Unorganized, Inefficient, and Overwhelming - Anonymous employee Carnegie Dartlet Employee Review

1.0
Jan 26, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

My coworkers were supportive, kind and a pleasure to work with, which made navigating an otherwise difficult, high-pressure, and stressful job more bearable.

Cons

I joined the company feeling hopeful and excited, but that optimism quickly faded due to a lack of structure and organization, a disjointed onboarding process, an unsustainable workload, and overall inefficient practices. -Structure and Organization: The company relies heavily on tools such as Asana and Looker Studio, to the extent that when these platforms experience issues, workflows across the organization are derailed. Communication is often fragmented, with conversations easy to lose, inconsistent naming conventions, and excessive time spent determining where information should be shared rather than completing the work itself. There are also frequently too many people assigned to a single account, which creates confusion around roles and responsibilities and contributes to a “too many cooks in the kitchen” dynamic. As a result, it felt like employees were expected to be experts in every aspect of the account, and significant time was spent on calls that were not directly relevant to their work due to overlapping responsibilities across teams. The internal CRM was also extremely disorganized, difficult to navigate, outdated and inefficient, especially when compared to the many intuitive and user-friendly CRM options available. Additionally, employees, including salaried staff, were required to track time across multiple platforms. While this data may be valuable from a company perspective, the cumulative time spent on tracking felt exhausting and inefficient from an employee standpoint. -Onboarding Process: Onboarding began strong with group training that covered company fundamentals, but quickly became disjointed. Many team-specific resources were outdated, missing, or nearly impossible to locate when needed. Although much of the onboarding was self-guided, there were limited opportunities to practice or apply what was being learned. As a result, it was difficult to retain information and confidently perform tasks once they became part of the role. -Unsustainable Workload: The workload expected of employees managing multiple clients was excessive and often felt unsustainable. Employees were required to monitor an extremely high volume of conversations across multiple platforms. Basic information was frequently requested, which could have been minimized with a well-organized and user-friendly CRM. Instead, inefficient systems added unnecessary complexity and significantly increased day-to-day stress.

Explore other reviews about Carnegie Dartlet

5.0
Feb 12, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people are truly kind, collaborative, and mission driven. Everyone genuinely cares about supporting higher education and helping clients succeed, and that shows up in how teams work together day to day. There are a lot of smart people here, and the culture is collaborative rather than competitive. It feels like everyone wants each other to win. There are strong opportunities to work cross functionally, learn new skills, and try new ideas. There is also real room to fail, test new approaches, and learn without fear.

Cons

The pace is very fast. The work is good and meaningful, but it can feel intense at times. I also wish compensation were higher, especially given the speed and level of responsibility.

2
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Carnegie Dartlet Response
1mo
Thank you for taking the time to share such positive feedback! It is incredibly rewarding to hear that our mission to support higher education resonates so strongly with your day-to-day work. We are very proud of our collaborative team, and knowing that you feel encouraged to cross-train, innovate, and try new approaches without fear of failure is the best compliment we could ask for. We hear your feedback regarding the fast-paced intensity of the work and compensation. We know how hard our teams work, and we are continually looking at ways to ensure our salaries remain competitive and that our workloads remain manageable during busy seasons. If you ever have specific ideas on how we can improve the day-to-day pace for your team, please feel free to share them with us at hr@carnegiehighered.com.
1.0
Jun 23, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The client portfolio is genuinely interesting, and the peer-level team is incredibly talented, collaborative, and supportive. There are great people working here at the execution level, and you will build strong professional relationships.

Cons

Retention and management are major issues. Turnover is incredibly high, particularly within the first 90 days for new strategists. The company conducts surveys regarding capacity, but internal data is ignored—workloads routinely exceed promised limits (e.g., managing 12 clients when internal models cap roles at 8). Furthermore, the management style leans heavily toward negative critique rather than constructive coaching, creating a lack of psychological safety. Internal mobility is also poorly handled. Toxic culture.

10
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