This advice is given with the permission of Daniel Potash, Managing Partner, Power Project Financing, San Anselmo, CA.  We echo that advice in the financial sector too.  It is critical to get a real job and qualification (two better) before tackling the financial/advisory sector as a career.

Advice to Job Seekers

Power Project Financing has maintained a world-wide web site since 1995, and as a result we've received a great many inquiries from students all around the world seeking employment with us. In order to save time in the future, I thought I would reply to everyone at once.

Dear student seeking a job with Power Project Financing:

I'm sorry to say that we don't have any entry-level positions open at Power Project Financing  [or at International Advisory & Finance - Ed.] at the present time. But I can offer you some free advice about your career search and about what's going on in the independent power industry. The free advice, by the way, is worth every penny.

First of all, your letter states that you would like to call us to "generally discuss the independent power industry." I regret to tell you that we're very busy here at PPF, and we don't have time to generally discuss the industry or to provide one-on-one general career advice. Everyone I know in the IPP industry is also very busy, so you shouldn't call them either. Instead, I recommend that you call my father, who is 1) retired and 2) has advice for everyone.

Please don't think that we are loathe to talk to job-seekers. Actually we're pleased to offer advice and leads for someone who has done their homework on the industry, knows what they want, knows what they have to offer, and has shown initiative in research prior to calling. Out of the hundreds of resumes we receive each year, there are a few enterprising souls who make us look good by letting us refer them onto others.

Your letter states that you would "find the world of independent power to be exciting and interesting." Like you, I find the world of independent power to be exciting and interesting, but I can assure you that my clients (that is, PPF's employers) have no interest at all in how excited or interested is my workday. Rather, PPF's clients are interested in solid advice about the what, who, when, and where of project financing.

Here's some background about Power Project Financing. PPF is a specialized consulting outfit helping power plant developers obtain financing for building power projects around the world. We also advise governments on dealing with power sector privatization and how to deal with privately financed independent power. Our market niche is in 20 to 100 MW power plants, industrial cogeneration, and obtaining capital for development and equity financing.

We have a lot of work to do for clients who, like us, keep a tight rein on expenses. Our clients tend to be slowly successful over the long haul. They shun publicity, they tend to act against conventional wisdom, and their reaction to spending money for expensive consultants, lawyers, and conferences is, well, let's say "reserved." Yet even without mahogany furniture and first class tickets, they are able to win mandates, get permits, get financing, and build power plants.

The IPP business is changing so fast, with difficult judgments called for about an ever-changing crop of decisions. As a result of all this, there isn't much room in anyone's budget for entry-level training.

One of the challenges ("challenge" is MBA terminology for "tsuris") that we have at PPF is that the expertise required to develop a power plant covers many disparate fields. These different skills are called for in different workloads at different times, and if that isn't enough, in different languages.

Solving problems in developing power plants is a multi-dimensional moving target, and it is important not to get bogged down inappropriately in any one area. Mostly in our business we need to quickly turn out a decent answer quickly rather than an exhaustive research program.

One piece of advice we often give is to balance the development effort so that not too much feasibility work is done in engineering before a financial path is considered. For example, a developer recently called PPF about financing a 150 MW project in a tiny west African nation. A comprehensive engineering feasibility study had been completed at significant expense resulting in a three inch thick binder of information. However, no nontechnical considerations were covered, including who might buy the electricity. For this particular country, financing is going to be the key challenge and the very first question this developer should be asking is: "Is any financing available for a project in this country?"

To be fair, let's not just pick on engineers. We often receive financing requests with elaborate computer financial models with sensitivity analyses, financing term sheets, equipment prices and construction costs and more. What is often missing, however, is clear evidence that there is a power purchaser that is contemplating buying power at the prices and volumes indicated.

PPF and our clients have become adept at short-cutting to the most critical questions, and then helping to solve those problems first. The issues raised in developing power projects are complex, time consuming, and expensive to answer. So, before working on the right answer, it is important to work on the right question.

Developers with some knowledge of financing often ask whether or not PPF can arrange a particular type of financing for a project, and what financial terms may be available. The answer to this question is always "it depends." It is never simply "no," because some really outrageous ideas have actually gotten funded.

What does financing depend on? It depends on whether or not all the contracts are structured properly and coordinated with one another so that the whole package appeals to an investor at the right point in time.

Because of how the industry has evolved, the best training for a power plant developer may not necessarily be in engineering, law, or finance. Perhaps a better background would be in real estate or movie making, where the producer has to deal with many different kinds of issues: with writers, actors, financing, distribution, insurance, marketing, and so on.

In summary, my message to students seeking a job in the independent power industry is: do your homework in-depth before contacting a firm, and then you should find good response, and eventually, an interesting and exciting job.