Career Change Confidence

If I had to restart my FP&A career from zero, this is exactly what I would do: And I'd do it in this exact order. 1) Accounting fundamentals Not because FP&A is accounting. Because you can't spot what's broken if you don't know what "right" looks like. 2) Excel, properly Not VLOOKUP. Not basic pivots. Power Query. Dynamic arrays. Model architecture that doesn't collapse when someone changes an assumption. 3) A real BI tool Power BI or Tableau. Pick one. Go deep. Dashboards aren't deliverables. They're the language your business partners actually read. 4) Financial modeling Three-statement models. Scenario logic. Sensitivity tables. Build them until you stop thinking about the mechanics and start thinking about the story. 5) Business operations Walk the warehouse. Sit with sales. Ask why deals slip. The best FP&A analysts I've worked with didn't learn this in a course. They learned it by leaving their desk. 6) Communication Not PowerPoint. Not slide design. How to tell a CFO something they don't want to hear, clearly, without flinching. Most people get the first 4 right. The last 2 are what separate analysts from advisors. After 25 years, I'd still learn them in this order. The fundamentals don't expire, even when the tools do.

You've spent twenty years being "the VP of Sales" - now that's shifting and you don't know who you are without that title. That's the trap. Your title was never your identity. It was just the organizational box they put you in. How to rebuild a professional identity that survives career shifts: 1. Stop introducing by title - You're not "Marketing Director." You're a growth strategist who happens to direct marketing. Title is temporary, skill is permanent. 2. Identify problems you naturally solve - Write down three challenges people consistently bring to you. That's your professional DNA, not a job description. 3. Reframe value universally - Instead of "Head of Operations," you're "the person who turns chaos into scalable systems." Works across any company or industry. 4. Practice your new identity story - Lead with the problem you solve, not the title you hold. 5. Test in low-stakes conversations - Try the language with people who don't know your title. Adjust until it's authentically yours. Your genuine identity isn't your title. It's the unique way you create value - and that survives every reorganization, industry shift, and career transition. Sign up to my newsletter for more corporate insights: https://vist.ly/4gcw4 #careeridentity #careertransition #professionaldevelopment #careerchange #careerstrategy #personalbrand #careerpivot #professionalgrowth #careeradvancement #professionalidentity

After teaching 12,000+ students, spending 6+ years in Financial Services (including Big4s), and mentoring 1,000+ students, I’ve compiled a practical guide on what to upskill to build a career in Finance: 𝟭. 𝗖𝗙𝗔 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝟮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘀: Whether or not you sit for the exam is your choice. But borrow the CFA Level 1 & 2 books from friends and get thorough with Equity, Corporate Finance, FRA, Portfolio Management, Quants. 𝟮. 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹: Finance = analysis, and spreadsheets are the foundation. I’ve shared a 3-hour free podcast with 20+ case studies for you to get hands-on. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸. 𝟯. 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗜: Reporting is at the heart of most finance roles today. Learn at least the fundamentals. 𝟰. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴: Be able to build a 3-statement model, and understand revenue drivers, cost drivers, capex, and debt funding. 𝟱. 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Pick one sector (banking, pharma, real estate, etc.) and learn it deeply like the key players, ratios, SWOT, business cycles, govt rules. This will set you apart in analysis. 𝟲. 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀: Choose two finance domains (Investment Banking, Equity Research, FP&A, Big4 Consulting all are different) and do structured courses from good content creators. 𝟳. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀: Draft well, speak with clarity, and practice brevity. This cannot be learned in classrooms - it comes only from exposure. (I mentor on this, happy to help!) 𝟴. 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆: Invest money, apply for IPOs, do trading (small amount only), read books, listen to podcasts take bets and experiments. The more mistakes, at an early age, better it is. 𝟵. 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴: Career opportunities take time to mature. Just like childbirth, the process needs patience and effort. I once attended a "Career options in Finance for CFAs" seminar → met someone → got referred to ISB for Excel training 5 years later. So start Building - the right Ecosystem for yourself. If you know Shraddha Kapoor is on LinkedIn but don't know what is =COPILOT or FlexiCap fund or Leila Gharani or Ray Dalio or Regression then you are follwing the wrong people. Fun tip: Start watching Billions (Showtime) and Silicon Valley today. Don’t rush into Python: First master Excel, Power BI, and Financial Modelling. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽: I have 30+ mentors, and I mentor 1,000+ people. Mentors aren’t gifted - you have to earn them, don't expect free help without building rapport or providing value. 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲: Finance is important, but life is bigger than IRR, or ROI. Go on dates, follow hobbies, and be passionate & support causes. That balance will make you sharper in your career too. #ChinmayaAmteExcel

Heads we lose, tails we win. In a coin toss, we accept 50/50 odds. We do not blame the coin for landing on heads. We accept the result as a natural part of the game. Yet in our careers, we often expect a 100% success rate. A few years ago, I realised that expectation is a trap. I had spent years working toward a specific goal. When I was told that I wouldn’t be considered, it felt like a judgment on my character, not just an outcome. It felt like a verdict on my ability. So I moved to a new organisation, hoping for a reset. Instead, I hit another wall. Projects stalled. Feedback was vague. Each setback felt like confirmation that I may have overestimated my own potential. I recall saying to my mum,  “I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong.” She listened patiently as always and said,  "Heads we lose, tails we win." She was not talking about chance. She was talking about how I was interpreting the experience. In a coin toss, we decide which side counts as a win before the coin even lands. We accept our odds, then play the game. I realised I was treating every “heads” as the final verdict, instead of just a data point. That one shift changed how I showed up. I set clearer boundaries. I engaged with my network with clarity rather than quiet defensiveness. I chose environments where I didn’t have to shrink to fit. With that shift, things began to change. New opportunities surfaced, including interviews for the very role I had been working toward, and new goals I was excited to pursue. Resilience, I learned, isn’t a solo act. Sometimes we need someone to hold the mirror steady when our perspective is distorted. That’s what my mum did for me. With that support, “heads” no longer meant lack of talent. It started meaning the cost of staying in the game. If you’re navigating a tough job market or questioning your direction, here is what helped me: One outcome is a data point, not a verdict. Decide in advance what “winning” means for you. And remember: heads isn’t failure. It’s redirection. Sometimes the kind that leads you exactly where you’re meant to be.

When you’re just starting your career, the biggest trap isn’t lack of skills, it’s letting your early career show up as underconfidence. My top tip: don’t just show up, lead with curiosity. This is something I’ve been following since 2019, right when I started my career. Within my first year at IBM, I was able to set up a meeting with Rob Thomas (SVP at the time) to discuss product vision and how data science and AI tools could be incorporated into IBM’s product lines. That didn’t happen because I had years of experience, I had none. It happened because I emailed him with specific details: I showed my work from internships, sent clear questions, and laid out an agenda of what I wanted to discuss. That clarity and preparation made it worth his time. And that principle has stayed with me ever since. Even today, when I meet VPs, CTOs, or startup founders, I make sure I’m not just there to listen, I come in with intention. Here’s how you can apply this: → Share something you’ve read (a new framework, case study, or article). Lead with, “I came across this, what’s your perspective?” → Ask open-ended questions that spark discussion, not just answers. → Reframe introductions. Instead of “I’m new,” try “I’ve been exploring X, curious how your team approaches it.” → Capture your learnings. After a talk, paper, or shadowing session, write 2–3 takeaways and share them, it signals thought leadership. → Remember: humility doesn’t mean invisibility. What’s funny is that sometimes when I’m speaking with top leadership, they’ll say, “Oh, I didn’t know about that.” That’s validation: years of experience aren’t the only currency. Your curiosity, preparation, and ability to share knowledge are equally powerful. Early in your career, people don’t expect you to have all the answers. But they do notice if you bring ideas, energy, and intent into the room. Confidence isn’t about pretending you know everything, it’s about showing you’re hungry to learn, and making others want to learn with you.

WHAT'S in your backpack of baggage that stops you from climbing up the career ladder? These are your limiting beliefs ... Most of us rock up to work with a mental backpack filled with invisible baggage. The backpack is filled with limiting beliefs – well-worn but wildly unhelpful thoughts that convince us we are neither capable, qualified nor good enough. The beliefs sound innocent enough – I am not leadership material. I have never been great at presenting. I am too old to learn new tech. I am just not a people person. These are not facts but stories – often outdated – that we continue to tell ourselves as if they have been carved in concrete. In the workplace, these beliefs breed quietly but spread quickly. A colleague declines to speak up in a meeting, convinced their ideas are not worth sharing. An employee knocks back a promotion, certain they are not ready.  A manager refuses to delegate, secretly believing no one else can do the job as well.  E ven seasoned staff can get stuck in the mental mud of “it’s too late to change direction now”. Limiting beliefs are particularly fond of finding comfort in past failures. One botched presentation becomes proof that public speaking is off the table for life. A clunky first go at managing a team cements the belief that leadership is not in the DNA. Add a sprinkle of perfectionism and a dash of imposter syndrome and the mental mix becomes downright paralysing. Left unchecked, they quietly dictate which roles we apply for, meetings we speak in and chances we take. This is why we need to challenge limiting beliefs about ourselves. It starts by catching them in the act. The flicker of hesitation before suggesting an idea? The mental ‘no’ before even considering a new opportunity? That is the belief at work. From there, it is about reframing. Instead of “I’m not ready” try “I’m learning”. Rather than “I’m terrible at networking”, try “I’m improving every time I try”. A small shift in language can lead to a big shift in confidence. Behaviour breeds belief, not the other way around. When limiting beliefs run the show, workplaces shrink. They become places of hesitation rather than action, doubt rather than direction. But when those beliefs are challenged, cracked open and rewritten, something shifts. Confidence grows. Potential emerges. The ceiling lifts. The biggest barriers at work are rarely budgets, restructures or skill shortages. It is the stories people tell themselves – quietly, constantly and usually without question. #management #leadership #HR #work #workplace #aimwa #impostersyndrome #careers Cartoon used licence: CartoonStock

Redundancy is not the worst thing. Finding out your company is the only place that knows what you can do is worse. One question will tell you whether this is true for you. When I signed my separation agreement at the end of 2023, I thought I had handled the risk well. I knew the redundancy was coming, and I had another senior role lined up with a large company. Then that company restructured before I could start. That could have left me trying to explain my value from the beginning. Thankfully, people outside my employer already knew me, knew my work and knew what to call me for. So I had a choice. I could look for another corporate role, but I did not have to. That choice had taken a very long time to build. I had co-built a large community, spoken publicly, written online and built meaningful relationships with people outside my company and industry. I did not do any of this because I expected to be made redundant. But when two corporate roles disappeared within weeks of each other, the work I had built outside my job mattered. Looking back, 4 things made the difference. 👉 I built work that did not depend on my job title. Lean In Network Singapore had its own name, community and purpose. It could continue even when my corporate title disappeared. 👉 I gave people a chance to see how I think. Writing and speaking (and talking it about online) meant people knew me for more than where I worked. They could see the problems I understood and how I approached them. 👉 I built real relationships outside my company and industry. By relationship, I mean that if I call, they pick up, and if they call, I pick up. Exchanging business cards or connecting on LinkedIn does not mean you have a relationship. I built those relationships BEFORE I needed another job. 👉 I made it clear what people could call me for. Being visible is not enough if people remember your posts but cannot explain why they should involve you in an opportunity. The senior women I worry about most are not struggling. They are doing excellent work, running large teams and earning good salaries. But almost all the evidence of what they can do sits inside one company. The people who understand their value are colleagues, bosses and customers connected to that job. Their company knows exactly why they matter, but the market may know only their title. A Careerquake becomes much harder when your job disappears and you have to introduce your value from the beginning. The point is not to leave your job. It is to make sure staying is still a choice. ❓ Ask someone outside your company who could realistically hire you one day: “What would you call me for?” If they repeat your title, give several unrelated answers or go quiet, you have your answer. If the people who could hire you do not know what to call you for, you do not have a strong career. You have a strong job, and the company can take that away in one meeting.

Laid off. Let go. Restructured. The title might change, but the impact is the same. For executives and senior leaders, the emotional toll and strategic complexity of a career interruption is unlike anything you’ve faced before. You don’t just need a résumé update—you need a roadmap. I wrote this Forbes article for leaders who know they’re not just looking for their next job—they’re rethinking what’s next. 🔹 How do you make sense of the disruption? 🔹 How do you clarify your unique value? 🔹 How do you prepare for the questions you know are coming? 📘 This is not a list of generic tips. It’s a 12-strategy survival guide for navigating executive-level transitions with intention. You’ll learn how to: ✅ Build a credible Unique Value Proposition (UVP) ✅ Document accomplishments before access is cut off ✅ Use thought leadership to open hidden doors ✅ Nail your “Tell Me About Yourself” answer with confidence ✅ Develop a future-proof job search and networking plan Whether you’re mid-search, anticipating changes, or coaching others through disruption—this guide will help you take your next steps with strategy and self-awareness. 📖 Read the full article on Forbes: “Layoff Survival Guide: 12 Career Transition Strategies for Executives” 🔗https://lnkd.in/gVvFBqti If it resonates, share it with a colleague. And if you’ve experienced a career transition—what helped you most? #QualifiedIsntEnough #CareerVelocity #jobs

Job loss feels personal, but it’s rarely about your worth. Markets shift. Companies pivot. Your value doesn’t disappear just because your title did. You’ve still got years of experience, relationships, and resilience that don’t vanish with an email or an exit meeting. Take a breath, regroup, and remember that your experience and skills still have immense value. If you’ve recently been laid off, here are a few ways to regain direction and confidence: 1️⃣ Give yourself space before diving in. It’s okay to pause. Reflect on what worked in your last role and what didn’t. Clarity now will save frustration later. 2️⃣ Revisit your professional story. Your resume and LinkedIn may still reflect who you were and not who you’re becoming. Update your messaging to highlight your most relevant skills, recent results, and the kind of work you want next. 3️⃣ Reconnect with your network. Reach out to past colleagues, mentors, and peers. Let them know you’re exploring new opportunities and open to conversations. Relationships open more doors than online applications ever will. 4️⃣ Keep your routine. Job searching can feel uncertain, but structure brings stability. Treat it like any other project: set goals, track progress, and celebrate small wins. 5️⃣ Protect your mindset. Layoffs can shake confidence. Remember that this isn’t the end of your story; it’s a chapter change. You’ve built success before, and you will again. The next opportunity is out there, even if you can’t see it yet.

How to Tell Your Career Change Story | Reinventing Your Career Day 9/30 Changing careers but not sure how to explain your experience? You’re not alone. In Day 9 of Reinventing Your Career, I’m sharing how to craft a clear, confident narrative that connects your past experience to your future goals without starting over. You’ll learn: ✔️ Why your story matters more than your resume ✔️ How to identify the core thread in your career ✔️ What hiring managers actually want to hear ✔️ A simple prompt to help you reframe your experience Your background isn’t too random. Your story just needs structure.