Guide to Becoming a Financial Analyst

How to become a financial analyst

In this career guide, we will outline exactly how to become a financial analyst by networking, perfecting your resume, preparing for interview questions, telling your personal story, and mastering the art of financial modeling and business valuation.  We’ve helped thousands of people become financial analysts over the years and know precisely what it takes.

Step #1 – Match your personality with a financial analyst career map

Before jumping in head first, it’s important to know how financial analyst roles differ across the corporate finance universe.  There’s a big difference between a buy side analystBuy-SideInstitutional asset managers, known as the Buy Side offer a wide range of jobs including private equity, portfolio management, research. Learn about the job, a commercial banking analystCommercial Banking Career ProfileA Commercial Banking career path is providing clients with credit products such as term loans, revolving lines of credit, syndicated facilities, cash management services, and other fixed income products.  As a credit analyst or account manager, you deliver financial advice, and an equity research analystEquity Research AnalystAn equity research analyst provides research coverage of public companies and distributes that research to clients. We cover analyst salary, job description, industry entry points, and possible career paths. (just to name a few).

In CFI’s Career Map, we outline what type of personality is best suited to each type of analyst position.  Whether you’re introverted, extroverted, competitive, analytical, or sales oriented, will have a big impact on which role you go for.

Step #2 – Start networking (a lot)

The key to getting a job in most areas of finance is networkingNetworking and Building Relationships (Part 1)This article is part of a series of useful tips to help you find success in networking within your company. Networking plays an important part in our professional lives, starting from our job search, contiuing to joining and working in a company, and finally, advancing our careers..  Like it or not, it’s the truth.

We have several specific ideas and tips on networking that will help you out:

1. Join an investment club – Whether you’re in university or a working professional, there are many types of investment clubs available to join.  By joining a club, you’ll be able to network with other financial analysts, learn more about finance/investing, and hear about job opportunities.
2. Start a group on MeetUp.com – This goes one step further than joining a club.  By starting your own group, you can be in control of the topics covered, types of people who join, and you’ll have a perfect excuse to reach out to working professionals you want to meet — to ask them to be a guest speaker at your meetup event!
3. Use your Alumni network – Ask your university for a list of all the professionals in finance working as analysts who are willing to be contacted for mentorships and networking.  It’s an easy introduction if someone is from your alma mater. Just remember not to ask them directly for a job. Keep the discussion more about understanding what they do at their job.

Networking and Building Relationships (Part 1)This article is part of a series of useful tips to help you find success in networking within your company. Networking plays an important part in our professional lives, starting from our job search, contiuing to joining and working in a company, and finally, advancing our careers.

Step #3 – Tailor your resume and cover letter as a financial analyst

This step is fairly straightforward.  We have developed extensive resources to help you build a Wall Street quality financial analyst resume and ace multiple rounds of interviews.

For more on resumes and cover letters please refer to:

• Cover letter template (and tips)Investment Banking Cover LetterInvestment banking cover letter template. Learn how to write an investment banking cover letter (analyst or associate) with our free guide and template. In order to help you get through the screening process, we've created this guide to writing your letter for an investment banking position.
• Resume template (and tips)Investment Banking ResumeInvestment banking resume template. Learn how to write an investment banking resume (Analyst or Associate) with CFI's free guide and resume template. The IB resume is unique.  It’s important to tailor your resume to the industry standard to avoid being immediately deleted

When building your cover letter and resume (resources above), it’s important to weave a compelling personal story. The story has to clearly explain: (i) where you are coming from, (ii) where you are now, (iii) and where you want to be in the future. If you can connect these dots in a logical way and also demonstrate you’re a good culture fit, that’s more than half the battle.

Investment Banking ResumeInvestment banking resume template. Learn how to write an investment banking resume (Analyst or Associate) with CFI's free guide and resume template. The IB resume is unique.  It’s important to tailor your resume to the industry standard to avoid being immediately deleted

Step #4 – Use interview guides to ace the interview

Like most things in life, being great at interviews takes practice.  The best ways to practice are through (1) networking (as discussed above) and (2) using professional interview guidesInterviewsAce your next interview! Check out CFI's interview guides with the most common questions and best answers for any corporate finance job position. Interview questions and answer for finance, accounting, investment banking, equity research, commercial banking, FP&A, more! Free guides and practice to ace your interview.

We’ve provided below four professional interview guides that use REAL questions from REAL corporate finance interviews, used thousands of times over at global banks.

Please review our interview Q&A guides on how to be ready for any question:

• Investment banking analyst interviewInvestment Banking Interview Questions & AnswersInvestment banking interview questions and answers. This real form was used by a bank to hire a new analyst or associate. IB interview insights & strategies. Questions are sorted into: bank and industry overview, employment history (resume), technical questions (finance, accounting, valuation), and behavioral (fit)
• Equity research associate interviewEquity Research Interview QuestionsEquity research interview questions and answers. This list includes the most common interview questions used to hire an equity research analyst or associate. If you had $1 million to invest, what would you do with it? - Tell me about a company you admire and what makes it attractive. - Pitch me a stock
• Credit analyst interviewCredit Analyst Interview QuestionsCredit analyst interview questions and answers. For anyone with an interview for an analyst position in the credit department of a bank, this is a guide to ace it! Questions include the following: technical skills (finance and accounting), social skills (communication, personality fit, etc). This guide focuses solely
• FP&A analyst/manager interviewFP&A Interview QuestionsFP&A interview questions and answers. This list includes the most common interview questions used to hire for Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) jobs such as analyst and manager positions. Based on extensive research and feedback from professionals at corporations, this list has the most likely interview questions

InterviewsAce your next interview! Check out CFI's interview guides with the most common questions and best answers for any corporate finance job position. Interview questions and answer for finance, accounting, investment banking, equity research, commercial banking, FP&A, more! Free guides and practice to ace your interview

Step #5 – Master the technical skills of financial analysts

This is listed last, but it’s actually spread out over all of the above four steps.

CFI courses are specifically designed to give you the hands-on training you need to master financial modeling and become a world-class financial analyst.  By taking our courses, you’ll be sure to learn industry best practices and all the most important tips and tricks.  Our classes are based on real financial analyst training programs at Wall Street banks.

CFI courses are organized into several groups, with the most critical being:

• Accounting
• Excel
• Finance
• Financial modeling
• Advanced topics

Additional resources

Thank you for reading this CFI guide on how to become a financial analyst.  CFI’s mission is to help anyone in the world get a job as a financial analyst, and in order to help you on your way, these additional resources will be a big help:

• Financial analyst job descriptionFinancial Analyst Job DescriptionThe financial analyst job description below gives a typical example of all the skills, education, and experience required to be hired for an analyst job at a bank, institution, or corporation. Perform financial forecasting, reporting, and operational metrics tracking, analyze financial data, create financial models
• How to link the 3 financial statementsCFI Webinar - Link the 3 Financial StatementsThis CFI quarterly webinar provides a live demonstration of how to link the 3 financial statements in Excel step by step. Follow the instructor in Excel and download the completed template from the webinar. Learn the formulas and proper linking procedure to connect the income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet
• Financial modeling guideFree Financial Modeling GuideThis financial modeling guide covers Excel tips and best practices on assumptions, drivers, forecasting, linking the three statements, DCF analysis, Excel modeling and much more. Designed to be the best free modeling guide for analysts by using examples and step by step instructions. Investment banking, FP&A, research
• The Analyst Trifecta® eBookAnalyst Trifecta eBookCFI's Analyst Trifecta eBook is FREE and available for anyone to download as a pdf. Learn about Analytics, Presentation & Soft Skills, 141 pages.