Pros
Surrounded by very intelligent people with great experiences and backgrounds. Managing directors are highly skilled and know their respective industries in and out. There is opportunity to work on many types of engagements and get exposure to various industries. Everybody works hard, from Managing Directors down to the Analysts. You will find yourself working late with your managers versus other places where a manager might clock out and leave a pile of work to finish. There is a great deal to learn and many experiences are valuable and will increase your technical knowledge, excel modeling, time management skills, and ability to work under pressure. If you work hard and get noticed, you will move up in the organization.
Cons
- The workload, experience, and opportunity for advancement will drastically differ based on what group you work in and what managers you are exposed to. - There isn't a set staffing method for new projects where people get an opportunity to work with everybody and experience new people. Their is a patronage system where some will gain more exposure than others, and it is difficult to break the cycle. These things are out of the employees hand, and can have an impact on compensation, movement in the organization, and tenure with the company. - Expect to spend a minimum of around 50 hrs/week in the office - Expect to work many weekends and "OT" - Expect to receive disproportionate (could mean less than what you expect, in bad times nothing or preserving your job) compensation for the extra time. It is simply part of the job on the junior levels, (analyst & seniors). The compensation packages for the firm are disproportionately top heavy. - VPs are generally overworked in comparison to peer companies. - Year end bonuses are highly subjective and unclear. There is no automatic bonus for meeting company profitability goals on an individual basis. - There is a flawed feedback system as a whole. On top of that there are some managers that may not inform you of deficiencies to work on, and instead of fostering growth in an individual the manager will move on to a new or established person for help. The lack of 360 reviews keeps this cycle going - In an up market, many of the "good" people in the organization leave due to the frustrations and inertia associated with the company. Many of which came about once the firm went public and the shareholders supersede the welfare and happiness of firm's only resource, its people.