SAP FI

[Former Member]

Hai everyone, am  done my training in sap fi/co 6 months back from last 5 months i am not finding any opening for fresher  & they looking for 3+ exp, so please suggest me how to start my sap career…

Regards

kiran

9964582033

[Former Member]

less chances for FICO...only seniors are taken mostly...guess u can start with SAP BI/ABAP/BO.

I suggest BI since you are a fresher

[Former Member]

Hi Kiran,

You might find some good help in the SAP Career Blog Links blog. In particular, check the Advice for freshers blog. You may have set your sights too high as a fresher. You should be looking for entry level FI end user positions. Your certification was premature. Companies need to you to mature first and learn the business processes hands on before they'll trust you to give them advice on how to configure their business processes. Eventually your certification will come in handy, but not for several years. Concentrate on getting your other FI credentials (CPA or whatever) and getting hands on experience as an SAP end user. Once you've done that for a few years (and only then) you will finally be ready to think about finding a job supporting the system from a configuration perspective.

Hope this helps!

Best regards,

  --Tom

[Former Member]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your advise, Yes  you r correct that mine certification is nor done but as i told u that i have 5+ experience in that i have 4+ experience has  SAP END USER still i working as a end user in areas like AP,AR and GL reconciliation, keeping end user experience can i start my carrier in configuration.

pls suggest me on this

Regards,

  -kiran

[Former Member]

Hi Kiran,

I did not realize that you have domain experience and experience as an end user. Have you been involved in requesting any changes to the system. By that I mean most companies have a change review process. Someone finds a gap in the implemented functionality and requests that the gap get filled. A change review board evaluates the request and approves/denies it. If approved, usually the requestor but often someone in the same department gets tasked with working with the support folks to provide requirements so that the folks on the support team can create the change (in config or development) that fills the gap. Your goal is to be the person providing the requirements to the support team.

Why is this important? It shows that that you're not just thinking about the mundane day to day tasks of getting your job done, but you're also thinking about the process itself and how it can be improved. If you have a few of those under your belt, you can then try to get transferred into the support department or apply for a support job. The narrative you would tell in the interview is about how you have been involved in analysis and design of improvements.

How does this match up with your experience?

Best regards,

  --Tom

[Former Member]

Hi Thomas,

I also have a similar kind of question. I have done MBA in marketing and I have worked in the field of sales and marketing for 1.5 years. Now I want to shift my career to SAP FI/CO I have studied finance but I have not worked in finance domain and I am thinking to start CPA as well. I am not able to find a proper path to shape my career in SAP. I mean I am not able to decide that first I should concentrate on CPA or SAP. Please guide me with the same.

Regards,

wiedhy

[Former Member]

Hi Wiedhy,

Absolutely concentrate on the CPA first if you hope to have a career as an SAP FI consultant. When folks shop for SAP FI consultants, they want two things. 1) They want someone who can look at their situation and suggest alternatives. They should be able to explain the pros and cons of the alternatives from both an academic global view as well as first-hand experience. 2) They want someone who can translate whatever the decision is into SAP configuration.

Note that requirement 1 is FAR more important than requirement 2. Folks who can discuss the theory of a situation are a dime a dozen. MBA programs churn out new graduates every day. Academic background is not enough. SAP Authorized Training Centers churn out folks with SAP FI certificates every day. It only takes 25 days and a bucket of cash. That's not hard to find. What is hard to find is someone who has actually lived the life and learned hands-on.

Your goal should be to find a job at a place that has SAP installed so that you can learn about FI hands on from a user perspective at the same time as you are gathering the necessary experience to be taken seriously as someone who actually knows what they're talking about when it comes to FI. Please read the Advice for Recent College Graduate blog found at http://scn.sap.com/community/career-center/blog/2012/06/19/sap-career-blog-links.

Hope this helps!

Best regards,

  --Tom

[Former Member]

Hi Thomas,

Thank you so much for such a helpful advice. I will surely keep that in mind and focus first on my CPA and than SAP FI/CO. I have recently joined SCN and you the first person whom I have read. I really appreciate the kind of blogs you write and the kind of guidance you provide, to those who are new in the industry. Will you please advice me some books, which I can go through along with my CPA? Just to have a fair idea about SAP configuration?

Thanks & regards,

Wiedhy

[Former Member]

Hi Wiedhy,

Please check the SAP Career Blog Links blog, in particular the section on Blogs for folks interested in Certification or just in learning SAP functionality, the Books blog. I would recommend you read at least one of books in the Overviews for Business Professionals section to get a good big picture before you select a book from the Configuration - Financials and Controlling section to learn more details about the FI functionality.

Thank you for your kind words and hope this helps!

Best regards,

  --Tom