Exponent reviews

3.0

37% would recommend to a friend

(360 total reviews)
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Catherine Corrigan

34% approve of CEO

35% positive business outlook

Exponent has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 360 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Exponent employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Management & Consulting industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

360 reviews
2.0
Nov 1, 2021

Powerlessness and the Stockholm syndrome

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Intelligent colleagues from privileged backgrounds, dominant brand and size.

Cons

Hubris and elitism. A select few are groomed because of their "consulting skills" (read: those who look and speak like attorneys), not necessarily their technical acumen (flunked qualifiers, terrible writing and interpersonal skills be damned - you might even make VP). If you are not picked early to be part of the A group in a large office - your chances of success are slim to none. You are more powerless than you realize. Your dreams, aspirations, contributions, mental wellbeing, morale, sincerity and enthusiasm have shrunk to a single row in a spreadsheet that management uses to divine "the story behind the numbers". For a company that preaches the scientific method, employee assessments are based, not on personal knowledge through direct interaction and observations (no time for that when one is killing himself/herself for a bonus with a near 100% UT), but the word of a dominant anointed oracle or two. Speaking up about this just makes management mad and retaliate. I chose the only path I had remaining - to leave. Ask - why is a company headquartered in a place as diverse as the San Francisco Bay area for over half a century - so predominantly white and male? (Currently there is a scramble to promote white women - so you may be in luck).

1.0
Aug 7, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

All your colleagues are top PhDs from top schools in the country. Generally nice and smart people all around.

Cons

This company is modeled after law firms / management consulting in the use of billable hours, promotion criteria, and even the job titles. For example, Exponent hires exclusively engineering PhDs and yet they call people "associates" and promote people to "principal". This general model isn't inherently wrong, as consulting firms and law firms have generally proven to be successful and lucrative. But Exponent has the crucial flaw of being a PUBLIC company. Thus, unlike all other successful law firms or top consulting firms (MBB, etc.), they live and die by the quarterly return. This results in extremely short term thinking about pure profit and $$$, which stifles any growth of the company and ultimately individual employees. There is not a single innovative thing that has come out of this consulting firm in decades. While other consulting firms (which also live by the billable hour) have deftly pivoted to digitalization and data science initiatives a DECADE ago, Exponent is still doing litigation investigations and investing no money in the future. Exponent thrives on the allure of quick big money for fresh PhD grads, and thus receives a steady stream of top-end MIT/Stanford/Caltech/etc. PhDs. But this is generally a HUGE mistake for this people, because there is absolutely no skill growth in your time in Exponent. Most people (90%+) have to take a step down in a role when transitioning out of Exponent, because the skills are not transferrable at all. The remaining 10% of people are either Exponent lifers (stuck because they have nowhere else to go), or those who have played the "game" enough to make it to the top and play the Ponzi scheme some more. If you are a fresh PhD grad looking at Exponent, I recommend staying away.

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Exponent Response
5y
Exponent is a professional services firm. The great majority of our Principals started in the firm right out of graduate school and were developed into Principals and leaders of our Practices and Offices. Our CEO is a wonderful example of this.
3.0
Mar 15, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1) Good place to start your career after earning a Ph.D. because not many companies today hire students straight out of graduate school with a Ph.D. 2) Good salary compensation; good to earn enough income to pay off your student loans quickly

Cons

1) Terrible work culture - employees are only viewed as disposable laborers and as numbers on a spreadsheet 2) No one actually cares about your progress in your career, your professional development, or even your personal sanity. They only care how much money can you make the firm

Viewing 16 - 18 of 360 Reviews

Glassdoor has 400 Exponent reviews submitted anonymously by Exponent employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Exponent is right for you.