Every bad cliche you've heard about management consultants and their egos, their poor interpersonal skills, their jerk personalities, and their controlling nature - it all appears here. AP is a den of hyenas who regularly eat their young, and while there are normal, decent people at the lower levels, at the director level and above the level of awfulness increases astronomically.. I've never felt so worthless as a person or employee than at this firm - a typical project involves a total about-face in expectations from the last project, a regular dressing-down, since you're incompetent because you don't format powerpoint the way that project leader prefers, and plenty of pissy and unnecessarily aggressive behavior.
There's zero camaraderie or trust between the upper and lower levels, and every misstep or alternate interpretation of project needs is a failure on your part. The constant tension is miserable, and on top of the project challenges, the internal politics and bureaucracy are astounding for a firm this size.
Advice to those of you who are kind and caring by nature, those with non-aggressive personalities, and females: Run. Run fast, far, and quickly. This isn't a place for good people, it's a nest of wasps, scorpions, and prickly poisonous creatures.
