![[OC] New Graduate in Los Angeles, One year job hunt Sankey to land an entry level FP&A position.](https://preview.redd.it/hx9zwpgyhabh1.png?auto=webp&s=80360282852c6e8dc9d0221a213d008dc304ee65)
[OC] New Graduate in Los Angeles, One year job hunt Sankey to land an entry level FP&A position.
Title Edit: I can't fix the title unfortunately. For those reading, FP&A stands for Financial Planning and Analysis and it is the basically the finance department in a company that isn't a Tax or Accounting/bookkeeping job.
For those of you that are in the job hunt or are obsessed with data as much as I am, this post is for you. I know how frustrating it feels to be in your position, trust me. Even though the following is from blind applying to job boards I suggest you still spend most of your energy networking and getting referrals.
In this post you'll find a Sankey diagram that summarizes my search. Take a look!
Since I started my job search on August 23, 2025 I spent 313 days or about 45 weeks of applying to positions into what felt like a void, including over 1,100+ emails and endless calls and texts in that time.
From August 23, 2025 until July 1, 2026, I applied to a total of 806 jobs across the three major job boards; LinkedIn, Indeed, and Handshake, resulting in 29 interviews, 294 rejections, and 483 employers that didn't send updates.
To breakdown each major job board, I summarized the results as follows:
I applied to 450 jobs on LinkedIn: this led to 20 interviews, 180 denials, and 250 ghosts.
I applied to 211 jobs on Indeed: this led to 7 interviews, 106 denials, and 98 ghosts.
I applied to 145 jobs on Handshake: this led to 2 interviews, 8 denials, and 135 ghosts.
LinkedIn Application to Response Yield Ratio of 44%.
Indeed Application to Response Yield Ratio of 54%.
Handshake Application to Response Yield Ratio of only 7%.
If I were to start again I suggest most of your focus on Indeed and LinkedIn if you want to stick to the major three. Though not in my data set, I also found and heard major success from peers that use HiringCafe and Bandana.
Perseverances and networking are what tests your resilience and pays off, I promise you!
Sankey created with Sankeymatic. Data compiled manually with an Excel spreadsheet.