Decent place to start out, but exit for better opportunities
Pros
1) People - my colleagues were generally down-to-earth, nice, and collaborative. ZS tends to hire the smart, friendly, and nerdy type. Not a cutthroat or internally competitive culture 2) Skillset - ZS definitely enhances your professional skills (e.g., communication, analytical thinking, etc.) in addition to mastering powerpoint and excel. Learning curve is steep in the first few years
Cons
1) Very narrow focus / pigeonholing - 90+% of ZS's work is Pharma sales/marketing. It is great if that is what you are passionate about. But this is not ideal for most new hires who are not sure what they want to do. To make matters worse, you are typically staffed with one client or one type of work for several months to 1 year. If you want to move around, partners often take offense and you are penalized in the form of slower promotions since the firm places a large emphasis on expertise 2) Fractional staffing - a great way for the firm to increase utilization ($$$) but it is terrible for employees. It is not uncommon to be staffed on more than 2 projects at once across partners. So not only do you have to keep up with the unrelenting demands, but also play politics so each team feels like they are your #1 priority. This leads to high burnout and poor work/life balance