Pros
- Intelligent colleagues who are mostly invested in doing their jobs well. Not sure if this is a pro or a con but the company uses the 6-month probation period more actively than most, and HR will formally ask your manager to confirm that they are satisfied with the new hire. - Good 'training ground' for early careers; instills great work ethic and those who start as graduates are well looked after and probably will progress much faster than peers at other firms in the same industry. - The firm is very supportive of internal mobility but with a caveat of discounted experience (see cons). Back office to front office movement is only gated by your ability to perform in an interview. - Great branding for future careers; doors definitely open up once you have the Macquarie name on your resume. Regardless of anyone's internal experience at the firm, the external reputation will definitely be a material benefit to your career if you're coming from anything less than a US investment bank.
Cons
Not necessarily cons but some general thoughts that may be useful for others to consider before joining: - Leadership positions and pay feel heavily skewed towards tenure in a given team. As a result of this, internal transfers (and organizational restructures) may 'reset' any accumulated progress towards promotions. I have seen competent people held at the same level for 3-4 years, seemingly only because they were shuffled around new leadership umbrellas every 8-9 months. - Lateral experience in general feels like it is excessively discounted. The phrase 'you only have X years of experience doing THIS job' is very common as an explanation for slow progression in both seniority and pay. The 'safe' path might be to stay under a single senior leader and do the same job for as long as possible. - HR seemed to be extremely well trained in negotiating people down on pay; I heard of many people taking pay cuts from other reputable past employers to join Macquarie. - Just to touch on work life balance, the firm definitely suits those who view longer hours without pay as an investment in their own professional development. If you're looking for a 'good' effort:pay ratio, you will most likely end up extremely disappointed as pay might feel more correlated with tenure than merit when rem cycles come around.