Fully Outsourced Management of Summer internship &

In 2018, Torch Partners were looking to refine and restructure their approach to early-career hiring, with the aim of building a strong core of analyst talent at the heart of their business. Having advised initially on process redesign, we successfully delivered both their summer internship and graduate analyst schemes in 2019 and 2020 and are pleased to be continuing with the collaboration for further schemes.

"We have partnered with Freshminds to recruit our graduate analysts & summer interns over the last couple of years. The process has resulted in a marked increase in the quality & diversity of applicants and has helped us build a high-performing junior analyst team.” Tom Roberts – Managing Director, Torch Partners

Our Approach

Our fully outsourced bespoke schemes are particularly attractive to boutique firms. Applicant volumes alone can be overwhelming and the brand-building and marketing activities - vital in order to ensure high-quality, diverse applications - take time that busy clients often don't have. We have 20+ years' experience in early careers, and our tailored, partnership approach is designed to remove the stress from the hiring process, allowing clients to focus 100% on developing interns and analysts when they arrive.

Tailored

In year one, we ran a series of design and discovery workshops, both to build a comprehensive overview of Torch Partners’ business and plans for future growth, and to understand the skills and attitudes that would allow interns and analysts to excel in the immediate and longer term. We also embedded consultation sessions around early-career hiring and set up a bespoke microsite ready to receive applications.

Targeted

Once the schemes were launched, we worked to build on-campus brand presence, putting together a programme of marketing activities and headhunted M&A workshop events. These events were geared specifically towards attracting a diverse range of potential applicants who combined the analytical skills required for success in banking, with a deep and demonstrated passion for tech.

Transparent

With applications for both schemes rolling in, we managed every stage of the processes - from initial screening through to the hosting and delivery of final round assessment centres.

Fairness and transparency were naturally top priorities and Torch Partners were pleased to be introduced to Mapped, our proprietary benchmarking tool, designed specifically to eliminate socio-economic and gender bias from analytical testing. After each successful scheme delivery, we ran detailed review and evaluation sessions to identify improvements for the following year’s application journey.

"Freshminds’ process was great: their communication was strong and I always knew where I stood. I also really liked the Mapped test – it felt much fairer and more varied than the standard banking tests. Ultimately, Freshminds did a great job of placing me with the firm I was best suited to – when you’ve made a lot of applications, it’s easy to lose sight of that. I’d worked for several software start-ups and actually started a computer science degree before switching course, so Torch Partners was perfect for me and Freshminds saw that. I’m looking forward to joining permanently once I’ve graduated!"
Andrew Suvan, interned 2020, incoming analyst 2021

Key Business Results

Analyst hires doubled from 2019 to 2020
Successful conversions of interns to the analyst scheme - Year 2 analysts have started ahead of schedule
Successful on-campus brand-building with increased applications from Y1 to Y2

Torch Partners are continuing to build a strong foundation of permanent analyst talent within the business and the summer internship is now firmly embedded as a talent pipeline. With further scheme collaborations in place, we aim to continue this upward trajectory for further years, as we have done for other full-service schemes.

Find out more about our graduate scheme hiring here - we work with investment banks and corporate companies to manage graduate and internship schemes throughout the year. Services range from full-service scheme creation and development with your requirements, to bespoke top-up for a few extra hires that may be needed for an existing programme.

Get in touch to find out more. We offer a free, impartial and no strings attached consultation to understand your requirements and assess if we can help with your graduate hiring or scheme management.