Secondments in Finance: How to Use Short Stints to Build Experience
A six-month secondment can change the direction of a finance career.
It can give a Management Accountant their first taste of business partnering. It can give a Financial Accountant exposure to FP&A. It can give a Finance Manager experience in a different division, country or industry. It can put someone in front of senior leaders they would never otherwise meet.
Yet many finance professionals never ask for one, and those who do often fail to use the experience well afterwards. This article explains how to find, win and make the most of a secondment in finance, and how to present it on your resume.
What counts as a secondment
A secondment is a temporary move into a different role, team or organisation, usually with an agreed return. In finance, common examples include:
Moving from a central finance team to a business unit finance role
Moving from accounting into FP&A or business partnering
Joining a project team, such as a system implementation or acquisition
Covering parental leave in a more senior role
Working in another country or region within a group
Audit or advisory staff working inside a client’s finance team
Why secondments are so valuable
Secondments let you build experience without taking the risk of a permanent move. You can test whether you like a different kind of work. You can fill a gap in your experience that is holding you back. And you can build relationships across the organisation.
They also show employers that you are adaptable, ambitious and trusted. A secondment on your resume tells a hiring manager that your employer believed in you enough to stretch you.
How to find opportunities
Secondments are rarely advertised widely. You usually need to ask or be ready when one comes up.
Tell your manager what experience you want to build
Watch for parental leave, project and vacancy gaps across the organisation
Build relationships with finance leaders in other divisions
Volunteer for projects that need finance support
Ask HR whether the organisation has a formal secondment or rotation program
How to make the case
When you ask for a secondment, make it easy for your manager to say yes. Explain what you want to learn, how it will benefit the business and how your current work will be covered.
“I would like to build business partnering experience. The six-month cover in the operations finance team would let me do that while supporting a team that is short-staffed. I have spoken with Sam, who could cover my month end reconciliations, and I would hand over my reporting before I go.”
That shows planning and consideration, not just ambition.
Making the most of it
Treat a secondment as a chance to build specific evidence. Before you start, agree what you will deliver. During it, look for at least one clear improvement or result you can own. Keep a record of what you did and the outcomes.
Build relationships with the people you work with. A leader who saw you perform well on secondment can become a strong referee or sponsor later.
Returning well
Coming back can be harder than going. You may return to a role that now feels too small. You may want to stay in the secondment role. Talk to your manager before the end about what comes next.
If the secondment revealed a new direction, use it. Ask for more responsibility of that kind in your substantive role, or look for a permanent move internally.
Secondments for specific gaps
Different gaps call for different secondments. Here are some common examples.
No business partnering experience: a secondment into a business unit or divisional finance team
No FP&A experience: a secondment into the planning team during the budget cycle
No controllership experience: covering a Financial Controller or Assistant Financial Controller role
No systems experience: joining an ERP or reporting system project
No deal experience: supporting an acquisition or integration team
No international exposure: a secondment to a regional or global team in another country
Choose the one that closes the gap most likely to hold back your next move.
Handling your manager’s concerns
Managers sometimes resist secondments because they worry about losing a strong performer or leaving gaps in the team. Address those concerns directly.
Offer a detailed handover plan. Suggest who could cover your work, and how. Point out that a developed, engaged team member is more likely to stay long term. Many managers support secondments once they see the plan.
If your manager still says no, ask what would need to change for a secondment to be possible later. Keep the conversation open.
Secondments in smaller organisations
Formal secondments are more common in large organisations. In smaller businesses, the equivalent might be taking on a project, covering a colleague’s role during leave or working closely with another team for a period.
These count too. Describe them clearly on your resume, with the scope and results. A “project secondment” to lead a system implementation is just as valuable as a formal program in a large corporate.
Using it in interviews
Secondments make excellent interview stories. They show initiative, adaptability and learning. Be ready to explain why you sought the secondment, what you delivered, what you learned and how it shaped your career direction. Interviewers often find these stories more interesting than day-to-day role descriptions.
How to show it on your resume
Give a secondment its own clearly labelled entry, with dates, scope and achievements. Do not bury it in a single line.
Secondment: Finance Business Partner, Operations (six months)
Partnered the Operations Director on cost, capacity and capital decisions for a $200 million division.
Built a site performance dashboard that identified $450,000 in overtime savings.
Supported a $2 million equipment business case, approved by the executive team.
That entry tells a future employer you have genuine business partnering experience, even if your title is still Management Accountant.
Secondments outside your organisation
Some professionals take secondments with clients, suppliers, government or not-for-profits. Audit and advisory staff often second into client finance teams. These can give very different experience and valuable contacts.
Check how the secondment is structured, who employs you and what your return rights are. Then use it the same way, to build clear evidence you can present later.
Acting roles as secondments
Acting in a more senior role, such as acting Financial Controller, is a form of secondment and can be one of the most valuable. For detailed guidance, see acting Financial Controller roles.
A worked example: Financial Accountant into FP&A
Mere is a Financial Accountant at a large food processing group in the Waikato. She is strong on month end and audit, but every FP&A role she applies for asks for budgeting and forecasting experience she does not have.
The group’s FP&A Manager is short one analyst during the annual budget. Mere asks for a five-month secondment and offers a plan. A graduate will take over her balance sheet reconciliations, and she will review them weekly.
During the secondment, she builds the labour budget for two plants, rebuilds the freight cost model and presents the variance commentary at a monthly review. Her freight model finds $280,000 of costs that had been double counted in the prior year’s forecast.
When she returns, her manager gives her the monthly forecast for her own business unit. Eighteen months later, she wins an FP&A Analyst role at another business, with the secondment as her strongest interview story.
Your secondment plan: before, during and after
Before you start
Agree three clear outcomes with the secondment manager.
Confirm the length, who you report to and what happens at the end.
Hand over your current work in writing.
In the first 30 days
Meet the key people you will work with.
Learn the reports, deadlines and systems.
Deliver one small piece of work quickly to build trust.
By the midpoint
Take ownership of one improvement or project you can point to later.
Ask for feedback and adjust.
In the final month
Write up your results with numbers while they are fresh.
Ask the secondment manager if they will act as a referee.
Agree your return plan with your substantive manager.
Interview questions about secondments
“Why did you ask for the secondment?” Link it to a clear goal, such as building business partnering experience.
“What did you deliver?” Give one result with a number.
“What was hardest?” Be honest about the learning curve and how you handled it.
“What did it change for you?” Explain how it shaped the role you are applying for now.
Common mistakes
Never asking for a secondment
Treating it as a break rather than a chance to build evidence
Not agreeing goals and deliverables
Failing to plan the return
Burying the secondment on your resume
Your next step
Identify the one gap in your experience that most holds you back. Then think about where in your organisation you could fill it with a secondment. Have the conversation with your manager this month.
If you want your resume and LinkedIn to show secondments and acting roles clearly, my Gold package covers your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn and positioning strategy.
If you are unsure what experience you most need next, book a complimentary Clarity Session.
