Crap company, lacks values, disrespectful to employees, and director level not supportive of growth
Pros
There is no pro to working at Chemonics. The company is run by chumps that make 400k+ a year while paying the managers and associates less than the basic living standard.
Cons
Salary: as noted above, a handful of chumps promote themselves every year to increase their already inflated salary while claiming $10k for their managers is too much. This is all the while, many make less than the standard of living salary needed to be within the DMV area. Who you know: Chemonics was never about their values. It was always about who you know, to get what you need. Certain rules applied to some, but not others. They punished those that didn't brown nose. Mismanagement: poor training and lack of authority by directors. When I joined, it was clear that chemonics claim to being project management experts was a lie. The mismanagement, lack of documentation, and poorly run projects is an absolute reflection of why companies like Zenith were able to over bill invoices for as long as they did without detection. When I was promoted, the new project I was given, was a crap show. Prior manager, wasn't held accountable by the director (who had no business being a director) who didn't have an understanding of USAID rules or corporate policies. This left a mess...several cases of non filed trip reports, lack of approval to spend USG money, invoices missing and never filed. Chemonics does not have project management experts, most are not PMI certified and many lack any understanding of running a project. Lack of transparency: during the storm of the change in presidential administration, chemonics laid off many staff with zero explanation why some were brought back and others not. They were incredibly cold during lay off and mismanagement on final paychecks without answering questions regarding deductions. My immediate supervisor made my life he**. They refused to approve extracurricular activities unless they benefited them somehow to show of to their managing director. Meanwhile, they were put off office all the time, always doing new business to strengthen their own skills. My director was incredibly selfish when it came to me learning while at Chemonics. It was mentioned time and time again I was high performer and excellent time management... so that isn't a reason that I would be denied. They didn't want to lose their. learning and growth opportunity. You were never committed to your values.
