Utopian work environment, but lower than average pay
Pros
Incredible formal and informal mentorship structure: Capgemini assigns you a “People Manager” when you onboard, who is essentially your performance manager and mentor. This relationship has the potential to be extremely helpful, as they advocate for you, support you, and help direct you during your time at Cap. Most people gladly take more junior consultants under their wings. Collaborative and supportive work environment: Cap has been identified as one of the most ethical companies in the world 9 times, and for good reason. They exceeded my expectations on what a healthy and enjoyable work environment is like. They are socially conscious, set the standard for integrity, prioritize the mental health and wellbeing of their employees, and the majority of my coworkers have been pretty kind people. There isn’t the one-upmanship and ego clashing energy you see in management consulting or more rigid firms. They are sensitive and incredibly supportive during periods of personal difficulty (e.g. illness and extended leave of absence), and seek to improve and remediate poor performance rather than punish and expel. Job security: So long as you are meeting/ exceeding performance expectations, you can expect to be pretty comfortable. Unlike smaller firms, Capgemini can afford to carry consultants who are on the bench. Obviously that is something to avoid at all costs, but it happens. When projects slowed down/ stopped due to Covid, many consultants were rolled off without a new engagement on the horizon. 2020 saw a lot of lay offs, but the consultants that stayed were given a lot of grace while they looked for new roles. Some for 5+ months. Access to tons of resources: Capgemini has an extensive knowledge management platform/ repository of templates, documents, etc. There is no shortage of resources which promotes autonomy. People are always willing to help- even if it means working outside of business hours or making time when they have a lot on their plate. They make it really hard to fail. Budget: The size of the company makes it easier to get them to cover all expenses even just generally related to your work. They more than likely will pay for certification exams, even if you fail and need to retake them. There is also more flexibility around expenses when traveling- at one point they agreed to increase my hotel budget by $15 a night simply because I asked and made a good case for myself. Benefits: A++ insurance- especially dental. Generous leave of absence and extended disability coverage. Decent 401k match.
Cons
Cap doesn't pay well. Period. Most people stay at Cap for the incredible learning environment as they accumulate experience, and then make a swift exit once they have the skills to make a move. To put it in perspective, a Senior Consultant at Cap with ~3 years of experience that makes $90k could pretty easily get $120k somewhere else- I have seen more than a couple people get as high as $135k. And Cap won't to match it. Also, no bonuses until you reach Manager level! Cap is known for hiring past employees back, so the common model is to leave, stay at another firm for a while getting your salary where you want it to be, then eventually come back to Cap. If you come in as a lower level consultant you don't really get a choice on which service line you go into, so you may end up with a software you don't like or aren't interested in. The ability to change service lines is there, but its not as easy as they make it sound.
