Completely and utterly awful, in every sense of the word. - Anonymous employee ZS Associates Employee Review

-Barely qualifies as a consulting firm, despite the image HR somehow manages to spread to recruits. Work consists almost exclusively of crunching numbers in Access or creating PowerPoint slides; no real world application to any of the mind-numbing tasks assigned. -There is a clear disconnect between the tasks and projects presented to recruits and interviewees and those actually assigned when the employee joins the company. -Company is extremely cheap; all travel expenses must be paid for up-front and reimbursed months later. No per diem for food and other expenses while traveling. Expect to be relentlessly questioned about your choice of meal and restaurant, etc. -Despite the company's insistence otherwise, employees in the U.S. spend 99.999% of the time working for domestic pharmaceutical and medical device clients. Virtually no chance for international experience. -Unknown outside the medical industry; not a real player in any other arena. -Arrogance and simultaneous incompetence is widespread throughout all levels of the firm. -Cut-rate health insurance (pre-authorization required for everything). -Lack of communication from upper management. -Firm has not hired enough people to keep up with demand. Projects are almost never turned down, meaning that 80 and 90 hour weeks are common. I, for one, was told while interviewing that the norm is a 40-50 hour workweek. Not so. -Their promotion of a "great work-life balance" is ridiculous to an almost hilarious degree. -Favoritism shown to alumni of certain universities while graduates of other less prestigious schools are mocked or passed over.