Dough Life: A Day in the Life of a Canadian Tire Financial Analyst
- Canada Dough
- Jun 7, 2020
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 4, 2020
Name: Kevin Ha
Role: Financial Analyst in Retail FP & A at Canadian Tire (FAA Rotational Program)
About Me
My name is Kevin, and I am a Financial Associate Analyst (FAA Rotational program) at Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC). I am a Schulich Alumni (BBA 2019), and a Masters of Accounting Candidate (MACC 2020).
I work in the Toronto office near Eglinton Station, where I am spending my first rotation. My job is to support the Retail FP&A team, primarily in Performance Management and Client Requests - this means monitoring and analyzing category performance via company metrics and providing ad-hoc analytical support to various business groups.
Why do I love this program? It excites me when analytics come to life and provide insights that drive change. I love the Canadian Tire culture, and my role has many new challenges - I love learning something new every day.
1. What is your role? What does your job entail?
I work at Canadian Tire Corporation in Midtown Eglinton. My current role, or first rotation, is in Retail FP & A - Financial Planning and Analysis.
My second rotation: analytics and experimentation at Canadian Tire Corporation.
My role is primarily in Performance Management and Client-requests. This means monitoring and analyzing category performance via company metrics and providing ad-hoc analytical support to various business groups.
2. What does a typical day look like for you? How is your work-life balance?
This changes significantly based on my current Finance projects and the needs of the department, but generally: 20% is in meetings, 5% is networking with the corporation, 75% is completing client-based requests and performance management.
I have a great work-life balance, I can come home and relax a bit. I know that mental health is important so I find time after work to relax and have time with my family.
3. What appealed to you about this particular organization?
My commute is great (2-3 hours per day). The location (on Yonge Street near Eglinton station) has a lot of amenities around, and I hang with my coworkers nearby.
I chose CTC because of its identity in the Canadian environment. They represent Canadians, and what they value. They have great initiatives to help the community, and that’s something I care about. For example, Jumpstart helps with sports involvement, and I deeply support sports initiatives, I live near a community where sports opportunities weren’t widely available.
I played a lot of sports when I was young, and you could say Canadian Tire’s brand stuck to me. It’s recognizable, it’s tough and competitive in Canada’s Retail environment, and it’s a powerful Canadian symbol. (I collected Canadian Tire money as a kid, and I loved spending it at the stores.)
4. What aspects of your job do you enjoy? What keeps you up at night?
I enjoy the vast number of learning opportunities that were not possible during my Undergraduate career at Schulich. Being surrounded by talented and hardworking individuals, so I learn best practices regularly. Overall, I just love how much I’ve learned compared to a year ago.
Nothing really keeps me up at night. Maybe deadlines and learning Technical Acumen quickly, but I have a strong team culture that supports me, so I’m not too concerned.
RECRUITMENT PROCESS
5. What would the ideal candidate look like? Describe any relevant skills, experiences, traits, etc.
Generally, the FAA program aims for individuals with Business Acumen. This may change, as this used to be CPA-bound, but recently, they’ve moved to open the program for diversifying talent that they recruit. It's no longer accounting focused anymore, which opens up the opportunity for people with technical backgrounds, too.
Beyond that, individuals should have a positive mindset, open-minded and willingness to learn.
6. What did the application/interview process look like for you? How did you get your foot in the door?
I found out through my university’s career portal. I submitted my resume, and I was asked to participate in a 30-minute video interview - the person asked typical questions for screening (“Why do you want to join?”, talk about my Resume, I walked her through my experiences etc.).
I proceeded to the next round - 2 page Executive Summary about CTC, where I wrote about a hypothetical situation regarding CTC, and it was to test my research and critical-thinking skills. It was a fun business case.
I proceeded to the final round - I think they call it the “Super Day”, where I spent around 7 hours. During this time, it was 2 activities (One activity = For group networking with existing FAA; Second activity = Fireside Chat with the CFO, talk about CTC). This day was not just assessing me, but an opportunity for me to better know CTC from the inside-out.
There were 7-8 rounds of interviews in a row, like speed interviews (15 minutes each). There were a few surprise questions, so be ready.
Near the end, I presented the business case to 8 board members, essentially a panel presentation. In a boardroom, we presented our analysis, recommendation and conclusions, along with a short Q&A for them to understand my perspective on the case.
7. What did the application/interview process look like for you? How did you get your foot in the door?
Be genuine and authentic. I wanted to work for a company that liked me for who I was. I used to get nervous during all interviews, so I adapted a causal approach, relaxing and reminding myself to try my best.
I was very careful in the Business case. I had 5-7 peers read my case response multiple times, to make sure my solution to the CTC case made sense.
When it came to meeting new people, I was able to devise a few questions to ask about responsibilities, culture, and opportunities that the current FAAs had in the company. Most importantly, to stand out, I let my curiosity guide my questions, and I utilized a laid-back approach (i.e. reminding myself, it’s not the end of the world if I don’t get the position).
8. Looking back, was there anything you could have improved during your application process, or mistakes that you noticed other applicants had made?
I regret not bringing more water to the speed networking sessions. When you’re nervous, your mouth dries up quickly. I was beginning to get drained from the high-stress environment while maintaining higher positive energy.
Another aspect: I had to think of situations and answers on the spot as I had not prepared for that specific question beforehand, resulting in a poor response as well as being flustered. If I could do this again, I would’ve had my peers grill me with difficult questions.
I saw other applicants make this mistake: Some individuals were incredibly nervous. Remember this mindset: At the end of the day, as long as you try your best, you’ll be fine. Don’t let anxiety ruin your performance.
9. Were there any surprises in your job search experience or things you wished you had known earlier?
I was surprised about the 1:1 interview questions. They asked me creative and challenging interview questions (i.e. “You have to measure the height of a giraffe with no tools, how would you do this?”) to test if I could think on my feet.
10. What advice would you give to someone who wants to break into your role/program?
Keep in close contact with your Recruiter, or HR contact during the application process. I sent multiple follow-up emails and thank you emails. It’s important to treat others with respect.
Attend more networking events. I didn’t attend as many Canadian Tire networking events as I should have, and the events are incredibly helpful if you want to understand the roles, culture and how to get your foot in the door.
Be open to constructive criticism. They’re not trying to criticize you, they want to see how you respond on the spot, support your answer respectfully.
Finally, continue your learning journey after graduation. I began to learn new types of software and coding languages (Excel is a must, VBA, SQL, Python, etc.). Data is King, Analysis is Key, understanding customer behaviours is key to any competitive advantage.
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