Lockheed Martin offer for Accounting Associate

Hi,

I just received an offer from Lockheed for an accounting associate position, with a decent starting salary. I also interviewed for the multi functional financial analyst position at another location as well..

Can anyone tell me if they both start around the same starting salary, and possibly what the average starting salary for each job is?

I am in no position to reject this offer, given the fact that I graduated May 2012, and just received my first offer..but I feel like I may get an offer for the Finance job as well, I just want to make the best career decision..

Thanks

steve

Hello Steve,

Congratulations on the offers. Just about in all cases the MultiFuncFinAnalyst positions pay more...not much more but more. I was a Non-Technical Intern with LMCO years ago. I interviewed with them one time before I graduated and twice after I graduated for full-time permanent positions but never received an offer of employment. Obviously, you did something right to get in.

I do know the salaries are nearly set in stone and about the only think you can negotiate is relocation expense and even that comes in a standard package.

On a side note, was LMCO your only interview since graduation? The reason I ask is my undergraduate degree is in accounting and I can get LMCO to interview me for everything except the accounting associate positions. For the life of I can not figure out what I need to put into my resume to get them to look at me for those positions. Can you provide me a few pointers from your resume that helped you make the cut?

Hi Steve,

Congratulations on your job offer! I actually just interviewed for an accountant associate position a few days ago. How long did it take for them to send you an offer? I feel like I did very well, but I'm at the edge of my seat waiting to find out lol

I just graduated last week, so if I get an offer starting 2013 I will be the happiest and luckiest person! Did you negotiate your salary?

Hungry,

It was approxiamtely 3 weeks before I recieved an offer, what location did you interview it, if you don't mind me asking?

I did not negotiate, I did not want to risk them revolking the offer or something haha. I felt the offer was very close to what some of my friends got elsewhere, plus lockheed offers good benefits which make up for a little difference.

Eric,

I'm not sure what I did well haha. I have 2 undergrad degrees from a pretty reputable school for accounting. I feel like you would have a foot in the door from being an intern, I did not have any personal connections there.

I interviewed at a few other smaller companies, as well as one government job, but lockheed has been my big target, and definitely the most prestigous companies I aspired to work for.

I feel like what helped me the most is to have a resume that has descriptive, solid info. I went to my career center at school and they helped out a lot, maybe you can get someone to look at it for you? I definitely recommend it!!

The only other thing I believe that may have helped me in the interview was being knowledgable about the company as of late, I feel this greatly benefited me in the screening and interview process.

steve

@ Steve

Thanks a million. I interned in Owego, NY and only had $63 in my pocket when I started. I wanted to be with them so badly I was blind to any and everything else. I slept in my car for 8 nights until my parents found out and they Western Union'd me money to get a place. Looking back it was absolutely insane for me to have done that but at the time nothing else mattered.

Good luck in your career with them. Like Steve said the benefits are great and being in accounting if you ever decide to leave the experience is transferable to the government with agencies like DCAA, DCMA, DOL, and GSA...which you will definitely work with at some point at LMCO.

Steve,

I interviewed at the Lakeland, FL location. I asked if you negotiated because everywhere I read it says that companies will expect you to negotiate nowadays, but I guess it is better to take the completely safe route where I am since I'm so desperate lol and like Eric said, the benefits are definitely there.

Eric,

I think you definitely have a leg up on almost every applicant for having interned there already. I interned at the Comptroller's office in my county, so that must have helped as well. The only thing I can think of that is stopping you from interviewing for an accounting position is not having enough accounting keywords in your resume. Did you do anything accounting-related during your nontechnical internship? If so, make sure you focus mostly on them and saturate your resume those accounting words.

@hungryaccountant

It took me a couple of years to figure out the keywording in resumes. Believe it or not my school's career center did not preach that topic prior to graduating. Only later when I applied for some government jobs did I learn about keywords.

But as I mentioned in my previous post, I was able to successfully land several interviews with LMCO. Yet at the same time I landed some elsewhere, and they made offers before LMCO. After my first no response from LMCO, I learned not to gamble too much on holding out for them to come through.

I can get past the resume scanning system, but it seems as soon as an HR specialist (or hiring manager for all i know) looks at my resume then the process stops for me. Accounting Associate positions don't come up frequently in the geographical areas I'm interested in, so it is taking me quite a bit of time to find the right mix of words to write in my cover letters. Only thing I know for sure is I do not get immediately rejected by the computer anymore for those jobs. Maybe my time is coming, maybe not.

hungryaccountant,

Good luck with everything, let me know if you get an offer! I'd be curious to know how everything works out, especially if you decide to negotiate or not haha.

Steve

Steve in Mooresville, North Carolina said: I did not negotiate, I did not want to risk them revolking the offer or something haha.

always ask for more money. worse that's going to happen is they say no- they're not going to revoke an offer.

then, if they say no to more money, ask for a signing bonus. and if they say yes to more money, ask for a signing bonus anyway. ;D

Update...I got an offer! It took approximately three weeks for it and I was so nervous while I was waiting because I was one of the first to interview..but I got it!

Steve,
I asked for a signing bonus after going through all the necessary steps I'll have to go through next, but was told that there is no signing bonus for my position (Accountant Asc). After hearing that, I didn't attempt to negotiate the salary because I felt it was decent and in reality, a lot more than the other jobs I was interviewing for.

Eric,
I hope you keep applying and land an interview. If you do, highlight your leadership and teamwork skills and be very positive about working for the company. Also, be personable by giving direct examples of experiences when answering their questions. This will separate you, I believe, by making you unique to the other interviewers. Good luck!

@hungryaccountant - Thank you for the advice. The two positions I was being considered changed to nolonger being considered.

Congratulations on your new career. You'll have a lot of opportunities. Don't forget in the future, when you have to do press conferences or television talkshows, to subliminally use keywords and phrases that lets us know this is hungryaccountant talking. I think it would be cool to say, "I remember posting with him/her on Indeed".

Hungryaccountant,

Congrats on the job offer! I start in about a week, do you have a start date yet? Also do you mind me asking what your first name is? Maybe we will be starting around the same time! It would be cool to know someone who is starting off in the same position!

Eric,
If I ever get on a talkshow, I'll make sure I give a shoutout haha

Steve,
I don't know my exact start date, but after I discussed the background check and drug screen steps, I was given a rough estimation of around Feb 4. My first name is Johnny and I also think it's awesome to know someone starting in the same position! I assume you work in NY and I'm actually from Brooklyn, so who knows, maybe I'll transfer to work in my home state of NY one day haha I doubt that will happen, but life is full of surprises. Let me know how the Multifunc Fin Analyst thing turns out!

hungryaccountant in Orlando, Florida said: I asked for a signing bonus after going through all the necessary steps I'll have to go through next, but was told that there is no signing bonus for my position ( Accountant Asc). After hearing that, I didn't attempt to negotiate the salary because I felt it was decent and in reality, a lot more than the other jobs I was interviewing for.

always ask for a higher salary before a signing bonus. one, well, there's obviously money for salary, even if there is no signing bonus money. two, it's better to have a higher salary than a signing bonus, as your salary builds on your base (think of it like a bank account and the money compounding. the more you have to begin with, the more you get when x% comes through). three, a signing bonus is often used a negotiating tactic to back you off a request for a higher salary.

@hungryaccountant - Congrats on the offer! I just interviewed for the same position in Lakeland yesterday and I think I did very well. How long did it take to receive your offer after you interviewed, roughly speaking? Maybe I'll get lucky as well and we'll be starting around the same time! Fingers crossed.

Nick,
Congrats on landing the interview! I read somewhere on Indeed that most of the selling job is the resume itself, so you've done very well to make it this far. It took me three weeks after my interview to get an offer, 22 days to be exact. So be prepared to wait haha I hope you get an offer and feel free to ask me any questions. Fingers crossed!

eggy,
If I accomplish my goal, which is to be promoted into an Accountant position or join a Leadership Development Program within two years, I'll definitely exercise my negotiating skills when the time arises. You can count on that :D

hungryaccountant in Kissimmee, Florida said: eggy,
If I accomplish my goal, which is to be promoted into an Accountant position or join a Leadership Development Program within two years, I'll definitely exercise my negotiating skills when the time arises. You can count on that :D

there will be no negotiations during promotions from associate to accountant position, and there isn't necessarily any promotion whatsoever associated with ldp. a promotion from l1 (associate) to l2 is a growth promotion which you will not have an opportunity to negotiate (and which should ideally happen at around 1 year).

eggy,
Thanks for that bit of information. Around one year is much sooner than I thought. Many of the next level positions I see on the LM site require three yrs exp, but only one yr exp w/ a graduate degree. That really makes me want to go straight into my schools MSA program. Also, I know you said that asc to accountant position is a growth promotion, but surely they can't just be given out to everyone?

Growth promotions from level 1 to 2 ARE pretty much just given out to everyone, generally in the 1-2 year mark.

It is still a very junior position.

hungryaccountant in Kissimmee, Florida said: Hi Steve,

Congratulations on your job offer! I actually just interviewed for an accountant associate position a few days ago. How long did it take for them to send you an offer? I feel like I did very well, but I'm at the edge of my seat waiting to find out lol

I just graduated last week, so if I get an offer starting 2013 I will be the happiest and luckiest person! Did you negotiate your salary?

@hungryaccountant

Are you currently working at the Lakeland location?

Hey sdp,

It took about 4 weeks, but I think it's a little longer than you should expect. I did not negotiate my salary, but if you get an offer and negotiate let me know what happens. I also am in Lakeland.

Thanks Steve.

I've already applied to some positions at that location and waiting to hear back. I am currently interning at MST in Orlando, graduating in August so hoping for an offer soon. Hoping for the best! :)

Can anyone of you with the LM offers for Accountant Assoc give me a ballpark of starting salaries they're offering? I've interviewed also but have another offer outstanding. I want to know if my other offer is even close to what LM would offer.

Thanks!

Hi Steve, any idea on what the level 1 salaries range from for a mult fund fin analyst asc position? I am expecting my offer to come in soon (the paperwork has been completed). Not sure what to expect or if I should consider negotiating if I am not pleased with it.

sdp211 in Orlando, Florida said: ...I should consider negotiating if I am not pleased with it.

You should try and negotiate even if you ARE pleased with it.

So are these offers around 40K, 45K? Just looking for a ballpark.

Hey,

I interviewed with Lockheed one month ago and still haven't heard back. Does Lockheed let you know if you didn't get the job?

sdp211/tzais01: I am unsure what range a financial anlayst would make but most entry level positions will probably be in the 40k range. You have to remember you are working a 40hour work week which greatly outweighs the larger salary someplace else. Don't forget LM is ranked in the top 10 places to start your career, so a lot of opportunities will come from this.

JR: It usually takes a month or longer before you get a response, even if you get an offer. I would not be shocked if you did not get a response telling you that you did not get a position. Keep applying, if you get one interview, you are likely able to get others.

You cannot use any number for a general strarting salary and say most entry level positions start there. It simply varies too much by position anpd location. So $40k cannot be used as a general rule of thumb - it is way too low for engineers for example.

eggy in socal, California said: You cannot use any number for a general strarting salary and say most entry level positions start there. It simply varies too much by position anpd location. So $40k cannot be used as a general rule of thumb - it is way too low for engineers for example.

We were talking about the Accountant Assoc positions in Lakeland, so that ball park answered my question.

My daughter was offered one of these positions in Lakeland this week, one month after her interview. She had already accepted a postion and started near home in Lake Mary. The salary was much higher at Lockheed though.