Pros
Benefits are okay, large spending accounts for events and swag, team outings, very high-profile brokers and company recognition. They do some nice things for Admin Appreciation week.
Cons
The health insurance is horrible coverage, very high costs and they won't cover even basic things like annual pap smears - I received a $2000 bill for mine. The senior executives and brokers are treated like kings and queens even if they facilitate and encourage a hostile work environment, which they absolutely do. These executives thrive on the "kill or be killed" mentality even within their own teams. Complaints to HR will not do you any good, they will simply fire you to keep you quiet. I know of at least 4 assistants in the year I was there that had this happen. Since I left, over 6 assistants have been hired to replace me and every single one is gone in 6 weeks or less. You can be terminated at any time if your executive decides they want you gone, even if your performance is exceptional. They very much stand behind the "employment at will" clause that says you can be let go for no reason. I saw amazing assistants get fired left and right - it creates a terrible sense of paranoia that you're next and you should basically have your resume ready to go at any time. The performance expectations are unrealistic and not attainable - you basically need to be a psychic mind reader and dedicate your entire life 24/7 to the job. It is completely normal to work 12-14 hour days, 6 days a week for the entire team and only go home to sleep and change clothes. You will eat all of your meals here, you will have zero work life balance and your health will absolutely decline. Its a running joke among the admins on what ailments will happen to any new assistants hired because it is a real thing. The pay is excellent, mostly because of all the overtime but don't expect a large bonus, certainly no where near the level the other team members get even though you do most of the actual work on deals. Its a thankless job that will drain the life out of you and leave you with no time to date, see friends or family, exercise, travel or ANYTHING that you enjoy because when you do get rare time away from the office you are so exhausted that you basically go into a coma. Also, CBRE instituted a new communication hierarchy where instead of your boss discussing things with you directly, they now will tell an HR rep who then has a meeting with you to relay the information. You then go back and forth a hundred times because you aren't allowed to receive corrective conversations directly from your superior. However, because of this - your opinions are never really taken into consideration and explanations don't make sense because the HR rep isn't aware of what actually happened. You're basically just told to improve this or that but in very vague terms like "be more proactive", improve your "ability to anticipate any future scheduling needs that may arise in real time" and "personal assistance to an executive should now also extend to their family, staff and others deemed as VIP". It's the worst place I've ever worked in 20 years and leaving there was by far the best decision of my life.
