Pros
There are a lot of people who work really hard and are very knowledgeable. It’s a (mostly) friendly office. The hours are flexible and we can work from home pretty much whenever we want which makes traveling easy (although I would still rather have the day off but vacation days are limited). There’s no real system for being put on projects, so if there’s something you are interested chances are you can work on it.
Cons
While it's mostly a good place to work, but there are some red flags. There is no system in place for performances, which leads to firings out of the blue. In March, four people were fired in one month. Those who were not fired received a vague email from a director saying that we are moving “in an exciting direction” before the fourth person was fired. No one addressed the issue head on. Previously, others who were completely fine at their job, but had annoying (yet harmless) personalities were fired out of the blue. It’s hard to believe that management is on our side when anyone who is good at their job could still be fired for being unlikeable. The pay and benefits are very low for the industry. We have non-profit level salaries yet are expected to work in a consulting environment, including on weekends, especially on proposals, throughout the year, and without non-profit benefits (more vacation days, cheap insurance). If a client asks for something last minute, we are expected to do it, but again, on a non-profit salary. Lastly, this is a technical assistance company, which means that it’s hard to become an expert in your field. You will be responsible for connecting tasks to an expert, so you won’t get experience in education, workforce programs, or international development. You will learn who is important in these industries, how to plan conferences in these industries, or how to create webinars in these industries. But you will not become an education, workforce or development expert.
