Horrendous culture overshadowed by poor management and outdated practices
Pros
Learn a lot. They call poor management and training “drinking from the firehose” which is a good skill to learn to do in consulting. You will often have to keep a level head in horrible situations which is also a really good skill to master, Gibson will test that The travel can be hard on you as well, but it’s in general much better travel than what you would get other places. Some really cool locations it’s just too much expected at times, which is fine and a part of the job.
Cons
Everything about the culture was horrendous. Fratty old boy company with completely useless managers and partners that were solely there because they were old/related/friends with one of the managing partners Gibsons’ claim to fame is something they call the 11 gate. It’s available on the internet to read if you’re curious what your lively hood depends on. The managing partner touts it as the best consulting process to hit the market. In practice, and outside of his head it’s way overpriced, extremely extremely outdated, and way too overinvolved for most firms outside of strictly private equity. Outside of horrible company culture and partners and managers ruining their own reputation with how they treat women and cheat on their wives during business trips, this 11 gate process is really what has led to the company going under 4 other times. And the managing partner is far too stubborn and out of touch to ever make any kind of change. I would highly highly recommend taking a different offer if given the opportunity