Pros
On the "research" side, GLG employees build skills in account management and corporate communication. There are many smart, kind, talented people at GLG - but everyone quickly realizes that the lucky ones escape as quickly as possible.
Cons
I dreaded waking up in the mornings while I was employed at the Gerson Lehrman Group. When my phone alarm went off, signaling it was time to get ready for another day in hell, my heart sank and I began to panic. I wish I were exaggerating. This company was the root cause of my severe depression, and GLG did not care. The Work: As a fresh college graduate, I walked into my first day of work filled with ambition and optimism. Throughout training, I was led to believe that my job would align with the job I had applied for. Alas, the word "research" was quite the overstatement as I soon realized that I was an administrative bot. For 12-15 hours a day, I managed relationships with stressed out clients working at investment firms, corporations, etc., and my day-to-day work consisted of organizing phone calls, abiding by obscure compliance policies, and being talked down to by upper-management. There is a reason employees are dropping like flies, and the rate at which this is happening is NOT normal, despite what management will tell you. The work is monotonous with no end in sight. GLG's extreme commitment to running lean means that every employee's performance is measured by their willingness to sacrifice all work life balance. I had no life, just work. I'd work late into the night holding cranky experts and clients accountable to their meetings, with no actual opportunities for learning or growth. All of this is bad in itself, but the story worsens when you add in the poisonous culture and politics that plague GLG. The Culture: GLG does not care about the mental well-being of its employees. When you walk into the office, you can stare into any employee's eyes and immediately share a moment of solidarity over the soulless oppression slowly starting to consume our personal lives, the remnants of the intelligent starry eyed ingénues turned exploited labor, controlled by shame, finding hope in the shared secret that we were all dreaming of escape. I lost my innocence at GLG. The Fake Reviews: Look at the Glassdoor ratings trend for GLG. It's in sharp decline. This is sad, because it's obvious that HR is encouraging employees to post generic, positive reviews to keep the rating above a 1.5.