All incoming associates will spend their first year getting exposure to our three practice areas — PR, Content and Digital Marketing — to ensure that we all have a solid foundation on the primary tools of the trade. And since our deep knowledge of the capital markets and fintech is our primary differentiator, we have bi-weekly sessions with senior staff to discuss our space, our clients and the latest developments. Finally, to facilitate our employees’ growth, we pay for most any work-related classes, seminars or courses. Our philosophy is that employees who are pursuing a career track they find meaningful and fulfilling will be the happiest and most valuable to Forefront over the long run, so we do our best to enable you to do just that.

Associates spend their first year learning our three primary disciplines — media relations, digital marketing and content — to ensure we all have a solid marketing and communications foundation. Typically after a year we have a good sense of what they like and where their strengths lie, and we work to develop a career track that sees them specializing in a particular practice area.

At the minimum each account will have three team members — a senior account manager, an associate and a managing partner providing top-level strategic guidance and oversight. Larger clients have larger teams, and most will see our content, media relations or digital marketing teams involved to some degree as needed.

We’re a 15-person company, which we think puts us in a bit of a Goldilocks zone — small enough where everyone has the ability to truly impact the company’s culture and bottom line, but big enough that we can focus on what we’re good at. In terms of reporting, our hierarchy is relatively flat — associates report into AEs and above, who generally roll into one of the two managing partners. We also recognize that learning how to coach and manage is a key part of everyone’s career development, so we look to get our younger staff managing employees as soon as possible.

While each day is unique, there are certain things we all try to do regularly. Being smart about the capital markets is core to what we do, so carving our time each morning to read the relevant industry news (delivered each day in the Forefront Fintech Digest!) is very important. Collaboration is also key, so we meet as a full team weekly. These weeklies alternate between client update meetings, where we attempt to strategize as a group, and practice area updates, where practice heads lead discussions of trends and issues they are seeing across the media, digital marketing and content realms. Our people usually also meet formally with their managers on a weekly basis, and have less formal check-ins with teammates more regularly, either in person, on IM or Zoom. Beyond that, most days will see our entry-level staff spending time writing, meeting with clients or teammates, pitching media, working on digital campaigns or projects and potentially helping on new business pitches.

We conduct 360° reviews on a yearly basis and also hold quarterly check-ins throughout the year. In the annual reviews we discuss your career path and growth at the firm, review your accomplishments and map out objectives for the year. In the quarterly meetings we look at how you are tracking toward them. In all sessions we look for the discussion to be two-way, so are very interested to hear about ways in which you think we as a management team can grow.