AlphaSights reviews

3.5

54% would recommend to a friend

(2,005 total reviews)
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Max Cartellieri

79% approve of CEO

64% positive business outlook

AlphaSights has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 2,005 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The AlphaSights employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Management & Consulting industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
2.0
Apr 12, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- You enter with a class of entry-level analysts, which creates a fun and friendly environment for your first month or so during training. - Stand-out snack options. Lunch program is pretty good, too. - You join with a lot of ambitious peers, fresh grads from all over the country and East Coast eager to get their start in NYC.

Cons

- Management is not honest or straightforward about what is expected of you. - The evaluation system is very poor; not only is there no set standard for performance evaluation, even if you meet that performance evaluation, it does not preclude you from the fear of being let go without notice. There's developed a culture only driven by performance rather than quality, which means if you don't meet the company's standards of performance (regardless of outstanding circumstances/conditions), you are in fear of being let go. - The hours are long, and not necessarily correlated with how much you'll be compensated extra, which is what is advertised. - It's a hit or miss, project-by-project game, and if you're staffed on an account or project that spirals down unexpectedly through no fault of your own, you're penalized for it. - Leaders are driven solely by the bottom-line, without apparent respect or regard for how employees are respected or treated. Since fresh grads don't know much of anything else, they'll take it, too. - Not much opportunity for upward movement and growth, there's a quick plateau after 4 months where you either wait it out until a tentative promotion (which isn't much different from entry-level in terms of responsibility), or you leave. That's been the trend in the last year. - Most people do not seem to be happy, and I know many who are actively looking for other jobs and opportunities. - The stated values of the company are not reflected in how they treat their employees. - A lot of what AlphaSights prioritizes is in line with start-ups and start-up culture, however, it is no longer a start-up, rather a fully-fledged firm, and does not act according to these new standards.

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AlphaSights Response
11y
We’re sorry to hear the way you feel about your time at AlphaSights. While we deem feedback given privately to be more effective, we are reflecting on the issues you raise. Fast growth on a global scale presents challenges for any company, and we are committed to addressing any issues we assess to be objective as a matter of priority. Best, Max
1.0
Apr 9, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Cons

If you are reading this, chances are you are a senior at Vanderbilt or Colgate or UVA or any of the other great schools that AlphaSights preys on to find minions for its telemarketing sweatshop. Heed my advice: you are capable of so much more. Figure out what you truly want and don't settle for this crap. My experience here was awful beyond words and while I found something better and made it out in one piece, many of my peers were not so lucky. Please do not make the same mistake I made, I guarantee you will hate working at this company. There is absolutely zero upside to this job: *You will gain zero marketable skills as the entire job consists of harrasing people on LinkedIn by cold calling/emailing and low balling them on rate and availability to the point at which (if you have a soul) you will feel utterly disgusted by what you are doing. *Your performance is something that you have zero control over. You will get almost no responses to your continued desperate outreach (why would they respond? would you?). Those who you do deliver will probably be rejected/ignored by your client or scheduled and then canceled on last minute. Your monthly hurdle is truly impossible to reach regardless of your effort. *You will have brainless children for managers who will be constantly scrutinizing everything you do and breathing down your neck trying to get you to "perform" better even though you are already busting your behind for them and their unreasonable requests. If you do not, you will be unceremoniously fired within six months as many of my co-workers were. *Everything is insanely fast paced to the point where burnout is inevitable. This soul sucking working environment is only conducive to a high level of stress and frustration. As a result, underneath the fake smiles and false positivity, almost everyone at AlphaSights is miserable. The hours are terrible as well but you can find evidence of that on almost all other reviews.

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AlphaSights Response
3y
Our Associates gain commercial and client service skills, including effective business communication, project management, and confident negotiation. These skills result in accelerated career progression at AlphaSights and beyond, with our alumni pursuing fantastic opportunities at top employers and MBA programs worldwide. It's unfortunate that we weren't the right fit for you on this occasion. We wish you the best in your next adventure. - The AlphaSights Team
1.0
Sep 17, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

As of 9/17/22, AlphaSights has decided that the best review (featured reveiws are hand selected by the company) that represents the company, is a completely mis-represented and cherry picked review from a recruiter. Conflict of interest much? As of 9/17/22, AlphaSights has still selected its industry as "business consulting" on Glassdoor. When it is much more akin to a sales job. As of 9/17/22, AlphaSights continues to go to universities like Georgetown and advertise themselves on campus as consulting. Do you see a pattern here? AlphaSights is so desperate for workers, it will try and deceive you to joining them. The company continues to try and be something that it is not. DO NOT TRUST AlphaSight's marketing material. DO NOT TRUST AlphaSights's word on where employees go after AlphaSights. DO NOT TRUST AlphaSights if they say they are a marketing or consulting firm. If you're not going to read this reveiw then at least please read this: AlphaSights will lead you to a career path in sales / business development. If none of these sounds compelling to you, THEN DO NOT APPLY. If you want the truth - you should dig DEEP into Glassdoor and you should reach out to former AlphaSights employees for coffee chats. ---------------------------------- Pros: (1) Decent pay for students *RIGHT* out of college + lower ranking colleges. If you stay longer than 1 year, you're shooting yourself in the foot long term. If you're coming from a top 15 school....what are you doing??? (2) Good people. AlphaSights attracts young and hard working individuals. There are a few rotten apples mixed in there. I personally know of a few who have gotten fired for personality problems like theft and mangement issues. The good ones (and the smart ones) always tend to leave. (3) Good option to find your way to a major city as a pivot job. New York and San Francisco are fantastic places to really launch and nourish your career. (4) Good option if you have bad grades or don't know what you want to do with your career. (5) Good option if you don't really care about a career. This job is quite easy and doesn't require a lot of critical thinking. If there are other priorites in your life AKA relationships, family, travel, etc. then AlphaSights is a good option. Sadly, AlphaSights has too many cons to be considered a decent or lucrative option.

Cons

Cons: (1) Extremely poor exit opportunities. The only companies that recruit from AlphaSights are ones that are looking to hire for positions that do the same exact that that you are doing. AKA emailing / linkedin searching people. AlphaSights is a fantastic place to start a career in sales or relationship management. AlphaSights is a horrible place to start your career in ANYTHING else. Expect to start completely fresh with no help and no resources at all if you don't want to continue in sales/relationship careers. (2) Long work hours. It's not about the pure numbers of work that you do. You'll be doing around 40-60 hours a week, depending on your location and team and manager. That doesn't sound bad, but its the type of work that you do, that makes it feel like you're pulling 60+ hours a week. You're doing the exact same thing, everyday, every week, and every month. You're not learning anything of value and you will stop learning VERY quickly. You will be forced to be on high alert 24/7 in the case of client emails and be forced to hop on the phone at crazy hours due to time zone differences. At face value, the hours don't seem long, but all things considered... you'll be working sparatic hours and VERY efficient (when you're working... you're GRINDING) hours. There is no break at AlphaSights because there is always more people to email + call. Keep that in mind. (3) You do not learn ANYTHING OF VALUE outside of sales/relationship/account management skills in this job. You will not learn anything about the projects that you actually deliver for. Client is looking to diligence computer chips? Yeah, you're the person who's going to do the scheduling and paperwork, not the actual research. If you truly care about your career and your long-term learning, AlphaSights is the wrong place for you. (4) You will be a "whipping girl/boy" (as another review aptly called it) for investment firms. If you happen to have bad/mean/rude clients, you will learn what it means to be a modern day indentured servant. You're expected to smile when a whole days work is thrown in the trash because a client doesn't want to speak to the advisors you've sourced. This is just the nature of the job. Be prepared for it if you decide AlphaSights is the path for you. (5) You will learn to be a nuisance to others. This is the only way the job can be done sometimes. You will learn that this job is impossible if you don't pester/spam/cold call people. If you think about it, you're litearlly paying someone to take unapproved time off their normal day jobs to get on a call with a client to share information. Its a dirty and thankless job sometimes and you MUST get used to it.

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AlphaSights Response
3y
We hope we have addressed some of your concerns below: AlphaSights is an extremely fast-paced business that focuses on measurable deliverables and results. Like any client service role, some tasks are essential for our clients’ success, and mastering these provides transferable skills, including business communication, project management, and confident negotiation, among others. Our alumni use these skills to pursue fantastic opportunities at top employers and MBA programs worldwide, which can be verified on LinkedIn. Working as an associate at AlphaSights allows you to autonomously own the delivery of knowledge services to our clients. Providing a high-quality service and timely responses to client requests may require you to work longer hours from time to time. As with any relationship, we need to earn our clients' respect. While this can sometimes be tough, the satisfaction (and skills) you get from anticipating their needs and exceeding their expectations are hugely valuable. We appreciate your continued hard work. - The AlphaSights Team
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