Pros
- Very diverse group of sharp, hard-working people from a variety of international, educational, and professional backgrounds. Young, dedicated, work hard/play hard culture among the consultants.
- Small project teams combined with a relatively flat management structure provide consultants the opportunity to be given high levels of responsibility and exposure to senior leadership from day one.
- Top-tier clientele (Fortune 100) across a variety of industries (e.g. financial services, packaging, CPG, retail, manufacturing, etc.) with strong client exposure, even for most junior consultants. Projects are generally interesting and challenging, high visibility/high impact, and cover a range of scopes/deliverables. Opportunity to gain broad experience in a relatively short amount of time.
- Unique opportunities for international travel. Combination of global clientele and a small firm with an international footprint results in regular projects with an international travel component (ranging from a few days to a few months).
- Experience here can be a great stepping stone to future opportunities. Even a relatively short tenure at Mars can provide the analytical and leadership experience that will open doors and accelerate career growth.
- Great on-the-job training and mentorship available (However, this must be actively sought out by consultants. Very limited formal training/development, which can be a negative for some - see Cons).
Cons
- Minimal visibility into overall firm performance, growth targets, or direction provided to consulting staff. Culture among senior management of only sharing on “need to know” basis can be detrimental to firm culture and internal perception of firm’s health/growth outlook.
- Resistance to change/modernization among senior management can delay internal improvements that would enhance the firm’s competitiveness, and can result in the firm being highly reactive to large swings in turnover (though this has been improving).
- Limited investment in structured training and development (beyond on-the-job training) can create gaps in capability among junior consultants that are becoming increasingly difficult for senior consultants to absorb/teach in an environment of expanding scopes/shrinking timelines.
- Lack of brand recognition beyond clientele (though reputation very high amongst client leadership). This is partially structural given Mars’ one client per industry model, however expanding into new industries can offset moving forward.
