Do you need to have studied finance to work at Thurn?
No! Whilst it would definitely be helpful to have a basic understanding of hedge funds before starting at Thurn, it is absolutely not essential to have studied a finance-related degree. Quite a few of the other grads studied languages at university which is sometimes useful for talking to candidates on the phone, but I personally studied Classics which is not even remotely related! What’s far more important is your people and communication skills, as well as a general willingness to learn and a strong work ethic.
Did you have any pre-reading or prep work?
A few weeks before our start date, we were sent some short articles and YouTube videos as an introduction to hedge funds but nothing too extensive.
What was it like starting at Thurn?
For the first two weeks, our time was structured into a series of classes and projects which made up the ‘Thurn Academy’. This was essentially a crash-course introducing us to the world in which Thurn operates. We had various sessions scheduled throughout each day covering aspects like sourcing candidates, how systematic hedge funds work, writing candidate ‘send-outs’ and lots more. This might sound a bit overwhelming and if I’m honest there were definitely points where things went totally over my head at first, but it was a really supportive environment and we were encouraged to ask questions (even ones that felt silly!). The sessions were often in small groups to help us learn better and we did Kahoot quizzes at the end of most of them to make things more fun.
What was your favourite part of the ‘Academy’?
Winning the mega Kahoot at the end of week 1! I actually came last in a lot of the shorter Kahoots during the week as I took a bit longer to process some aspects, but this made it all the more rewarding to win the quiz which was made up of all the week 1 sessions mixed together (as well as some fun questions about the team etc!). Also the fact that I wasn’t even on the leaderboard for most of the quiz and then came from nowhere to win at the end.
Is there anything you would do differently if you could do Thurn Academy again?
Perhaps not to worry so much if things don't make sense straight away. It’s easy to put pressure on yourself to understand things quickly, especially coming from university where you obviously specialise in your subject, but starting a new job - especially one in a totally new industry - is a steep learning curve and it’s perfectly normal to get to grips with things at your own pace. As I mentioned, the Academy was really well structured we were encouraged to ask lots of questions. Everyone was (and still is!) patient with us and has made us feel welcome. It really is a lovely team, both the grads and Thurn as a whole.