Pros
- Good opportunity to develop soft skills: written communication, phone skills, client / customer facing experience, research experience, as well as some managerial skills (once promoted to Associate / Senior Associate). Do not expect hard skills from this role (exception if you do extra-curricular studies / courses Third Bridge can sponsor). - Easy to sell your experience to a range of future employers due to hybrid research / client-facing role. - Great colleagues and social atmosphere; I cannot emphasise this enough - Decent first job if you aren't sure what you want to get into (given the Research Analyst progression has a "soft cap" around the 1.5 / 2 year mark). It can be especially good if you end up in the right team, but beware the caveats below. - Ambitious and dedicated Senior Management team (C-levels); the co-founders are still highly involved and have an obvious passion for what they do, and they remain approachable to all members of staff.
Cons
- Poor compensation: compared to its main competitors, and even worse when compared to financial services in general (this is offset by the bonus scheme, but as others have mentioned this can largely be down to luck on a particular month, or which division / team you end up in). - Mediocre work / life balance: you will be working on projects for time-sensitive clients that work long hours, and the company more or less explicitly expects you to do the same. Core hours are 9-6 but most will come in at least 30 mins early and leave at least 30 mins late if not later if a project comes in end of day. You will be expected to stay as long as it takes. - Stressful: you will constantly be under pressure to meet monthly revenue targets. If you don't meet them for 3-4 months in a row (regardless of reason), your job is likely at risk. - Inexperienced middle-management: most managers up to Team Leader or even VP level have had Third Bridge as a first job and have simply worked their way up. As a result, most will be very inexperienced managers, which can cause all sorts of problems from a lack of professionalism, to an inability to motivate team members, to excessive micro-management and discrepancies in the treatment of team members. - Inconsistent treatment of employees: some will be fast-tracked to promotion, while others get managed out (put on performance improvement plans that they are unlikely to pass, since criteria are set and evaluated by one person - their line manager). There are examples of people not hitting targets but being promoted anyway, while others get threatened with being fired for similar results. - Heterogeneous experience for the same role: your experience at the company is highly dependent on which division / team you end up in. Some enjoy better pay due to a more favourable bonus-earning situation (smaller teams with larger income potential), better working hours (due to differences in client base), and thus more relaxed managers and better job security. - Dubious HR practices: more than a few people leaving the company have had their last months' salary withheld because there was no explicit arrangement to guarantee it (even though it's in the contract).