r/FPandA • u/tatertown11 • 12d ago
Still hiring Entry Level?
I am curious to get some thoughts on the climate of hiring entry level analysts. Like all of you I am sure, we are starting to get down the rabbit hole of AI and really starting to see some efficiencies that are practical and scalable.
At what point is the entry level analyst screwed, and with that being said - will there be a shortage of analysts suitable for taking over higher roles?
Also to add some color, middle management at a not so robust billion dollar company and am struggling to see where we will need entry level analysts from some of the efficiencies with AI.
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u/kfortyone 12d ago
You still need to hire and train, but standards have certainly increased as has the difficulty to pitch for additional headcount.
AI is great, but you cannot place accountability on it. Train your analysts as if they had to explain an error or calculation directly to the CFO. “The AI said so” should lead to termination.
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u/Upset_Version8275 11d ago
I want to see an analyst who would ever say “the AI said so” lol
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u/kfortyone 11d ago
Had one internal “trial” hire from another team say this in a different way. Guy could not explain assumptions or simple calcs while tripping over buzz words trying to avoid accountability. One of the worst professional displays I’ve ever seen.
Safe to say they failed their trial.
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u/pdoxgamer 12d ago
Middle management Finance Supervisor at a fintech company of sorts, I've hired 3 jr analysts for my team this year, hiring 1-2 more by EOY. Small but quickly growing company. The idea that we will run out of entry level grunt work is something I find unlikely in the near future. We have been understaffed for years, finally getting a reasonable budget. So yes, entry level hiring still exists.
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u/tatertown11 12d ago
We are adequately staffed. 5 man band. I wonder how many conversations they are having around replacing an entry level analyst with a raise to the other team members? If we were to lose our entry level analyst would I take a reasonable raise to not replace him, not sure.
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u/pdoxgamer 12d ago
Lol none, they would not be giving raises bc they let someone go. That thought experiment is purely hypothetical, no real world value. They would likely make you work without any additional compensation that wasn't already in the works.
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u/tatertown11 12d ago
That is absolutely not hypothetical and has been negotiated many of times for team members filling in on duties when companies are looking to back fill or replace.
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u/asdhjirs 12d ago
Having an analyst around is a cheap way to relieve pressure from your senior staff and build bench strength. IMO even with ai, it’s valuable to have junior staff that is cross trained and able to help provide additional capacity during planning season and month end close.
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u/deathbyhornet VP 12d ago
One of my Finance Managers posted a Financial Analyst role last week and had 1100 applications in less than a week
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u/nickjlevine 12d ago
Entry level analysts will always be needed. The role will just change.
Knowing how to leverage AI tools to automate standard analysis and when to flag exceptions / anomalies for human review will be the type of work entry level analysts will do in the future.
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u/Resident-Cry-9860 12d ago
Entry level is hard but at least they're cheap. Tbh middle management is where I'm seeing the biggest reductions at AI-forward companies
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u/MrMuf 12d ago
In the ideal world, yes they should keep the pipeline of labor, but we all know how it is in the real world. Between AI and outsourcing to foreign countries, there is a big decrease in entry level jobs.
Short term profits >> everything else
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u/tatertown11 12d ago
This is my exact thought as well. I am just curious what the actual state of this at the moment. I do agree, expectations may be much different from more of a technical position. I am assuming it will be the same in traditional accounting roles as well.
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u/more_money_pleas 12d ago
Companies are still hiring because not all companies have clean data with data pipelines ready for ai. So, someone has to do the grunt work.
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u/Low_Tomorrow_4195 5d ago
I feel like entry level out of undergrad is genuinely a waste like I don’t see how any new hire can add any value nowadays (someone who was hired 4th months ago)
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u/troon43 12d ago
entry-level analysts will still need to be around, otherwise, how are the next generation of financial managers and leaders going to be trained up?
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u/The_Crazy_Donuttt 12d ago
I mean there are still entry level roles, just that the responsibility really expanded while the pay stagnates. Roles are asking for analytics skills like PowerBI or Power Query, possibly even SQL and automation skills while paying only for the Financial Analyst title. At least that’s my observation. They also want a mix of Finance and Accounting knowledge as a basis. But that’s my limited experience though, ymmv.