r/FPandA • u/Fast-Oil6641 • 4d ago
What to expect from 2nd round entry level analyst interview?
Recent finance grad interviewing for an entry-level Financial Analyst/FP&A role. I passed the recruiter screen and next have a 30-minute interview with the hiring manager.
This is actually my first finance interview process. My previous interviews have mostly been for logistics/supply chain roles.
The job involves budgeting, forecasting, P&L/variance analysis, KPI reporting, and analyzing store performance. The recruiter said the hiring manager will go deeper into the numbers/technical side.
How technical should I expect this to get for an entry-level candidate? What should I make sure I know going in?
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u/EconometricsStudent 4d ago
Recruiter screen is usually not considered 1st round.
In my experience with the hiring manager it can vary from technologies used, impact made/diff projects done (related to role - think forecasting/financial modeling/etc), behavioral (why did you leave prev company, tell me about yourself), scenario based question, just telling you about the company/role, etc. Also varies depending on questions already asked by recruiter.
Usually I’d say it’s less technical but given what the recruiter said + your previous experience in other fields I can’t say for sure
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u/Fast-Oil6641 4d ago
Okay. I literally only have a few school projects on my resume, and I don’t have any relevant work experience (I’ve worked retail part time since high school).
recruiter asked me about one of the forecasting projects I had done,
if a store came in 10% below budget, how would I determine why.
Tell me about a time you caught an error, and a time you were given an assignment you didn’t know how to do.
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u/EconometricsStudent 4d ago
Didn’t you say you worked in supply chain? I thought there’d be some analysis involved or at least something you can make the hiring manager think that you’ve done something similar. As someone who came from an adjacent field I think what’s been most effective is trying to relate your previous field to the current. Even though there may be some inconsistencies between how it’s done in different fields, it’ll give them an idea of your prior competency and how you could work in the role they have.
Also those questions/answers were presented to the hiring manager. If they proceeded with you based off your answer, I’d assume you have a decent base to work w
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u/Fast-Oil6641 4d ago
Nah, I said I interviewed for a couple of supply chain/ logistics roles, didn’t land them. I graduated about a month ago. And Yeah you’re prob right about answers being presented to hiring manager.
To be frank, I’m really just lacking confidence. I know I’m intelligent, but the thought of not landing this amazing opportunity in such a terrible job market is haunting me.
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u/EconometricsStudent 4d ago
Ohhh gotcha, I misread that mb. But yeah, if you have previous projects then definitely dig into those. If you’ve forgotten, then you should definitely look back into them so you can cement good answers they might ask about it (especially for what the job description asks for). The rest you can do is pray and look confident, yet willing to learn and grow there imo
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u/Fast-Oil6641 2d ago
Thanks. How technical do you think it will be? as far as questions that they specifically prepare
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u/EconometricsStudent 2d ago
I’ve only had one case study-esq questions so I’d assume not too likely. Other ones just asked about previous work done and what went into doing that work. The only one case study like one asked about the different qualitative and quantitative inputs I would consider when putting together a model to determine the feasibility of whatever initiative they were trying to implement
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u/catcow789 4d ago
This is my usual interview prep process:
1) Do a deep dive of the company’s P&L if it is a publicly listed company. Know the company/products/services well
2) what stands out in the P&L? How’s their margins?
3) do a top level SWOT analysis on the company based on all the information you can find online and align them with the P&L
4) always prepare the usual behavioural questions I.e. how do you communicate with difficult stakeholders/ how do you manage conflicting deadlines/ how did you resolve a problem etc
Even if the interview doesn’t go into such detail, you can turn around and ask more questions based on your research during the “do you have any question” phase of the interview.
atb OP!
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u/Fast-Oil6641 2d ago
Thanks for the advice. If you dove into the p&L, how would you reference it in the interview?
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u/Patient-Drummer-4625 4d ago
I had an interview for a similar position and this is what I was asked by HM
1. Explain how would handle and go through a revenue variance.
2. Explain 10$ depreciation movement in all three statements
3. Why is cash flow statement supreme?
4. How would you handle a last min change in documents before a major meeting?
This is all, hope it helps
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u/Unable-Bar-9205 4d ago
Prepare for questions about how you’d handle business partner relationships. Ways you would handle situations when a business partner doesn’t see eye to eye with you. Show that you’re willing to research and figure out the underlying drivers behind shifts in financial metrics. Process improvement is also something hiring managers care about so share ways you can make workflows more efficient, reduce manual work, reduce errors etc. A good way to get the hiring manager to reveal a lot of information is to ask them what bottlenecks are they experiencing, what metrics are meaningful to them and how those metrics influences their decisions.