Commodity Careers
What do candidates look for from recruiters?
One of my objectives in these posts is to help young people understand how agricultural commodity trading works and what trading companies look for in candidates. However, I thought it would be interesting to turn the tables and ask, “What do young commodities candidates want from trading houses?”
Students often tell me that opportunities in commodity trading seem limited to a small circle of insiders. As one student put it, “You can usually only find an opportunity by knowing someone’s cousin in Geneva.”
As Axel de la Roche told me recently,
“From my experience, information about opportunities in commodity trading is often closely guarded or difficult to access. It often takes substantial research to find roles and understand how to enter the business, even though opportunities do exist.
“I do not think firms should advertise as broadly as large banks do through mass recruitment, but greater visibility into what they are seeking and clearer entry paths for young people would be very helpful. That would still ensure they attract motivated candidates who have done their homework, while making the industry slightly less opaque to outsiders.”
I find that the most interesting young candidates—those with international experience, serious sports backgrounds, and genuine fascination with markets—are asking: “What do trading houses offer me that tech, finance, or private equity do not?” It is a question that all recruiters must be ready to answer.
One thing I stress is that physical commodity trading differs from other sectors in its reliance on relationships. Recruiters should clearly communicate that to graduates. When candidates do discover it, it is often what hooks them. As Axel de la Roche told me last week, he is attracted to commodity trading because trust and reputation still matter more than algorithms in physical trade.
Ambitious graduates are not naïve. They do not expect to be a trader on day one. Instead, they expect a staged progression through operations, logistics, middle office, finance, and then junior trading. They realise that they must understand the full value chain from production and shipping to hedging and financing.
Many of the strongest candidates are already dual nationals with experience living in different cultures and countries. For them, the global nature of commodities is an attraction. They want to spend time at the origin to see farms, mines, ports, and warehouses rather than only seeing numbers on a screen. They want to understand how value is created on the ground, not just in a pricing model.
I find that most candidates want to join a company where they believe they can be a force for good in environmental and social sustainability. As Ben French told me recently,
“Many of the people joining Czarnikow today want to work for a company that aims to create a positive impact while remaining commercially disciplined.”
I recently asked Martijn Bron, ex-head trader at Cargill Cocoa, “What do young ex-university graduates look for in a career?” Here, in typical no-nonsense Dutch style, is his reply:
“First, they want a career. I sense considerable anxiety among young people about AI potentially (or already) reducing the number of entry-level roles.
“Otherwise, too many are still concerned about work-life balance and purpose. Candidates need to be pragmatic, focusing not on a specific commodity but on the company, the hiring manager, and their peers, and then be prepared to work very hard and see very little daylight. They need to be patient, learn the job from the best and the brightest, and then build value, which eventually leads to income.
“Many of their views are distorted by social media.
“When I speak at universities and events, I notice that commodities are still less well known than other parts of finance. When I talk about commodities and my career at Cargill, most people are very interested and appreciate the adventure and the physical aspects. The people I speak to want to be intellectually challenged. I tell them that the frictionlessness they like (ordering food or taking an Uber from their iPhone) does not apply to their careers, trading, or investing. Success and progress cannot be frictionless. Those who say the opposite are charlatans and course sellers.”
Martijn also shared a comment he received from a young person two years into his career with a commodity trading company. I quote it in full in the hope that it inspires others seeking to join the sector.
“Fresh out of university, I had to come to terms with the fact that finding a job is not as simple as it sounds. I thought that with a multilingual, international profile and strong academic performance, I would be accepted left and right. That was (surprisingly) not the case. Without strategic insider connections or favourable timing in the job market, competing against other young graduates eager to enter the workforce proved far from straightforward.”
“In deciding my career orientation — already heavily shaped by my choice of university degree — I was seeking a dynamic work environment filled with highly motivated individuals. I perhaps even wanted to avoid excessive work-life balance and a slower office culture, driven by the ambition to build my name in an industry and become “something.”
My end-of-year university research led me to the world of commodities — a hot topic at the time — and I was drawn in by how central this field is to the functioning of the world and how its tangible reality both affects and is affected by geopolitics and general sentiment. It ultimately led me to where I am today: working at an oil trading company.
“With a couple of years’ experience behind me, I remain driven by the opportunity to learn from very intelligent people and to contribute meaningfully to end consumers unknown to me, somewhere in the world.
The potential to build something greater than yourself and to participate in the movement of goods across the globe remains the primary driver, above the financial compensation and connections that naturally come with the industry. This world is not the easiest, nor the most forgiving, but participating in it — and doing so with genuine interest and to the best of your ability — makes it a deeply fulfilling path.”
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