Pros
Acumen hires most staff straight out of undergrad, so younger employees have the opportunity to make more substantial contributions and salaries here than they might be able to do elsewhere. Depending on what project you’re placed with, the work itself can be quite interesting and impactful. The SAS training program is really great and will set you up for life as long as you put it to use, which you’ll get a chance to do regardless of which project you end up on. Work-life balance has improved a lot over the years, and more recently they’ve been able to provide perks such as annual bonuses, free lunches once a month, and free bagels every Friday.
Cons
If you’re applying here expecting to do the labor or social policy work advertised on the company’s website, don’t bother because those projects are long gone. There’s not a whole lot of mobility between teams/departments—except if you’re underperforming and the company won’t fire you so they just make you someone else’s problem—so you’ll likely be stuck working on the same thing the entire time you stay. Even if the project is interesting, it will undoubtedly get old after a while. Career growth for Acumen’s longer term employees, or those that come in with some work experience or an advanced degree under their belts, is non-existent. The company seems to assume at this point that most people will stay for one to two years max and move on, which has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you do end up staying longer than that, best of luck to you, as inertia can be a mighty powerful thing (see note about about salaries). They don't really think about what they're going to do with people before they hire them, so a lot of PhDs end up doing the same work as those with just a bachelors, just on marginally more interesting projects. These people rarely stay very long either. HR and the "directors" or "group leads" or whatever they're calling them this week (seriously, these titles are what they decide to spend time on?) are, with a few exceptions, pretty out of touch with what happens on a day-to-day basis around the company and what employees really care about and need to be and stay happy. There is a lot of gossiping and secret keeping that goes on, particularly surrounding merit increases and promotions. Nearly all company wide announcements tout continued efforts to "increase transparency" after a company wide survey revealed that everyone had caught on to the shadiness that was going on, but they're selectively transparent about things that don't really matter (like shuttle times and vending machine options). People are generally quick to jump to conclusions about employees' competencies and performance based on hearsay, and rarely, if ever, take the time to do their research before making decisions. The CEO, while clearly brilliant, likes to involve himself in projects when he finds out that they're running just fine without him, and typically ends up doing more harm than good - alienating the clients, berating employees, and creating unnecessary work for already stretched resources.
