Pros
I worked in NAFS Research in Austin, and my remarks should be evaluated in that light. I can not speak at all for the PSF or Support divisions in the company. For a certain kind of person, GLG is a great place to start a career: 1. You are fresh out of college. 2. You want a path to a career in managing people. 3. You are a liberal arts major looking for a comparatively high paying job for your skills. 4. You are an extravert who derives satisfaction from pleasing people. 5. Your career is your number 1 priority in your life. 6. You want to learn office politics. 7. You are at the Austin office, or at least not in New York. From limited experience, I do not recommend working at the New York office if you can be elsewhere. GLG is comparatively unique, I think, in giving fresh out of college liberal arts majors a chance to manage people in a comparatively short amount of time. And the employees, in general, are very nice. I'm shocked by the number of complaints about diversity in these reviews. I believe GLG has more women managing people than men. I was part of many junior hiring decisions made at the company, and a person's race, gender, or sexual orientation never came up in discussions. The company is also very LGBT friendly. (It is true though, that at the very highest levels of management, that it's all men.) Despite being in the "financial sector" most of the company's employees are Democrats. The company is extremely strong on sexual harassment prevention - and I was there before the "Me Too" period. It was made abundantly clear we'd be fired if we engaged in such behavior. The training, led by Senior (Legal) Counsel Patrick Gordon, is very good. (In general the company's Legal and Compliance teams are very good personally and professionally. Most of them are based in Austin. I recommend getting to know them.) All taken together, I think the company was - in the grand scheme of things - improving when I left.
Cons
For a certain kind of person, GLG is a subpar place to advance your career: - You are an experienced hire and manager. Your possibilities for career advancement are limited, and largely depend on whether your boss quits. Many of the best managers realize this and leave the company. This leads to a disproportionally high amount of managers who've been 'promoted to their level of incompetence' (as the old saying goes) to run the company. - You are an introvert. - You seek an intellectually stimulating job. - You have a degree in business. - Your career is not your top priority in life. - You are not a "people pleaser". - You have an advanced degree. - You are not good at office politics, and have no desire to learn office politics. - You openly support Trump. I STRONGLY DISLIKE Trump, but think all employees should feel comfortable discussing politics. At the junior level, the company won't fire you if you're incompetent. But they won't promote you either. Most managers are uncomfortable with confrontation. Your success at the company is strongly correlated with how great your manager is. But I think that's unfortunately true with most businesses. Still, the company should address it.
