Why am I not getting interviews?? Recently laid off after 7+ years

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Why FPA and not like a Senior Biz Dev or Sales role at a place like Palantir or Fintech? Would apply to be a Deployment Strategist at Palantir with your background. 

They're looking for people with FP&A experience. FP&A isn't really about financial forecasting. It's a pretty specific function, which requires familiarity with different accounting/reporting software. You have too much experience to come in at a junior level to get experience with these products. 

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Pizz

Recently got laid off from my long-only equity HF after 7-8 years, it was my first job out of undergrad. Performance took a hit in the last 2 years, and we started getting redemptions. I got notice of my layoff last month. I decided I didn't want to continue on with the HF path, nor any path related to investing because I'm just sick of it. I've started applying for strategic finance and FP&A roles on job boards like LinkedIn, but no one is giving me any interviews (I'm messaging recruiters directly, refreshed my LinkedIn profile, etc.). In these FP&A roles, they're looking for 3-statement modeling, good financial analysis and accounting skills, strategic thinking, all of which I have. These roles usually are requiring 4-7 years of experience, which I have. 

My background is lower-tier Ivy league undergrad (Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, etc.) in Economics. I graduated with a 3.8+ GPA

I also passed the level 2 of the CFA exam. 

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm starting to get frustrated that I'm not getting anything. I have decent savings on hand, so I'm not worried about that, just more worried I don't know what I'm doing wrong here. Thanks in advance. 

PM me.  I can probably get you connected regarding FP&A roles.  

But are you getting laid though? 

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I was recently laid off and am having the same problem. I’m wondering if these firms see our backgrounds and assume we’ll leave to go back to IB/HF once the market improves. 

Strategic finance roles probably all look for an investment banking analysts looking to leave IB, and you’re super overqualified for FP&A roles. Have you ever thought about asset management roles with good WLB? Based on your hedge fund experience that would make sense

you're not getting interviews bc people look for resumes that connect the dots, and yours do not connect. "oh, this guy was an analyst a high flying hedge fund for 7 years? Why the fuck does he want this accounting job? dont they make 500k a year over there?"

A bit surprised to read this. Was in FP&A / Strategy role before and could easily see former HF guy getting an interview. I.e., unless for some odd red flag, I would likely shortlist the resume (given appropriate level position).Perhaps: 1) Numbers game - just need to apply more 2) Industry /Sector mismatch - look for more of what you covered at HF 3) Consider level of the roles you are applying for. Are you applying for too senior / junior roles? 4) Look for FP&A roles with no CD component, as coming from public markets you can be perceived as not having deal experienceGood luck

If it's only been a month, you can't really draw any conclusions from that. My job searches have typically taken 4-6 months.

Unlike another poster, I don’t recommend the business school route. Waste of 250k it was for me. No one really cares in my opinion. Business school makes sense to me if you need a break from life and don’t want a glaring employment gap, you’re not in finance and want to break into it from some random field or you think you need that M7 on your resume because you want to become and advisor or raise money or go into politics.

It’s not just the 250k you burn, you also lose out on 2 years of earning, which is like another 600k down the drain.

I think what you have to understand is that when you apply online, it’s like sending your resume into a nebulous black hole. Many times your resume is never even looked at or goes to a random third party first or is reviewed by some junior hr person who can’t tell if you’re a good fit because they don’t actually work in finance.

The hard part is actually getting someone intelligent to look at your resume. That’s why you hear the saying, it’s who you know that matters. And why when you rise in your career the best way to find a new job is through your network.

Keep applying to random linked in posts, directly on the company websites and recruiters, but keep in mind the low hit rates with that. You need to also reach out to anyone who could vouch for you like former colleagues, friends and family connections. It’s much easier to secure an interview when someone can bump your resume to the top.

In your case, you are exiting a niche world and so your former work contacts may not be players in your new space. So that could make it tough to utilize your network.

Instead of giving up on the hedge fund life, maybe look downstream to a less elite place. Because if you go down the corp dev route, you may not be able to go back to hedge fund life and make the big bucks again.

Assuming you've tried this route...but in the off chance you haven't....7-8 years is a long time....aren't there mgmt teams you've formed relationships with, even loosely, you can reach out to? 

I think for people going from buyside roles to a corporate role you need to network in. You should probably be reaching out to alumni, friends, friends of friends, etc at companies you'd want to work for. 

Someone else mentioned it, but I'll second the comment. I think a big part of it is that you're viewed as a flight risk and you're overqualified. Think about it from the hiring manager's perspective: 

• Why is this guy applying to this after 7 years at a hf? kind of late for a career change...he's probably freaking out and just trying to get something...I'd rather interview the less qualifed guy who's going to be ecstatic about this and be a lifer vs hire you and have you bail once you get another job you like better in a few months.

Not saying this is all of it, but I think it's a big piece of it. Flight risk is too high. Kind of hard to convince them you're passionate about FP&A with some strategy and the lightbulb turned on during the month you've been unemployed. I think it's dumb. Firms should hire the best. But clearly, this isn't how the real world operates all of the time.

Everyone knows that you're too good to be loyal, and you'll resign and boomerang to hedge fund the moment market gets better. They'd prefer hiring someone with average qualities but whom has shown genuine intent to stay in FP&A for the long term, not using it as a short-term gig to fill resume gap. They'll also assume that you're tooooo expensive to afford. The same thing happens everywhere. Lousy IT companies reject FAANG people. FAANG rejects HFT people. Ibanking rejects PE interns. It's called over-qualified.

What do you think of your FP&A role so far?

what was your act score?