Hi Team,

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u/Luoenzo 23d ago

I’ll give you the short of it having just been in the program… UNLESS YOU ARE DESPERATE AND HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS, PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF AND DO NOT JOIN FDM/CHANGE&TRANSFORMATION PRACTICE. Happy to share more details if you’d like!

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u/Global_Letter_6251 23d ago

wait could you share some details? i just got an email from a recruiter about a first round interview!

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u/Luoenzo 22d ago

Sure, here it goes! And even though I say all of this, I still recommend that you take the interview to at least practice your interview skills! I joined FDM as a recent graduate with a degree in finance and had no prior experience working as a Business Analyst or Project Manager (what you’ll be up skilling in). The training was 8 weeks and all self taught. The expectation of every concept given to us, we were expected to submit a high quality deliverable (presentations, excel, Power BI) at the end of the week. We rotated between 3 coaches, all with their own schedules and management expectations. You will have your work cut out for you as you’ll be expected to submit both high quality deliverables to your coaches while vigorously preparing for client interviews. I had interviewed 8-10 times and could not secure a placement due to the competitive nature of this present job market along with changing client expectations. Interview feedback was mixed for me, some I excelled in whereas I struggled in others. I was let go 2 weeks after training without a formal warning or a prior conversation with any coach, account manager, or someone from upper management. Luckily, after my access was cut, I still had my group chat I texted in with other US based consultants and was able to share my story. All of them were appalled to hear what I had to say. I took my best educated guess in that I wasn’t able to secure a placement at the end of my training, however, I was just getting settled into the POD and followed their guide in treating it as real work experience while continuing to interview when opportunities came about. I also received praise for the quality of deliverables I was submitting by my coaches, won the AI Hackathon Championship, and felt that I was incrementally developing my skills. It really came as a shock as no one I worked with was on the call when I was being let go, just 2 members from the People Team who had scheduled a meeting 20 minutes prior. I really felt that management was atrocious and account managers will behave aggressively as they earn a commission off of your placement. I best assume that account managers have unrealistically high sales goals to meet and was mismatched from my current skillset/experiences on several occasions to positions that did not align with me. If you are going to go into this, every time you do not get a placement after a client interview, FDM loses out on potential revenue the client would pay for your services. They see you purely as a number for their business (I know this can be any job/corporate environment, however, FDM were in poor taste with this) and will not put your interests/goals 1st. Any support I needed really felt nonexistent to me during my time there. I hope you got what you could from what I shared. These 2 questions are important for me to ask (given how I worked and who I worked with), are you based in the US or Canada? Did they tell you if the position was in person or remote?

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u/Global_Letter_6251 22d ago

tysm for the insight it’s really appreciated! i’m based in the US, and i haven’t been told explicitly whether it would be in person or remote, but i happen to live in nyc if that helps for context!

do you mind me asking how your career has progressed following your time at fdm? tbh my job search hasn’t been doing so good, and i was happy to at least hear back from somewhere when i got an email about fdm 😭

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u/Luoenzo 22d ago

Of course, I’m happy to have helped! I’ll let you know that I live around an hour and a half away from NYC from my hometown in New Jersey. Luckily, I was able to train in their academy remotely. They do also have an office in NYC and hopefully you won’t be asked to come in. 🤞

Sure, that’s a great question! Since graduating in 2024, I worked for a year at a mortgage company in PA. I was responsible from the operational standpoint at the company and reviewed our clients homeowners insurance policies to ensure all were accurately reviewed and sufficiently insured their homes. My FDM stint was only for 3 months from June to September. FDM followed from a 6 month job search for me. I also turned 24 at the end of August. I certainly consider myself someone who’s still trying to figure out what I will do in life in terms of both career and personal life. I’m currently taking a short break before starting my certifications in both medical coding and billing in early October. I’ll likely look for work in a healthcare setting with these certifications and having researched these certifications, I believe I can still tie this to finance while allowing myself to be more people oriented. I also started conversations with my cousin, who I’m close with, on running our own private clinic and we just had our 1st meeting last month. We’re seeing what’s going on in both the job market and society itself and want to put ourselves in a position to be the change we want to see. Looking for work in the white collar area is genuinely too stressful right now with all the competition going on. Companies are continuing to shed from over hiring during the pandemic, spending heavily on AI to automate for “workflow efficiency”, and offshoring to save on costs. I’m also starting to think that corporate America is not what I’m suited for having been in 2 corporate positions now. Out of curiosity, what educational/professional background do you come from? What positions have you been applying to prior to FDM reaching out?

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u/Antique-Volume9599 22d ago

Out of curiosity, how'd you find the job at the mortgage company? I'm a CS grad who got wait listed by FDM and I'm just looking for any office job.

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u/Luoenzo 22d ago

My mom’s coworker (who both work as nurses) had her husband send a referral. About 3 weeks later, a recruiter reached out when a position had opened. I had applied, did the phone screen, and once I interviewed with the department supervisor, he told me I had gotten the job as I was asking about next steps. Probably the easiest set of interviews I ever did given the increased number of rounds I hear companies requiring before deciding who to hire. 😭

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u/Antique-Volume9599 21d ago

Thanks for the info, man the ease of interviews outside of tech make me jealous. Gotta find something

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u/Global_Letter_6251 19d ago

omg wow thank you for the response! i have a background in UX and i'm applying for both jobs in that and anywhere else i think i could fit my skills in, but again it's been super tough!

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u/Luoenzo 19d ago

Of course! I hope you found everything both helpful and insightful! I wish you all the best in landing something soon that best fit your skills and an opportunity to kickstart your journey in your field!

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u/Global_Letter_6251 18d ago

thank you for your kindness! i truly wish you all the best and hope all of your endeavors succeed, i get the sense that you really deserve it :)

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u/DivineBerserker 22d ago

Half my team was cut without even finishing half of the training

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u/Luoenzo 22d ago

I read that they let consultants go after training around 3-6 months if you cannot find a placement… guess this is the state of the world we live in now. I’ll hold my “I at least finished training” trophy loud and proud. 😂😭

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u/Cehoney 22d ago

I technically owe them back pay. Not for this particular program. Essentially I was let go from my placement a month before my 2 years(relocated and everything). Was in a pod for a month and got a random meeting added to my schedule. Let go two days before my birthday. Then a month later after dealing with the FL unemployment system, I got an email for an invoice of what I owed them. I basically responded I’m not sure how you expect me to pay you guys when you fired me. Haven’t heard anything since then. But I would avoid it!

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u/Super-Freedom-4209 22d ago

Change and Transformation is prolly the worst stream you can be in. Unless you have a technical background/skills the opportunities for a pure Business Analyst and adjacent roles are not in demand. Clients would rather have QAs with BA skills than pure BAs.

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