Pros
-Gain experience in Excel, Argus, and work with top clients -Pay is fine if we actually work 40 hour weeks (which does not happen often)
Cons
-Do not let analysts/associates speak directly to clients until you are a VP level. That is 5+ years of not having any client interaction and makes you feel like an excel MONKEY rather than feeling important and talking through issues with clients -bonuses were SMALL -LOTS of turnover due to heavy workload, small bonus, and constant emails from upper management pushing to work 60+ hours a week with no additional compensation -real estate group stays later than the IB group and this does not sit well with analysts when they see the IB group getting ASTRONOMICALLY higher pay and bonuses -Culture gone downhill since acquisition. Lay offs, small bonuses, upper management pushing analysts to work until midnight or 2am every single night with no additional compensation -Small and UNREALISTIC budgets. For all of you that are reading this, D&P utilizes the billable hour system. This means you only have a certain time allotment to complete a project and if you go over budget (which happens on 99% of projects) then you can not bill these hours to your time card and have to bill as "Available" time. Upper management sees this as you having free time and want to push more work on you, even though you have been in the office until 2am, 4 nights in a row. CHANGE THIS. -Trick people interviewing that this is a "valuation" role and not an appraiser role. If you want to be an appraiser, this is where you want to be. You will not be helping firms with their acquisitions or consulting on new markets. You will be APPRAISING properties after they have already transacted. If the appraisal comes in low, then the client will call the director and ask to tweak cap rates and other assumptions. Not a lot of critical thinking involved. Just mindless work to pay the bills.