Career pathways at Thurn Partners

At Thurn Partners, we offer two clear and well-defined paths to success within our organisation. On promotion, your progression can follow two paths, the Individual Contributor Path and the Management Path. We heard from Haydn, Senior Search Consultant and Nicolas Buxton, Team Lead, on their careers at Thurn Partners.

I have been at Thurn approaching three years now, joining after completing a degree in French and Spanish at Durham. I was lucky to spend a portion of my year abroad working for Airfrance alongside some of their software teams, which is where I realised my communicative skillset translated well to building relationships with technically-minded people. When an opportunity at Thurn arose to continue this within a financial context, a field that had always interested me, it seemed like an obvious fit!

I joined and was instantly struck by the calibre of my colleagues – knowledgeable and friendly individuals with expertise in their respective markets. While I worked to improve my market understanding and headhunting skills, I was given responsibility from the first day and within the first few months was engaging individuals from the top of the hedge fund world as candidates and clients. My colleagues were a huge help during this ramp up stage, sharing insights and advice on how to tackle certain issues, and the collaborative environment built here is certainly a huge advantage.

We have a large variety of tools and schemes in place to help our continued progression, from external workshops (ie an Oxford Business School talk on Negotiation) to an internal function dedicated to L&D. Also, depending on the market, there is ample travel opportunity, and I feel quarterly trips to New York have helped me learn about dealmaking in an international context.

My day-to-day varies based on the stage of a current search. A portion of my mornings is spent organising my inbox and client shortlists, as well as drafting creative outreach to engage priority candidates. Ad-hoc discussions with consultants often come up – about the state of a particular search I am leading or around time-sensitive market intelligence. Working primarily US markets, afternoons are when I tend to engage new contacts, reconnect with my existing network – around a new opportunity or preparing them for an interview - and schedule any client calls. Of course, this can all change quickly if you hear a critical piece of news or during the late stages of a potential deal.

As a Senior Search Consultant, I enjoy being deeply-rooted in my specialist market and knowing everything that is going on. Information is a currency in an industry as secretive as quant finance so being able to advise senior hedge fund leaders on market trends, invariably individuals with decades more experience than me, is highly satisfying. At a Senior level, I am leading search strategy, liaising with clients around individual candidate processes and overall driving impact on deals through the skills I have developed and my influence.

A successful Senior Search Consultant likely possesses three things: a curiosity and desire to learn deeply about their market; expertise in influencing and effecting results; strong intrinsic motivation and drive. Being able to engage the most senior clients and candidates requires a certain credibility that comes from genuine interest in the sector and sharp insights. From there, it is having the interpersonal skills, creativity and drive to influence them that ultimately leads to deals and continued success.

Having grown up in Hertfordshire I then went to the University of Edinburgh where I studied French and Spanish. As I was graduating, I found myself at a bit of a crossroads with no clear direction of which career I wanted to pursue. I knew that my skillset aligned well with a people-orientated position where I could build relationships and work in a fast-paced environment, which is why I knew Thurn Partners was the perfect place for me.

I joined Thurn Partners in September 2022 as an enthusiastic graduate with zero knowledge of the financial markets or even standard recruitment procedures, but I have not looked back since. I managed my first promotion after 12 months and kept the momentum going, enabling me to begin leading a team after 18 months. I’ve been able to continue making a steady stream of placements myself, whilst also setting goals/targets and upskilling my team. I’ve taken pride in seeing my team grow and helping many achieve promotions.

Thurn has been incredibly supportive throughout my time here – sending me on external training courses to improve my management abilities and working with Kate, our internal Learning & Development Lead, ensuring that any gaps in my skillset are filled. Thurn has also provided me with increased responsibility from an early stage, allowing me to manage client accounts and paying for me to go on work trips to meet overseas clients and candidates in person. Being given so much exposure has helped me thrive within the industry.

There are two key facets to being a Team Lead at Thurn. First and foremost, I mentor the members of my team, helping them with any day-to-day challenges and questions that they come across. I wouldn’t describe my style as evasive; I allow people the space to learn for themselves but also ask my team members to be forthcoming with any issues they are having. I also drive team success and seek to shape the company’s vision of building high-performance teams – this involves setting targets, monitoring performance, identifying specific job searches to work on and identifying areas for improvement.

I also find gaps in my day to remain hands-on and drive my personal candidate generation – finding candidates and managing them through the interview processes. I also own a number of client accounts and so I look to grow those relationships, win new roles and manage any escalations.

First and foremost, it’s important to have a knack for people – being friendly and likeable helps, but you want to be able to assess what motivates people and what type of feedback might resonate best. Patience of course helps as everyone’s development arc is different and you want to create an environment where people are comfortable asking for help. Strong organisation techniques are important as you need to be able to manage multiple facets of the job simultaneously and adapt to doing very different tasks in a short space of time. Finally, being driven is essential, strong Team Leads look to lead from the front and set the example to the rest of the team.