BlackRock reviews

6 work days (Sunday through Friday). Certain middle management in Solutions (MD) are careerists and certain third-years are brown nosers with little concern for your development. Expect to get little feedback or guidance. Due to business growth, expect to be spread thin and work hours. Depending on which sub-group you end up in, you might get unlucky and work under a self-serving third-year analyst. (and during evaluations, done twice a year with nary any feedback in between, the third year has the last word on you). You are expected to take on most of the responsibility from the beginning. Because of the complexity of the software (which some have likened to a big rube golberg machine), it's sometimes difficult to exactly pinpoint where a problem started. As a result, most of the "management" that goes on is more of "arse-covering", and if you're not a prolific enough of a blame-deflector, you'll end up with a "strike". So be smart, and watch your own arse first. Be proactive and complain to your hiring manager about third-years if need be before it's too late.

BLK is very team specific. While work experience on a number of teams (Portfolio management, Financial Modeling) is extremely rewarding and pleasant, other teams can be quagmires, filled with incompetents, for the lack of a better description. Keep in mind that the asset manager side and "Solutions" business are run very differently. Solutions is a software company with few of the glamor and opportunities found on the asset manager side. Watch out for your MD. He or she, more than anything else will make or break your career at BLK. While there is a number of very fair, objective and merit-focused MDs, you may run into a bureaucrat/careerist, who will think nothing of using you as a slave and trample your career to make a few extra bucks for him/herself. Granted, this kind of person can be found in any company, but this is probably the biggest danger at BLK, as the upper management does have a clue and leads the company well.