Pros
You’ll work with some very talented and motivated people, and make friends for life. The office is very nice, with a lot of free snacks and drinks. It’s located in central London. We mostly work with MacBooks and G-Suite which are all easy to use. There are aspects to your work that will be down to you to create processes etc., which can be exciting and rewarding. You’ll learn a lot in a short space of time. Benefits package is okay, like health insurance, but pension contribution is minimal. Occasionally there are free breakfasts or a barista is brought in to the office.
Cons
Those in management and leadership positions have little to no prior professional experience to AlphaSights. It means that they lack the skills to be well-rounded professionals and have a jaded view of work. Little support is provided to those going into management positions, which inevitably has an adverse impact on their direct reports, because they have hardly any management skills. Additionally, although it’s great that a lot of those in VP positions are homegrown talent, they lack other experience which means that your learning can become stagnant. Flexibility has been taken away completely from all departments. There isn’t any consideration for people’s personal lives (ever) and there is a ‘put up, shut up’ mentality about it. Diversity and Inclusion are actively avoided by the co-founders and this trickles down to VPs and other leaders in the business. It’s becoming a bit of a ‘boy’s club’, where unskilled and unqualified people are placed into postions of authority. Those in ‘Specialist’ functions (Marketing, Finance, HR, Recruitment) are stripped of being able to use their skills and knowledge in their specialism. You’ll be expected to carry out anything that the business wants, with little regard for your knowledge and advice. Overall, the culture and sentiment of my colleagues has deteriorated since mid 2022, following an address from one co-founder at a company event (taking place on a Saturday), where he made inferences to reducing the workforce. The takeaway message from the event was that if you didn’t like any of the changes being made, they don’t want to hear it, just leave, and ensure to make AlphaSights your top priority in your life. Leadership have made bold and careless moves in the business to encourage resignations. Our performance was also under a lot more scrutiny, with impossible goals and standards, meaning that it was easier for the company to fire lots of people due to ‘underperformance’. At least 5 of my friends were fired in mysterious circumstances. Things seem to have gotten so bad that rogue, super positive reviews are written here that claim, ‘AlphaSights isn’t for everyone’. That certainly is true, but their refusal to accept any responsibility for this unbearable work environment really shines through in these reviews.
