Pros
It's taken me awhile to write this but I'm tired of reading negative reviews from folks who want their career handed to them on a silver platter. You have to work for your rewards, and GLG was no exception during my tenure. - I joined in large part due to the group of talented individuals that recruited me. I had nine interviews and was impressed with everyone I met, and learned a lot during my time. Smart people work at GLG (and they still do). - When I joined I had over 10 years of experience and most of my colleagues and managers were younger than me. Made no difference, I learned from each one, even the (very) few I didn't care for much. - GLG is what you make of it: I spent several years there, grew my career and skillset considerably and worked with a lot of exceptional people along the way, many of them are still my friends today.
Cons
- Some of the work can be monotonous, especially if you only spend your time recruiting or in project management. Figure out ways to improve the business or processes, and you can stand out. - Career growth can be strongly tied to your manager. However, no one is going to stand up for you other than yourself, so if you want something, ask for it and prove you have the talent to take on more responsibilities. During my tenure I had the opportunity to develop my career in more than one country and saw (and supported) others so they could have that same opportunity. Not a lot of companies of this size are that eager and supportive of international moves, period. I also had a very strong manager who saw things in me that I couldn't see in myself at the time. He invested in me, believed in me and greatly contributed to my professional growth. - I left the company to take my career in a different direction. I could have stayed and would have had many opportunities to continue to develop. Sometimes companies can't move fast enough or create opportunities that are going to fit exactly what you want to do. Figure out what you want to learn and how to get it while contributing to the company. - If you want to work for a narrow-minded company that only hires certain majors from certain schools, then GLG is not for you. The company understands that having well rounded people from different backgrounds is additive. If you want to work with all engineering and finance people only from ivy leagues, go join a management consulting firm or investment bank or some other company that prefers to see things from a limited perspective.