Nate
Richardson is not only a Second Shift friend and our landlord, but he is also a
client. When his fintech company Trade It was looking for a seasoned financial
analyst for an on-going, part-time role he only had to look down the hall to
find the perfect candidates. We thank Nate for his continued support,
generosity and for giving us the space to get The Second Shift off the ground
and out of Gina’s kitchen.
Nate:
We
choose to work with The Second Shift because we didn’t need a full time
FP&A person but we definitely needed a highly skilled, professional who
could hit the ground running for our needs. The Second Shift was able to find someone
who hit all the qualifications – she had extensive experience and was incredibly
professional and responsive. When we looked through pitches, we looked at
the person’s qualifications and background – really a data driven look.
We skipped through those who wrote a novel and focused on those who used
bullet points and numbers to articulate their expertise.
What stood out
about our ultimate hire Jaime was the right combination of an understanding of our business and
expertise doing the type of occasional budgeting that we required. Her pitch
was was direct, thoughtful and professional. She had experience in a
company known for having excellent, trained and seasoned professionals in the
FP&A department which gave us a large amount of confidence in her ability
to hit the ground running.
Regarding the other
candidates, they were equally qualified with significant experience in doing
M&A, however, they did not come from companies such as Jaime’s. One of
the pitches, in particular, included too much filler “lingo” that had little relevance to
the skill set we were hiring against.
My
suggestion for Second Shift members when crafting your pitches – stay focused, use language that is easy to
digest and to the point. Let your expertise do the talking in your
resume.
Jaime’s Selected Pitch:
I have 12 years FP&A experience at Viacom with 8 years as a VP of Finance, where I developed financial forecasts and managed budgets for Nickelodeon and Logo Television networks. I’ve worked on digital advertising sales models and I would love to learn more about your exciting new business. I live just outside of NYC and can be available in the office for your proposed 4-10/month plus additional hours, if needed. Thank you.