Good experience, if you can get past the negative culture
Pros
Entry-level folks get more opportunities in the industry at Chemonics than anywhere else. If you manage to be in the right place at the right time, you can get to a level in 3 years that would take you 8-10 elsewhere -- but the key is being in the right place at the right time. Susi Mudge, when she takes over as CEO in April, may improve the culture a bit, as she seems more concerned with employee well-being and development impact than her predecessor. But she's been dealt a bad hand for 2013 and may not last long: she has at least one EVP looking over her shoulder, ready to make his move.
Cons
"Work-life balance" is a phrase you hear often, and Chemonics has little of it. Associates and managers often work 10-12 hour days. Those hours are not necessarily ridiculous on their face, but when you're paid $45k a year and get no 401k contribution from the company (as will be the case this upcoming year), those hours are excessive. Certain divisions (especially those that EVP Jamey Butcher has been involved with: East Africa and Central/Eastern Europe) have an uber-competitive culture that encourages associates and managers to undermine each other to get ahead. The bonus structure is flawed, with some employees in a record year (2011) getting no bonuses while the CEO's bonus was $4.5 million, with little justification for the distribution. Senior management only pays lip service to the importance of the actual development work being done on the ground and take no personal responsibility for strategic mistakes made. Case in point: a major budget shortfall this last year was due to gambles on the part of senior management that did not pay off; the shortfall was blamed on the rest of the staff. The gap between senior executive compensation and associate compensation approaches Wall Street levels, with the CEO having made (with bonuses included) more than 100 times what associates made in 2011. The employee stock ownership plan is billed as a retirement plan for employees and a way for everyone to have a stake in the company, but in fact it enabled investors and senior management to "cash out" their investment last year when the company peaked. Due to changing USAID strategy, federal government procurement reform, and a general anti-contractor climate in Washington, I would be surprised if Chemonics ever gets back to its previous level of growth and would be hesitant to assign much value to ESOP shares or depend on getting much out of the program for your retirement.
