Pros
- Client-first mentality leads to, on average, high quality work that is industry leading - Really great training ground if you find the right person to take you under their wing
Cons
- Poor leadership creates a pressure cooker environment: Any project mistakes get blamed and put onto the analysts or consultants, never the engagement manager / principals / etc. There is very little accountability at the senior levels (or, at least, based on how they handle it publicly.) It is not uncommon for people to cry or absolutely lose it at work. Quite frankly, I know of multiple people who have explored therapy specifically to deal with toxic aspects of this company. (Disclaimer: huge proponent of mental health wellness here - great that people got the help they needed but inexcusable that this company is what drove them to need it in the first place.) - Favoritism / Politics / Extreme Bias: Reviews, promotions, etc. are not very objective. Leadership can claim that it's calibrated via debate and discussion amongst management discussion, but you don't get rid of the bias if the entire leadership is comprised predominantly of white males. Any positive peer feedback by consultants, managers, etc. on the project can swiftly get over-ridden if someone on the leadership team forms a bad opinion of you in the limited interactions they have with you, and vice versa. - Projects are always understaffed, over-scoped: Projects that really should take 4-6 months get squeezed into 2-3 month engagements. Absolutely ridiculous. You are expected to deliver and if you don't, it's your fault for not being efficient. I actually believed this, until I finally left for a different firm and in retrospect can see how clearly that it was an issue of scope. - No accountability or ownership of areas required to grow: Instead of improving based on the feedback, leadership wastes their energy trying to figure out who wrote which negative review in order to undermine the feedback and posts positive reviews instead. Many including myself have been told to go post positive reviews and flag reviews that were potentially "false" or unfair (read: negative).