Edelman reviews

The more senior you get, the more you are responsible for bringing in business, and it becomes a sales job. And what we were selling was often ridiculous (would cost a lot but was not based on any research and would not help the client). Leadership was more concerned with a flashy PowerPoint presentation that said nothing than helping a client solve a problem and backing up our recommendations with research or real insights. Leadership said we didn’t have time or money to put into the research before developing pitches for clients. We would just recycle previous pitches and send in our best salespeople to close the deal. It felt very icky. Also, employees here typically have a terrible work-life balance. If you work here, be firm that you won’t work extra hours without additional compensation.

Will drain you of your mental health, work/life balance and not POC friendly. Systematically they expect you to choose this job as your life and nothing else, the prioritization of this job is embedded in the culture. Typically they are taking in recruits from prestigious schools who ideally get to choose this job with no other worries of being overworked/underpaid or how they're gonna cover rent - their daddy's got it. If you're trying to support yourself while building your career, this job won't offer you that. If you have a few years to throw away while you lean on other sources of dependency like with parents, or a partner that splits/covers rent, then by all means take this job as a stepping stone. Don't get caught up here, or the kool-aid. What it takes someone 5 years to get to in terms of salary internally, companies will pay you in house with 2 years of experience. Compensation is appalling and they expect you to give your life away to this job. You will be working late nights, forget work/life balance, you won't have any. One person is just as stressed of the next. VP's have no understanding of how much work Jr staff are given - they guestimate. You will see your peers online with you late at night as their MS Teams green bubbles shine. You will receive emails from VPs at 11pm. You will have your mental health ruined. For the amount of Edelman being a "Yes man" company, their business model is to suck young talent dry for 1-3 years and hope that they continue to remain prestigious enough to cover the turnover once young professionals become disillusioned.