- The turnover speaks for itself. The company doubled in size from 21 employees to 42 by hiring 21 graduates at once in Sep 2024. Within less than a year, only 6 of those 21 grads remain. Many were let go, pushed out, or just resigned. Even senior members steadily resigned for better working environments.
- The commission model is heavily delayed and disheartening, especially for graduates who relocate/commute to London with expectations of earning more. You will only receive your full commission once the candidate you've placed starts their role. Due to long notice and non-compete periods in the hedge fund space (6–18 months is typical), you may not see any meaningful commission for over a year. To be clear, this is a model unique to Thurn. Most other hedge fund recruitment agencies with similar clients offer much more immediate and rewarding schemes.
- Expect to work 50–60 hours a week, including evenings, weekends, and holidays. If you don’t, you’re seen as not trying hard enough.
- Uncomfortable atmosphere with a clear lack of boundaries, including invasive personal questions inappropriate for the workplace. Your value is judged through a single lens, which is how aggressively money-motivated you seem.
- Training was minimal and misrepresentative of the actual job. You're expected to self-teach in your own time, then immediately meet ambitious performance targets.
- So much time lost in performative meetings filled with vague motivational slogans and constantly reframed company goals, with very little actually changing. A classic case of 'this could've been an email'.
- You must log your activities down to the half-hour every single day and run through them with managers constantly. This ridiculous tracking of your time shows a deep lack of trust in their employees, which just feeds a vicious cycle of distrust. I hate to use this word, but this is classic 'micromanagement'.
- The directors often appear unaware of what their consultants are working on. For such a small company, this level of detachment is questionable.
- Incidents of misogyny and ableism were not addressed or acted on despite being reported, which makes initiatives like “Women at Thurn” feel performative.