughtful response. This is likely where I'll attack next outside of warm/cold networking. I haven't actually tried to go through a HH firm but rather worked with the HH's who have reached out, but those typically have been more the traditional finance department route.
Are you trying to switch jobs? I am in a similar position as you and have had similar thoughts. I’m not on the accounting side but get hit up on LinkedIn all the time for FP&A positions. If it bothers you, make your title on LinkedIn “financial analyst, underwriting” or “financial analyst, development” and in the description briefly list your duties. Then ignore the recruiters bc they blast everybody possible. If you’re not switching jobs, then don’t worry about it and maybe bring it up to your boss how you want to change your title to be investment analyst or something slightly different. Titles are just titles at the end of the day
Edit: if you are changing jobs - what position are you seeking?
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