Pros
+ Amazing group of talented Consultants, Senior Consultants + Strong culture and commitment to I&D + Meritocratic promotion system (not political office environment) + Overwhelming Financial Services focus of years past has shifted to a more diverse set of industry particularly in Utilities, Transportation, and Retail in the US offering new consultants a broader set of opportunities. (moved from 75% FS to closer to 45% FS, the regulatory projects OW made a killing on in years passed have dried up in light of deregulation in the Trump Era) + In spite of low name ID, Consultants who leave after 2-4 years tend to go on to work at elite firms (in Tech/FS/PE), go to prestigious MBA programs, or work for emerging NFPs/Start-ups. + Love my peers in CCG (Core Consultant Group, which is the group you are put in during your first 1-2 years out of undergrad) Almost everyone is smart, relatively chill/fun to be around, and we're a non-competitive, truly supportive of each other. + Culture While by no means does OW have some utopian inclusive culture or is it as racially diverse as we'd want to be, we're a firm of respectful (often progressive) people who aren't afraid to have very candid conversations about emerging issues and are always looking for pragmatic ways to improve our office culture and the consultant experience. + Your success at the firm is exclusively driven by your performance. Promotions are really not political .. instead its based on a tough, rigorous 360 review process - where those who've met clearly defined objectives will be promoted. If you're meeting the targets for your next eligible role - you will be promoted every year. However, the firm leaders often can be pretty tough in how they review people's performance, so simply performing at a mediocre level will stagnate your career at OW. You must learn to succeed at constantly improving your skill-set/performance to do really well at OW.
Cons
- We do strategy work similar to MBB, but have relatively low name ID. Its annoying to work in a 1:1 role as a MBB analyst, if anything for a more analytically rigorous firm, yet rarely ask someone if they have ever heard of OW and hear "yes." This happens when you're trying to network your way into new opportunities outside of work or even at work, when you start off a interview with a SME and you ask if they've heard of OW - they likely haven't. - OW mid-level managers often aren't empowering leaders, they're overwhelmed managers focused on execution not enabling their team. Training at the firm is weak at the firm at the manager level. Managers are often really well skilled at understanding the project subject-matter and have significant technical/analytical skills. However, its very inconsistent project-to-project as to whether a Manager will have the project management, interpersonal, and EQ skills to help enable you and the team to succeed (plus stay motivated). Managers are often friendly (its not a personality issue), but typically moved up quite quickly at the firm and OW training isn't comprehensive enough for them to know how to lead a team that thrives (including Work-Life Balance) as opposed to being an expert at delivering what the client needs at all costs possible. - Work Life Balance is really hit or miss, particularly with highly fluctuating hours. If you get put on a burner project, where your constantly being stretched including late nights and/or weekends (because of various reasons) the firm really doesn't have any good remediation method, even if you flag it - you just get hit with a lot of empathetic talk - but get more/less hit with 'it sucks to suck'. The firm lacks Consultants with the technical skills needed to take on some of the new projects we're selling, so if you're a coder or someone with significant technical skills its very common that they'll basically constantly put you on burners. - Firm has a great I&D philosophy, but is still probably 80%++ white males at the Principal and Partner level.
