Interview with a Tesla Financial Analyst
Michael answers questions about his experience working for Tesla in San Francisco, giving a detailed insight into recruitment for the job and the responsibilities of his role
Tesla's Recruitment Process
In this article Michael will answer questions about his job as a financial analyst at Tesla in San Francisco. He talks about the recruitment and how he got the job, including the interview process an what skills you need. Then he covers the in and outs of the role, from his day-to-day responsibilities, tasks and work hours.
Can you tell us about your background?
I studied at Cornell University and majored in Hotel Administration with a concentration in finance, accounting, and real estate. I graduated in the middle of 2021 and shortly after I worked at Tesla as a financial analyst. In my third year of college, I did an internship with Cushman & Wakefield over the summer, then I actually extended this with a gap semester and worked there during the peak of Covid.
How did you apply for the Tesla job?
There was an official posting online which I applied through. However, I also did some research via LinkedIn and I found someone who was a high school alumni who worked at the company, and then I also did more of a cold-message reach out to someone who I didn’t quite know but who was working on the team that I was interested in. So, I did a combination of both, reaching out to those two people on LinkedIn, to get my foot in the door and learn more about the role and the company etc.
What was the interview process?
Obviously, this was during covid so the interview process was online and a little bit different.
- First behavioral interview. This is where they asked questions such as: “what are your strengths and weaknesses”, “tell me about your resume”, “why are you interested in the job” etc.
- Excel test. Following the first behavioral interview they gave me a 30-minute Excel test, which was quite tricky as they tested to see if you could use Excel and understand some financial accounting concepts.
- Second behavioral interview. Similar style as interview as the first behavioral interview with different members of the finance team.
- Final round interviews. The final round interview day consisted of 4 to 5, 30-minute interviews with different people back-to-back. This was fairly intense, and 3 to 4 of those interviews were Excel case study tests where you had to share your screen, go through the exercise with them and come up with some insights on the scenario.
Do most analysts have previous work experience?
It’s kind of hard to say, but for the small team I worked on, I was the only analyst that came fresh out of college. Most of the other senior analysts had some experience in banking or consulting, one had internship experience at Tesla and then converted that into a full-time role. Most of the upper positions, the associates and managers, had experience elsewhere as well.
The Financial Analyst Role
What does a financial analyst do?
The label financial analyst is quite vague but I’d say the financial analyst tasks are actually quite company and role-specific. In terms of my experience, I found myself working on several different tasks.
- Updating, maintaining, and revamping forecast models
- Approving purchase requests for new developments, relocations, and expansions
- Completing ad hoc analysis, additional reporting, and side projects
What’s the company culture like?
It’s a pretty intense environment and a very high pace, with a lot of really lean teams. You won’t find lots of people on a team covering a small amount of work, so you’re going to have a lot of responsibility. Even as a fresh graduate, you'll have quite a bit of impact on the company by making thoughtful and insightful decisions on financial models and specific purchase requests. There’s a lot of work to be done, but it’s definitely a great opportunity and great exposure to a business in a really fast growing field.
How many hours did you work?
Hours vary depending on your specific role and even the time of year. From my experience, I’d say you’d wake up around 8am, or sometimes a little earlier if there’s a big meeting that needs to be put on schedule for a lot of people. Then you work your way through the day, have dinner, and then finish up a few tasks after dinner. So, maybe around 12 hours. Obviously, I had some longer days and some shorter days, it depended on if I had an important deadline due that week, or if I had some work I needed to catch up on.
I also found myself doing a couple of tasks on weekends, normally to catch up or to start on a few things earlier, but generally the workload was a lot lighter.
How much can you make as a financial analyst at Tesla?
With the base pay and the equity compensation, you’ll earn just above the $100,000 mark. Equity is a compensation that has to vest and the value of that compensation changes over time depending on how the stock price moves.
Exit opportunities as a financial analyst at Tesla?
There’s a good mix, you have quite a few people trying to build a long term career at the company and work their way up to associate, managers, directors to go down the CFO track and so on and so forth. On the other hand there’s people who leave who start their own business, or who move onto investments, so an investment firm, or asset management firm.
What advice would you give people trying to break into this role?
Technical skills are a good way to make yourself a marketable candidate. Excel is definitely a must and after that some good bonuses are SQL, some data management tools, Power BI, and maybe a little bit of Python. On top of that some financial accounting and finance courses will prove useful.
Any university courses you recommend?
A lot of the Excel oriented courses are helpful. At Cornell we had some financial modelling, and some investment modelling courses. Classes along those lines were useful. In addition to that, financial accounting courses and general investment courses are good to take. As for the technical skills, something like Python or a small statistics class would come in handy. PowerPoint is also a solid tool to have under your belt, because when you communicate with upper management or bigger parties internally that’s normally the way you go about it.
- Excel courses
- Financial modelling courses
- Investment modelling courses
- Statistics course
- SQL course
- Python course
Additional Resources
If you want to develop your skills to become a strong applicant for this role at Tesla or similar roles at Fortune 500 companies, take a look at our Excel for Business & Finance Course, our Complete Finance & Valuation Course using the get started button below.
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