Finance Manager Career at Dealerships?

[Badhobz]

I don’t know what I like more. Rats beastwars avatar or his insightful and poignant posts.

Legit !!!

[mb_]

Your skillset, experience, education sounds more suitable for a role of a Controller in a dealership or auto group than Finance Manager. Most of the finance managers I know and worked with usually came from sales and insurance.

[bcrdukes]

As Badhobz once said, 'Own your own stupidity! Double down on that shit!"

Or see my signature.

[RabidRat]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

I don’t know what I like more. Rats beastwars avatar or his insightful and poignant posts.

Legit !!!

Hey thanks for the kind words.

It's a combination of a delirious lack of sleep thanks to my kiddo (it's why I'm posting at all hours), and my job actually [ironically] turning into a bit of a sales job.

Selling people on a vision. Whether it's a product feature, resourcing plan, or a development roadmap. Asking entire orgs to concede by appealing to the promise of something greater in return. Building a common dream for more. And having a proven record to back that up. So you can see how I've gotten in the habit of typing like this. (My job description says I should shut up and get back to drawing schematics.)

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by RabidRat

Now, if you're willing to move down to the states on a TN visa (instant US work authorization under NAFTA: you're a CPA):

https://careers.rivian.com/careers-h...995?lang=en-us
Rivian
Senior Analyst, Strategic Finance


Strategic fucking Finance, at Rivian. How badass would that be?

Seriously dude. Open your mind, think of the possibilities. 13 years later you're finally willing to come out of your comfort zone, go BIG!

You're changing my mind on America. I was always told how hard it was to get a TN visa even for software engineers so I never looked at it. Wow, that'd be so sick if I could move to Cali / Washington / NY with like 5-8years of experience + CPA.

[RabidRat]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

You're changing my mind on America. I was always told how hard it was to get a TN visa even for software engineers so I never looked at it. Wow, that'd be so sick if I could move to Cali / Washington / NY with like 5-8years of experience + CPA.

Nah, getting the TN visa itself is easy.

The TN visa (FYI technically a status not a visa, but practically referred to as a visa anyway) is granted at the US port of entry just like your typical B1/B2. You bring:

1. Offer letter, with additional supporting details that corroborate the link between your qualifications and the job role.
2. Degree & professional designation support documents.

That offer / supporting letter needs to follow a specific set of criteria, and if it's too big a stretch btwn your / TN allowable qualifications vs the job role, then I suppose that could be grounds for denial. But I wouldn't worry about this if you're applying to any medium+ size firm because they retain legal teams that are super experienced preparing these kinds of letters, and know all the nuances around how to make it work.

The other reason you could be denied is if you get a real jerk at the border and they refuse you on the grounds that it seems like you have immigration intent (the TN status is strictly non-immigration intent (your work will sponsor your application for an immigration-intent H1B visa immediately afterwards)). But the legal folks will advise you on what to say, and what kind of additional supporting documents to bring if any.

As for applying to jobs and getting an offer, I suppose YMMV based on macroeconomic conditions and your industry's specifics. But I personally didn't find my ratio of job application : phone interview : on-site interview : job offer to be lower than in Canada.

• SF Bay Area / LA / San Diego / Seattle in aggregate was like 200:20:8:3?
• Toronto was maybe 20:1:1:1.
• Vancouver I think like 100:5:2:1.

I think at 5-8 years experience you're in a pretty good sweet spot. You're experienced enough to differentiate yourself (imo especially if you're applying to a niche company that you can exude genuine enthusiasm for during an interview), and not so settled in your life that it's hard to leave and start on a new adventure.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by RabidRat

The other reason you could be denied is if you get a real jerk at the border and they refuse you on the grounds that it seems like you have immigration intent

Anecdotal but I find the US agents at YVR tend to be a lot pickier than the ones in Alberta. I went through a bunch of hassle to get the right Visa (my designation doesn't fall under the TN unfortunately) and they still give me a hard time every time I go.

[RabidRat]

Yeah, could be that YVR port of entry is stricter than others (I was moving from Toronto at the time so I went through YYZ, and they were really chill).

@Gerbs, possibly the other reason you heard of a lot about software engineers having a hard time, is that they might actually have Computer Science degrees, which isn't as easy to match to the closest acceptable job type which is Engineer under the TN (they're kinda literal). I imagine you could've run into a similar thing if you had e.g. a BCom or BBA going for an Accounting job, as neither degree literally spells out "Accounting", but you do have that CPA and I think that is enough for them, per:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TN_sta...TN_professions

The legal folks might actually have to re-write the job title for a Finance role though, to fit the TN framework, like FP&A Accountant or something.

edit: ok cool n/m, found a Reddit post from someone who got a Financial Analyst job with a BCom, applied for a TN visa under "Accountant" and got through. They didn't even have a CPA. They went through YYZ, fwiw.
https://www.reddit.com/r/tnvisa/comm...t_pearson_ama/

Do ittt! Move to NYC and start a new Revscene chapter there!

[68style]

I don't know, the last guy who purported to be posting from the USA was a wee bit lost in his own world on a variety of subjects... something in the water down there

[RabidRat]

I don't get it, are you skeptical they were actually posting from the states, or skeptical about drinking the water down there, which is it?

In any case, yeah that is a risk.

[68style]

He was apparently from Chicago, showed up to call us all snowflakes and tell us white people are suffering and then left lol

[Badhobz]

you mean that non binary / tranny / conservative / depressed / cop!? what a mouth full.

[RabidRat]

Wasn't that TheSeven or something?! I remember him posting some pretty disturbing stuff in the Relationship & Gender forum. More than a decade later I can't un-remember.