Pros
Incredible professional development opportunities. Terrific people. Sharp, crisp systems. Amazing training. Strong sense of identity. Amazing contacts. A few years at Chemonics, and you are a stronger professional than half of the industry. Business development and project management superstars. Some of the best opportunities to get a field assignment.
Cons
There can be long hours, and it can be frustrating to get promoted at a speed commensurate to your hard work. In fact, many mid-level staff are far more valuable to lesser competitors than Chemonics, so brain-drain at the middle levels is very common. If you are interested in becoming a technical expert in the home office, it can be very challenging. Chemonics breeds project management and business development experts, but the opportunity to be do cutting edge technical work in the home office is lacking. Pretty competitive, so you need to be willing to work hard (and harder than your peers, if you want to be promoted). Also, if you make big mistakes at Chemonics, you can be tarnished. Some SVPs are tragically bad, but most are good. A few excellent.