Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
I studied Economic History at the LSE which focuses a little more on the long run development aspect of Economics, which I find extremely interesting. In my second year, I ended up interning at a major professional services firm in the summer, which was a great experience, but I soon realized that working for a large corporate wasn't for me. I got a little disillusioned with how major corporates tackle management consulting and audit work, which pushed me more towards the start-up side of things.
What inspired you to apply to 9fin?
I was looking into the start-up space and realised how important strong leadership is. You need a strong core of talented people to help drive growth when a company is in its infancy. I did my research on Steven and Huss and they had an impressive track record, and I’ve been even more impressed since joining!
As well as this, the job description was very clear about the broad remit of responsibility you have as a Credit Analyst, and the massive learning opportunity. This isn’t something you get at a larger investment bank, where the role is more structured. Steven himself is also very hands on with our learning and will take the time to teach us about how different areas of finance work, which has been amazing.
What is your role and how long have you been at 9fin?
I joined 9fin in June 2020, so almost a year ago exactly! Time has flown by though. As a Credit Analyst with 9fin, I get to produce a mixture of analysis reports around several topics. For example, myself and another member of the team currently produce monthly sustainability reports around what’s going on in the space. As well as producing these reports, we also work on the data side of things, to ensure the information we have on our site is rich and complete.
What’s been the most surprising thing about 9fin?
I’d say the biggest surprise is I’ve gone from having very little knowledge on fixed income to being able to create reports that actual fund managers are using daily. The speed at which you learn and develop has been incredible!
What would a ‘normal’ day look like for someone in your role?
Because of the nature of the job, we have to be active during trading hours. In a typical day, I’ll start by checking the news flow in the morning, which feeds into our morning report. After this, I’ll check any financial statements that have been released, and produce a quick one liner that summarises some key metrics in an easily digestible way for clients. If we have any new deals, a major chunk of time goes to writing up our analysis, which involves several aspects such as business and industry overviews.
Once this is done, I’ll then move onto any of the less time sensitive tasks for the day. For example, I’ve recently been working to improve the data we capture on ESG instruments, which ties back to our ongoing data health project and making sure everything we report on is as up to date and accurate as possible. Ensuring that we pay close attention to detail is really important, as our eagle-eyed clients have high standards!
I’ll also spend some time writing about topics that are of personal interest to me. What makes 9fin a really cool place is that we’re able to focus our work around these areas. If there’s something you want to explore, you can just bounce these ideas off senior members of the team and then go for it!
What is the company culture like at 9fin?
I’d say it’s super transparent and easy going. I never feel like I need to communicate in a formal way – it’s more about saying what needs to be said and cutting out some of the corporate fluff. We’re free to speak our mind and be direct with what we’re asking which I really like. This carries into the work we do, where we’re encouraged to explore areas where we have a natural curiosity – we’re free to do research on topics that interest us and see if it fits into our product roadmap.
It’s also truly ‘flat’ in its structure. I’m able to just reach out to senior engineers or the Chief Technical Officer with questions – you just speak to whoever you think will be able to help you solve a problem and everyone is extremely friendly!
Finally, any tips for anyone who’d like to apply for a role at 9fin?
The most important thing is to demonstrate your interest in the role and industry. It’s a niche field so no one is going to expect you to know everything as a graduate, but you can show you’re interested with some research! This is something that really comes through in the interview and cover letter, so home in on the areas of finance that you’re interested in and explain what specifically you find intriguing about them! Also remember nobody is looking for you to be a finished product, they just want to get a sense of who you are as a person and your potential, so don’t be afraid of showing your personality.