Pros
The people are great, and the office has a bunch of free snacks/drinks. People are very accommodating for time off - especially for emergencies or religious reasons. You will spend most of your day speaking to c-suite executives and learning how to navigate high-level conversations about industries that you know nothing about. That alone is an extremely valuable skill. Also, you significantly enhance your prioritization and organizational skills.
Cons
They falsely advertise the job. That is why their churn rate for associates is so high. The "official" hours are 8-6 with an expectation that you'll work longer than that - which wasn't written in any legal document or shared throughout the interviewing process. Expect to work between 10-13 hours daily, including some weekend work. While I was still there, I spoke with 15+ new hires in my cohort and others. 95% had the same experience as me and accepted the role under false pretenses. One of my old colleagues was told verbatim that "no one shows up in the office before 9 AM," during the interviewing process. The BREAD process is industry jargon - and you do not work with clients. You, as an associate, work with your manager, who works with their executive assistants. This role is basically a telemarketing/sales/recruiting role where you are boarder line harassing industry executives. And I have so many stories of - extremely - unprofessional requests taking place to keep a call "on the board." AlphaSights' hierarchy structure begins with associates being managed by people in their mid-20s who have never worked anywhere else in their life. Upper management sells the role as a fast track of your career skills, but the truth is that you are being "mentored" by people who don't know so much more than you, with no hard skills component. Professionalism varies from manager to manager, and being a good associate does NOT mean you will be a good manager. And, creativity is not encouraged. Do the job exactly as they want, or you will be put on a disciplinary plan or fired. Speaking of, expectations per employee per team vary significantly - especially with how many people should be reached out to for projects. It's very frustrating. The company has unrealistic and inconsistent expectations of every employee. People can and will turn on you very quickly, so be careful with who you trust if you choose to work here - and most of the job is out of your control. AlphaSights is the client first to a fault, often leading you to look unprofessional - especially when you continuously have to cancel calls minutes before the scheduled time. Hitting the benchmark to get your performance base pay (taxed at ~40%) IS NOT EASY. I genuinely can't stress this enough. Hitting hurdle depends on your segment, book of business, client type, and so many other factors that AlphaSights doesn't mention. I saw that certain teams have an advantage in hitting hurdles compared to others. Overall (as mentioned), there is a high churn rate, and people leave weekly. Over 50% of Associates are new hires which objectively doesn't reflect well on the company. Base pay isn't worth the hours, and you can't count on hitting the hurdle. Only apply/accept the job if you love sales/recruiting and are willing to work 60+ hours a week. Keep in mind, this job is salaried, so you don't get overtime. And, in this job you will never become an expert - you will only know a lot of random fun facts from various industries, which may seem cool - but you can't be intellectually curious because it will slow down your productivity. Decide carefully.
