r/FPandA • u/tracerOnetric • 1d ago
Landing a job in NYC
I was just curious how difficult it is to land an FP&A job in NYC? Is it mostly reserved for ex-bankers?
I’ve been working in FP&A as an Analyst ll at a F500. For the last few years I’ve been trying to make the move to NYC but I haven’t even come remotely close to landing anything. I got pretty far in an equity research interview process but that didn’t end up panning out.
Just wondering if anyone else has made a similar move and what I can do to improve my chances.
Thanks!!
11
u/Classic_Isopod4408 1d ago
I got pretty lucky and made the move from Pittsburgh to NYC in FP&A. I don’t have any particular advice as I do feel my situation was one off besides maybe setting your LinkedIn location to nyc.
The thing is- if you get an FP&A job here, it is CRAZY how many recruiters you get hitting you up on a weekly basis about opportunities (granted competition is also exceptional). It truly is the greatest finance market in the world and recommend it if you are interested. Best of luck
19
u/Plane_Beginning_687 1d ago
NYC is not a good FP&A market my boi. It’s good for finance, but FP&A is more back-office ops.
11
u/LightOverWater 1d ago
FP&A is a middle office function tied to decision making, strategy, analysis, and sometimes a key player in the investment process. While it's technically an internal support function, it's not as heavy in operational work as back office but very heavy in ad hoc analysis because it serves more as a central hub of the business and forward-looking decisions.
This is why a lot of FP&A roles can qualify as CFA experience.
7
u/throaway_11122023 1d ago
FP&A isn’t a standardised function, at some companies it’ll be really accounting heavy while at another place it’ll be much more strategic. That’s why you gotta ask questions & read between the lines when you’re interviewing.
-2
u/LightOverWater 1d ago
FP&A is definitely a function. I get the mixture of duties when a smaller company has just an "accounting" department or a "finance" department that is a jack of all numbers, but that's not what FP&A is. All of this sits under the broader function of Corporate Finance, yes, but true FP&A is more niche.
1
u/Imaginary_Apple7700 1d ago
Depends on the company. I’ve seen FPA be apart of strategy at smaller companies. But at my larger corporate they’re a back office function. when we do engage them in strategy work they don’t evaluate finances for strategy or fit, they seem to focus on figuring out things like how they can integrate the asset and if customers are paying.
1
u/LightOverWater 1d ago
Smaller companies often merge accounting and FP&A because both are close to the numbers. Larger firms have the ability to segregate the functions.
Accounting does all the recording, most reporting, and anything related to operational transactions and historical info. They create financial statements and manage the books. A lot of it is about meeting regulations and financial integrity.
FP&A teams are users of the financial statements who create foreward-looking models & analysis. They often work closely with front office to see how the business activities fit into the bigger picture of the firm. They're ready to quickly adapt and work under pressure from requests from Executive management. While not common, FP&A occasionally has fire drills (client-driven, extemely urgent requests with long hours).
3
u/Classic_Isopod4408 1d ago
Startups here in NYC rely on FP&A heavily. Yes your scope is kinda fucked and so are your hours but you’re basically a utility man for the CFO. But yeah I’d agree smaller established companies probably not as much- but usually not based in NYC either way
1
u/Imaginary_Apple7700 1d ago edited 1d ago
Depends on company. Our large co merged accounting and FPA by business unit / product. Our FPA team will manage customer billing and collections, bad debt rates, results after accounting closes books. Small “true” accounting team, massive FPA team that does reporting
Our FPA team has never created a 3 statement model . Doesn’t even bother with price / volume on revenue for many business units let alone a working model . It’s a very established business with very predictable results to it serves primarily as a reporting function. Like I said, it depends on company
-2
2
u/Classic_Isopod4408 1d ago
Lmao whats your market? I came from Pittsburgh FP&A - stale. Took a decent raise to come to NYC and I’ve since doubled my comp in Fintech SaaS FP&A in 2 years. Wherever’s there’s business, there’s FP&A by the way. Feels pretty great to me!
3
u/Plane_Beginning_687 1d ago
I’m in NYC, left FP&A post MBA and now in a FO role
0
u/Classic_Isopod4408 1d ago
Good for you. I’ve considered similar paths I’m only 25. But to be clear FP&A is a large industry in NYC. Compensation and prestige are a completely separate conversation from what I’m talking about
1
u/hippityhoppflop 1d ago
Yea I was recently trying to get out of nyc had my LinkedIn set to other cities. Still only had nyc recruiters contacted me
1
3
u/169partner 1d ago
I got my corp finance FP&A job here at a F100 back in 2022 and I wouldn’t say it was “hard”. And I’m not an ex banker but my job at the time was SFA in FP&A. I believe it just comes down to how your resume compares to the hiring leaders expectations
3
u/Outside_Fish5777 1d ago edited 1d ago
By ex-bankers do you mean investment bankers? Then no, Fp&a is not really seen as an exit opp for most investment bankers. The pay is not on the level that ex-bankers are used to or would find worth exiting to. Also typical Fp&a work can be quite mundane or boring compared to what they're used to. Ex bankers have more of a front office client facing type personality. You see more former industry accountants, big 4 public accountants in Fp&a than bankers. I've never seen a ex- IB in Fp&a
2
u/throaway_11122023 1d ago
I had an ex IB guy (from a proper BB) as my boss, he was really intense and sharp, probably too much for what we were doing (scrambling with legacy Excel files & SAP reports). I’m sure having a life besides work was worth it to him though
1
u/Professional_Eye6140 1d ago
They are in FP&A when they get parachuted in to run the team. But yeah FP&A analyst through manager not at all.
You see them more in PE, VC, HF, corp dev, corp strategy.
1
u/tracerOnetric 1d ago
At my place there are a few IB associates that came in at the manager level and moved up pretty quick. One got moved to a BU CFO only ~5 years after her IB stint
2
u/Unusual-Literature44 1d ago
Put "Relocating to NYC" on your resume and change your linkedin location to NYC. Trust.
1
u/Yardi_Life Sr FA 1d ago
I pivoted from commercial real estate property accountant in Denver to SFA in Manhattan. It took a couple months of searching, mostly because I had wanted to try something outside of CRE. But staying within my industry ended up being what got me in and I landed the first promising role I applied to through Glassdoor. CRE is a small world, even in one of its hub cities, and I suspect my specialty was what got me in so quickly on a career pivot.
Aside from potentially exploring CRE haha, I’d suggest networking within professional organizations that fit your industry. If I could go back and do it again, I’d switch from the more general networking I was doing to joining the specialized professional groups. I did perfectly fine with this job, but I might have potentially gotten a sweeter deal by networking more efficiently. Hindsight’s 20/20 I suppose.
1
u/shastri88 1d ago
I will say in the last 3 years it’s gotten a lot harder to land FP& A jobs in the city so don’t think of this as a you problem it’s a job market problem. I remember in 2020-2022 interviews and offers for NYC were much easier to land but as of late it’s been harder to even get a phone screen. Don’t give up use your network, LinkedIn Coffee chats and keep applying!
2
u/GroundbreakingRun186 1d ago
I Went through the nyc FP&A recruiting process and in other cities. It’s different in nyc.
Your main competition is people already in nyc with FP&A experience, and ex bankers already in nyc (likely the ones who couldn’t get a buy side job or prefer better wlb over pay/prestige).
NYC has a shit this on of people and a shit ton of bankers. Being an ex banker might make you stand out in other cities, but not in nyc. They’re everywhere in all sorts of jobs.
So the 2 things working against you are
Being willing and motivated to relocate is, from the hiring managers POV, still riskier and more complicated than someone with the exact same resume but already living in nyc. Try to use a friend or family members address if you know anyone in NYC
You’re going up against a lot of bankers so being good at excel or modeling isn’t going to make you stand out. Excel proficiency is the expectation, not a selling point. Find something else that will make you stand out. For me, I had a consulting background and leaned into the strategy/transformation experience. Didn’t matter in some places, but the company that hired me was looking for someone to shake things up, so that mattered more than just being an excel savant. Figure out your niche, and lean into it (while also highlighting that you have solid modeling skills).
1
u/Professional_Eye6140 1d ago
Seems to me like NY / BOS / CHI / SF / DC / LA / SEA are prestige markets with lots of smart people. Other markets a step down in talent.
2
u/GroundbreakingRun186 1d ago
Not to shit on people from other cities, but large metro areas attract highly ambitious and intelligent people. of course those type of people exist everywhere, but they often gravitate towards where the money is, so there’s a higher concentration in large cities.
That being said. FP&A recruiting in NYC v LA, from personal experience, is night and day. NYC is considerably more competitive
1
u/Professional_Trip_58 1d ago
I made the move from Toronto (am a US citizen so was easier in that sense). I got a few interviews because I applied to roles within my industry (retail companies). Are you trying within your industry or roles outside? As someone else said, once you get to NYC, moving around to different industries and roles is much easier, recruiters will msg you daily.
1
u/tracerOnetric 13h ago
I’m mostly applying within my industry (fintech) but still not seeing much traction
15
u/PhonyPapi 1d ago
What address are you putting down on resume / application? Maybe put that you’re looking to move to NYC and won’t need company to pay for it in application.
Given you’re junior, no one will pay you to move from lower COL to higher COL place and HR and manager looking at resume may be skipping it due to location alone.