What can finance students do to stand out for entry-level FP&A roles? According to 15 FP&A leaders, the answer isn’t just listing skills on a resume; it’s the ability to demonstrate their skills through real-world experience and projects.

To help students understand what they can do to set themselves apart, AFP asked finance leaders a simple question: What is one specific project or skill that college students can work on today to stand out for entry-level FP&A roles?

Their answers reveal a common theme: Employers are looking for students who can think critically, analyze data, communicate insights and take initiative long before they start their first FP&A job.

Key takeaways

Students hoping to land an entry-level FP&A job should focus on projects that demonstrate practical business skills, not just classroom knowledge.

The finance leaders that spoke to AFP recommended that students:

• Manage a real budget through a student organization or nonprofit.
• Build financial models using public company data.
• Strengthen Excel skills while also learning SQL, statistics and data analytics.
• Learn to use AI and emerging finance technologies effectively.
• Practice presenting financial insights to different audiences.
• Develop curiosity by asking business questions.
• Form a supportive working group.

These efforts help strengthen a finance student resume in preparation for FP&A internships and entry-level finance roles.

Gain real experience managing real budgets

One of the easiest ways to distinguish yourself from other candidates is to move beyond classroom assignments and begin managing actual financial decisions.

Connagh Hopkins, Head of Financial Performance at Murdoch University, recommends volunteering as a treasurer for a not-for-profit, local club or community group. “Most need support with basic bookkeeping, collation of membership data and setting up a basic ledger of accounts and reporting. This is a great way to put your knowledge into practice,” she said.

Even a modest budget for a student organization can provide experience that's difficult to replicate through coursework alone. By managing a budget, you learn how to reconcile expenses, monitor spending against expectations and communicate financial information to others.

“Taking responsibility for that budget gives students experience with real spending decisions, tradeoffs and accountability without requiring advanced modeling skills,” said Rosemary Linden, President of Momentum CFO. “To get the most from the experience, create a spreadsheet tracking budgeted vs. actual spending, investigate and explain variances, and regularly update the organization's leadership on where the club stands financially.”

With that kind of real-life budgeting experience, you’ll have concrete examples to share in an interview. Rather than saying you "understand budgeting," you’ll be able to explain how you managed a budget yourself.

Build strong analytical and technical skills

Technical skills do matter for students pursuing FP&A internships and entry-level finance positions. Today's FP&A professionals aren't simply maintaining spreadsheets; they're extracting data, analyzing trends, automating processes and helping leaders make informed business decisions.

Jeff Zielinski, CFO at Buy&Ship, believes data analytics deserves special attention: “While there are many ‘must have’ and ‘nice to have’ skills, the differentiating skills are data analytics (including SQL). Surprisingly, many mid-career finance professionals are relatively weaker in this area because they had not gotten formal training.”

He recommends taking statistics and data analytics courses seriously, highlighting the skills on your resume and demonstrating how you've applied them to solve problems.

Several finance leaders also emphasized the importance of becoming comfortable with AI in finance. “In the current world, many new solutions and hypes have companies moving quickly into adoption,” said Barry Huisman, CFO. “If you can demonstrate you have the vision and skills to implement and adapt FP&A solutions, you will stand out from the competition.”

Tyler Vonderheide, Senior Manager of FP&A Systems at Southwest Airlines, echoed that statement, stating students should understand “how to most successfully leverage AI in your career and daily job."

Hopkins added another valuable capability: understanding how data moves through business systems and how to extract meaningful information from it. “Yes, AI may be doing the task when the student gets the job, but they need to show they understand the fundamentals and are able to diagnose if there is an issue,” she said.

Learn to build financial models that answer business questions

Financial modeling continues to be one of the most valuable skills students can develop, but several finance leaders cautioned against treating modeling as simply a spreadsheet exercise. Instead, they recommend creating models based on real companies and using them to answer business questions.

“Build a mock P&L and forecast sales in Excel using public company data,” said Danny Shiu, Senior Financial Analyst. “This mirrors the standardized models and long‑range forecasts I created in FP&A roles, and it will help students stand out.”

Jason Ang, Finance Director, backs that recommendation with some additional advice: “Ideally, the financial model is based on a company that one has a good understanding of — perhaps a company the student is a customer of and can relate to. Having an actual model one has built and a story one can speak to comfortably helps inject credibility rather than simply listing a skill set, like ‘proficient in Excel.’”

Kevin Wong, Director of Planning and Analytics for Blue Bottle Coffee, recommends going deeper: “Manually type the historical financial statements into Excel because it forces you to read the line items. Figure out what drives the revenue.”  

As you build the model, Wong stresses that FP&A is about connecting operations to numbers — understanding the business logic beneath the formulas. And if you get stuck, use AI as your "senior analyst mentor" to fill knowledge gaps.

But what separates a strong candidate from an exceptional one is the ability to communicate what the model means. “It’s not the model that differentiates you; it’s your ability to explain what the numbers mean for the business,” said Omar Shahawy, Investment and Business Planning Director, Grova Developments by Hassan Allam Holding. “Write a one-page executive summary. Present your findings to mentors or peers and challenge your assumptions. Entry-level analysts who can connect finance to business decisions are far more valuable than those who just know how to build spreadsheets.”

Learn to tell the story behind the numbers

Several finance leaders stated that strong communication skills often separate good FP&A professionals from exceptional ones. “Success in the profession has intensified the need for superb interpersonal skills: the ability to influence people with data and analysis, proactive initiative to pursue projects before they are needed, and curiosity that can continually hone problem-solving skills and learning capabilities,” said Antonio Morales, Executive Partner.

Vonderheide highlighted another overlooked communication skill: adjusting your message based on your audience. It’s important to know the "level of detail on which to communicate,” he said. “What you communicate changes as your audience level changes."

A CFO, marketing manager and operations leader all need different levels of detail. Learning to communicate financial information appropriately is just as valuable as producing the analysis itself.

An anonymous contributor emphasized the importance of data storytelling. “It's not enough to analyze the numbers; you need to be able to explain what they mean, how they impact the business and what actions should be taken as a result,” they said.

To practice this skill, they advised students to “test your presentation with different audiences, especially people who are not closely familiar with the project, industry or data. Show them a slide and ask what conclusions they take away without any verbal explanation. If the key message isn't immediately clear, continue refining the slide and narrative.”

The intent of this presentation exercise is to develop both your written and verbal communication skills. FP&A professionals often present to leaders who review materials before a meeting, so a slide deck must be able to communicate main takeaways on its own.

Demonstrate curiosity and business thinking

A theme that consistently ran through all the finance leaders’ responses wasn't tied to a particular skill. It was simply curiosity.

"Understand the why behind the numbers, not just the numbers,” said Kavin Soni, Senior Financial Analyst for Google. The best candidates don't just complete assignments — they ask questions, investigate how businesses operate and look for opportunities to solve problems before someone asks them to.

“Most analysts stop at the model and reporting what happened,” said Soni. “The ones who stand out connect the numbers to an actual recommendation, and that's what makes you a real partner to the business instead of just a spreadsheet builder.” 

To practice this business partnering mindset, try this exercise that trains you to think like an FP&A professional:

1. Pick a company you use in your daily life, like your favorite coffee chain, the creator of a phone app you use or a retailer where you shop.
2. Download their most recent 10-K filing (available for free on the SEC website) and read the management discussion of operations.
3. Then, write down three specific questions:
• How does their business model generate revenue?
• What are their biggest cost drivers?
• Where are they vulnerable?
4. Research the answers using quarterly earnings calls, investor presentations or industry analysis.

By doing this exercise, you’re not just analyzing data; you’re understanding the business problems that data can solve.

Form a supportive working group

Growing your career isn’t a solo journey. You’ll make far more progress in your career when you have a supportive community. “Surround yourself with people who will give you feedback, push you to keep going and help you follow through on the extracurricular work that builds experience,” said Bryan Lapidus, FPAC, Director of FP&A Practice at AFP.

The specific format of the group matters less than the accountability it provides. In college, your support system could be a finance club, a case competition team or simply a group of friends who are all pursuing finance roles.

The payoff is that you will walk into job interviews with concrete examples — projects you’ve completed, models you’ve built, budgets you’ve managed and insights you’ve presented — that make it easy for an interviewer to see both your experience and your ambition.

Show employers you care about the work

Employers look for evidence that you’ve taken ownership of your own learning. The students who stand out to employers are those who have managed a student organization's budget, strengthened their SQL and analytics skills, practiced presenting financial insights and built a financial model to understand how their favorite company works.  

That's the initiative and curiosity hiring managers are looking for. It’s not about building the perfect model straight out of college; it’s about having proof that you're genuinely curious about the work.