Interview - Elaine

Elaine joined Triland in 2014 and now works in the Risk Department.

I worked in the Bank of China's Head Office between 2008 and 2012 as Assistant to Client Relationship Manager, after which I came to the UK for further academic development. I studied for an MSc in Shipping, Trade and Finance at Cass Business School and graduated in 2014 with a Masters degree.

I heard Triland’s name for the first time in our International Commodity Trade class at Cass. As “Hedging in the LME” was one of the topics of this module, naturally the LME mechanism and the Ring Dealing Members were briefly introduced. At that time my understanding was that being able to trade in the Ring meant the firm must have rich experience and proven ability.

When researching the 2014 Graduate Fair exhibitors, I was further impressed by the fact that Triland is Mitsubishi’s fully owned subsidiary and had been trading in the LME for more than 40 years. Apart from Triland’s company profile, the graduate trainee programme they offer represents a great opportunity of comprehensive learning by rotating in all departments. This attracted me most as I was a novice in commodity trading.

I am now Credit Control Officer in the Risk Department.

The primary function of Credit Control is to make sure that customers meet margin / ledger requirements at all times. To perform this, there is a strict schedule and I have 20-30 daily tasks from issuing margin calls, approving cash return to reviewing the credit impact on position transfer. Also, I am in charge of maintaining our client management system by setting up new client account and amending client information as requested. Last but not least, I support other Credit Analysts' work within the team.

As mentioned before the graduate trainee programme is my most valuable take-away. I not only learnt the functions and operations of different departments, but also I am able to easily get along with people as I have worked with them before during my rotation. In addition, in Triland you can find plenty of experienced expertise in trading, sales & marketing and the general industry. This means you will be able to find answers to whatever questions you may have.

Professional knowledge is essential. But for me, I have learnt some good attitudes during the last two years in Triland. First of all, don't be afraid of making mistakes. The worst thing is to get away from what you have done wrong. Secondly, always pay attention to detail and make sure you fully understand your work before reporting to managers.

I am hoping to utilise my language advantage to perform credit analysis for Chinese customers in the future. Furthermore, as we have recently merged market risk and credit risk, I would like to benefit from the cross-training so as to enhance market risk knowledge.

Having supported Triland at the Graduate Fair for two years, I strongly suggest that you do your own research about the industry and the company before coming to speak to your potential employer. The selection process is fairly strict and can feel nerve-wracking. Probably there is no better way to overcome this but to be well-prepared and get to know the industry as much as you can in advance. Finally, think more about what you can offer to your employer rather than what you want to obtain from this job.