Pros
Cardinal likes seeing its employees gain certifications and will reimburse those. Paid parking as well, which is nice when working uptown. The office has the feel of a smaller company. First name basis everywhere. Occasionally you get to work on variant projects with new technology and expand your knowledge. At least for the first 6 months I was there, they fed us well and regularly and kept the fridge stocked with beer. It slumped toward the end, however.
Cons
Salary is generally less then you will receive elsewhere for roles with similar responsibilities. You can definitely make more money elsewhere. However, Cardinal bills themselves as delivering on a better total package, especially in their work culture. They do not follow through on this, however, as you will see below. Cardinal talks about being family-friendly and flexible. This doesn't line up with my experience. As a new parent, and having worked out a flexible but 40+ hour schedule with a manager who left Cardinal, I was actually dismissed for working that schedule after the manager went to another company. I was given no formal warnings before that dismissal either...it was retconned to 3 months in the past. No other writeups or warnings about performance existed. To the contrary, I had accolades from every client I had worked with up to that point. This was all done just a few weeks after I mentioned a need for leave for the birth of my 2nd child in a few weeks. Cardinal offers no paternity leave, so it was going to be my PTO used to help at home for a few weeks at most. I would have become FMLA eligible shortly after the birth of my daughter. Cardinal elected instead to concoct a cause for dismissal rather than be placed at risk of having a consultant on the roster with a new child and special scheduling needs. Obviously, they claim this is not the case, but the facts don't support their claim. So, if you want to work at Cardinal, don't have kids and do plan to be there from 8-5 daily, onsite, regardless of what you may be told or agree to with a manager. Or frankly, be there long enough that you can work the flexible schedule some people seem to be allowed. Typical office hours for some departments will be from about 10-4. So yes, it's a two-tiered, hypocritical approach to work flexibility. As a consultant, you will have very little choice as to what projects you may be assigned to next. Volunteerism can get you in trouble, as management will take that and throw you into the less attractive roles, while giving the plum assignments to those who hold out and are pickier. You need to walk a fine line between raising your hand and being reluctant to work undesirable assignments. I never said no to any work offered to me, whether I had bandwidth to do the work or not, because I never really felt comfortable making such a refusal. One person I saw bounced from role to role practically weekly as a result of being too willing to help. It was brutal to watch. It's very much possible to get put on a staff aug projectonsite with a client for years and be practically forgotten...which may actually be the best result of all, depending on your perspective.
