I sincerely urge everyone to avoid joining this shambles of a company. It is by far the worst company I have ever worked for. Firstly, your performance as an associate in terms of achieving credits is largely determined by the segment you join (consulting, private equity, corporate etc). If you’re lucky, you’ll join a segment where client’s are not picky and take a lot of calls, like consulting or private equity. It may appear that AS has a great reputation and work with global clients but that is all a facade. The company operates in an extremely competitive industry, hence why they make you work abnormal hours (and expect you to stay longer). You find the clients AlphaSights works with are using up to seven of their competitors for the same exact service?! This means that when new projects do come in, there is a unhealthy obsession with delivering the best possible result in 15-20 minutes, EVERY TIME. The majority of ‘senior’ staff, including managers and VP’s have no valid experience in the real business world besides working at AlphaSights for more than two years. Managers are in their mid-20’s and tend to be in their first jobs which means they literally have NO experience in managing people. My manager was the worst manager I have ever worked for - she was the least emphatic person and borderline psychotic. Empathy, which is one of AlphaSight’s core values is sadly not deployed neither to staff or the experts AS works with. Experts, who tend to be senior people at large organisations are treated like tooth picks and constantly nagged for information. You are also expected to work like a ROBOT. I genuinely believe I’ve gotten dumber working here as your day mainly consists of ‘custom sourcing’, which refers to messaging/emailing/calling experts from LinkedIn. You may be facing personal problems at home or might not feel great mentally - management DO NOT CARE and still expect you to perform. You are given 4 days to work from home every quarter (talk about flexibility) and the company has got rid of snacks whilst giving managers pay rises? One of the Co-CEO’s, Andrew Heath is great - he’ll talk to you in person if you see him in the office. However, he is also one of the reasons for behind the company switching to 4-days in the office and the removal of basic amenities such as snacks. The other Co-CEO, Max Cartellieri doesn’t seem as nice or approachable. Staff leave this place everyday, no kidding. The only reason why this place has any retention is because they are one of the rare employers who sponsor visas. If this wasn’t the case, I estimate that 85% of the workforce would have left by now. Diversity is EMBARRASSING. There are a handful number of staff out of hundreds of who fit into the BAME category. The majority of associates are foreign speakers and clearly went to private school. Work events revolve around alcohol and petty office politics which is pretty standard. The industry that AlphaSights operates in is also borderline unethical, where investment clients often ask questions which clearly can’t be answered due to privacy and material non -public information concerns. Associates are still expected to ask these highly explicit questions over the phone like it’s normal. The company also clearly acknowledges that there is no work-life balance but ‘work life harmony in the associate role. How pathetic. The fairly high salary is NOT WORTH IT, I promise you. I made the mistake and would not recommend it to anyone who wants to live a sane life. I’ll be waiting for the day where the entire ‘expert network’ industry is completely wiped out by AI. Until then, enjoy your run. I can’t stress the fact that this is not a healthy place to work. No matter how high the salary, value your mental health first.
