BGI - A good job choice, but not a great career choice if you are exceptionally motivated.
Pros
The great and talented people. The collegial atmosphere. Great location for a head office. Good levels of communication from Blake Grossman. The new head office building itself.
Cons
The current BGI is one where virtually all roles, outside of sales, have been broken down into extremely narrowly defined categories of tasks. This is very different from the much smaller firm of only 10 years ago, however, this serves the firm's purpose of maintaining a low cost structure while maximizing the degree of specialization of most people on staff. Some might say that they are exploiting a production line approach with specialists responsible for adding a trade list here, calling a broker there, generating a client report, etc to create their final product. Although this is one way to achieve spectacular returns to scale, it leaves many of the rank and file in a situation where their skills are really only valuable to BGI and where one's career can stagnate after a few years on the job. As a result, if you look around the organization, you will find many very talented people who aren't really being fully utilized to their maximum potential. At the end of the day, it is more about individual preference - I know many people that remain there that absolutely love BGI and I agree with them on many points. However, I know just as many that have self selected out and are glad that they are no longer there. If someone were looking for a reasonably secure, reasonably well paying job, BGI would be an excellent firm to work for. On the other hand, if one were looking for a place where you would have the opportunity for an interesting career progression, have a broad experience and develop your investment management and business skills, I would recommend looking elsewhere.
