Pros
Hanover was my first job out of college. I graduated from a good school with a degree in International Relations and had a tough time finding a job in my field so I was very grateful when I got an offer from Hanover for a RA job. The recruiter was upfront about the salary when I interviewed and the offer was at that exact salary. I did negotiate a little bit higher but knew I would be making an entry level salary just out of school with no work experience. It paid less than some of the consulting companies I had interviewed with (didn't get any offers there) but more than the one think tank job I was offered. It took me a while to get used to the pace of the work. My first few months were rough and I struggled to find my feet but got a lot of support from my PM and the L&D staff. Once I got used to the workflow and learned how to make better use of my time, projects became less daunting and I felt like I was thriving. There were so many opportunities to learn things outside of my job - I went to lunch and learns and brownbags and attended a lot of training sessions for research methodologies I had no experience in so I felt like my year and a half really prepared me for graduate school and some of the more advanced statistical courses I am taking. I got promoted once with a pay bump (not big but it was nice to see hard work rewarded) and got a lot of feedback that helped me improve my writing skills.
Cons
The pace is tough. It can get exhausting at times. Some projects are boring but they don't last more than a week or two at the most. While most people are nice, there is a small group of 'mean girls' that huddle together at lunch, happy hours and other social events griping and complaining about everything. They make it clear that if you don't want to join in their commiserating that you are not welcome in their social group. I did my best to avoid them but their nastiness was contagious at times. I was happy when they started to leave the company. I know some people were worried about attrition but I was relieved to see them go even if it meant more work for me until new hires joined the company. While I learned a lot, I knew I didn't want a career in market research or education so even if I didn't go to graduate school, I would have moved on from Hanover at my 2 year mark.
