Pros
Got exposure to a wide range of practice area types. In general designers are passionate, enthusiastic, and have good taste. There is a 'buffet' of professional development opportunities in house. Somehow leadership continues to secure interesting projects from around the world, likely due to Gensler's size & reputation as the 'biggest' firm by head count and revenue.
Cons
Don't expect to receive a Pip, just swift and sudden employment termination. HR is there to protect upper management from employees despite how they broadcast a 'family culture' and '1 Firm Firm' ethos. Don't let the platitudes fool you. The moment there's a downturn in the economy they will fire just as fast as they hire. Keep an eye on overall attrition, they'll never say it at the CEO annual update. Instead they'll talk about how many people they've hired always with the tone 'isn't this great?!' when in reality you can listen to last years numbers how big the firm was and with some simple math see how much churn occurs. I made the mistake of believing I could trust my leadership and confided in them about discussing career growth & expanded ways of contribution to the firm. Had they actually cared and asked basic questions like good leaders do, they would have found I saw myself growing with the firm for the next 10+ years to make a real impact. But instead, they holed up behind glass walled offices in their bubbles, make assumptions reading between the lines, and terminate you swiftly without remorse. They'll label you things like 'insubordinate' or 'rogue' to justify their actions and dismiss any need to understand. They've crafted a comfortable castle of ideas that don't welcome merit based discourse. It's a culture where it matters more to fit in and go along to get along than to seek what's in the best interest of the project or initiative. They don't see the value of debate to find the strongest or healthiest solutions. They assume everything you're doing is aimed at some tactic to climb the corporate ladder. If you come in seeking to serve with altruistic motives, be prepared to be misunderstood since they assume everyone is trying to push some kind of agenda. Annual reviews are a joke. Use it to comply if you want to keep your job. Don't use it as an honest conversation to grow as an individual and align how you can contribute best at the firm. It will be read by people who don't know you and won't make the time to talk with you face to face. Again, be prepared to be misunderstood. If you attempt to actually implement the platitudes they broadcast, be prepared for lots of resistance. Recognize no one wants to change, they simply want to tell the world and their clients what they want to hear so everyone feels good on the inside and not actually translate those intentions into real, tangible results. Learn to see the disparity between a vision statement and the real demands of the project discussed behind closed doors. Strawman teams on the rise. In general whenever possible design production gets offshored to other countries while the client relationship is maintained by 1 or 2 faces close to the client. This hollows out space & time for true mentorship to occur within an office and very rarely does someone stay on a project from concept through completion. Handling staffing and onboarding is a nightmare given how much of a revolving door happens.
