BlackRock Reviews

Pros

Coworkers are intelligent and hard working.
Compensation for similar level positions seems fair.
Sometimes the right people are recognized with promotions.

Cons

Management continues to raise the bar for employee performance measurement, while not growing staff with the increasing demands on employees.
Requests for help with staffing are ignored.
People are overworked and under-appreciated, and obvious candidates for promotions are overlooked.
Impossible to balance work and life, particularly if you are interested in spending any quality time with your family.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire enough people to ensure quality work output and timely client deliverables.
This will improve the Blackrock product and employee satisfaction.

Pros

Pay is more than reasonable, especially for employees in zero-risk-taking positions. Most people are easy to get a long with.

Cons

Firm is dominated by 3rd and 4th tier managers which leads to horrible group dynamics and growth. Most managers are legacy employees that would not make it anywhere else.

Advice to Senior Management

Implement 360 reviews so poor performing Managing Directors can be removed and good ones can be recognized and rewarded.

Pros

- Good people at Director and below
- Large company (10,000 employees) but can easily work between teams

Cons

- Getting promoted is a total crap-shoot (it's honestly who you know, not what you've done)
- Far from newest tech (still using 8 year old PCs)
- Management makes decisions on projects without any knowledge of work required

Advice to Senior Management

- Stop being a crony and actually think for yourself
- Get to know your employees, they get the work done not you

Pros

Good starting salary for undergrads coming straight out of school. Good benefits.

Cons

* People I've met at this firm, including senior management feel completely incompetent. I feel like our quants lack quant skills, the PMs lack market knowledge, and just overall inability for people to think critically.
* The systems and tools at blackrock is so unique to blackrock that you aren't too prepared to move into a different company and apply your skills

Advice to Senior Management

Hire people who are more competent.

Pros

smart, friendly people. great culture. focus on developing talent.

Cons

since the merger of blackrock and bgi, there have been some growing pains as is expected when merging 2 big firms. feels like decisions take longer to make.

Pros

If you're looking for a place to start in the financial industry, this is a good place as you can start at the bottom and work really hard to find your way up. Their analyst program seems to be pretty good.

Cons

Their analyst program works well because they're hiring newly graduated college students. This way they can train their employees to learn the way it should be from the beginning. They'll have no other experience to compare so they won't know how bad the work environment can be. They prefer to produce with lean resources to make sure that Larry Fink will get his several million dollary salary and bonuses. Senior management only talks amongst themselves and then perhaps they'll take some feedback from the "subordinates" they favor most. Even if you do get promoted, there is no guarantee there is a raise because that will take away from the senior managements pay raise and bonuses.

Advice to Senior Management

Take some extra time and greet your employees and perhaps try to learn their names.

Pros

Prestige of firm and resume builder. Compensation above average until you realize the hours that are expected...then it might be below average

Cons

Work life balance non existant. Rather work people 60-70 hours a week on manual processes than than spend $$$ to develop or purchase automation. Small firm mentality that cannot handle the growth of the last five years. You may get the title Director, MD etc and all the responsibility that comes with that title but you will not have the authority to do anytihing. The some divsions of the firm with over 200 people in them may have 3 or 4 people globally that have any decision making authority, in some areas it may be less!!! BTW ask someone in Blackrock how they feel when it comes down to bonus time and they are told that it was a tough year but then Larry's salary is published,@ $54M. Recognition is a running joke within Blackrock employees, it smore important who you have lunch with than what you produce. The Old boys club is alive and rules in Blackrock.

Advice to Senior Management

It appears C level and semior management is very removed from what actualy is happening below them.. Maybe is by design maybe its what is filtered on the way up? Raise the bar? maybe you should raise the bar in what is also important to the employees, that carrot in March has gotten smaller over the years it is not what it used to be 5-6 years ago.

Pros

Big name on the street. Well-promoted and highly regarded. Good resume builder.
Smart and eloquent people. Investment ideas well expressed and published.
Above average pay and benefits.

Cons

Highly political environment post many acquisitions in a short time. Low retention rate. Nice people resigned for good. Long hours are expected by incapable management. Little guidance and poor infrastructure. Pay more attention to cost cutting than employee job satisfaction.

Pros

When you start as an analyst in the Aladdin and Technology group (as a developer or business analyst), you'll rotate through groups every 6 months for 3 or 4 rotations, after which you'll be asked to give your preferences on what team you'd like to go to. A great way to start, to see what you like and don't like, and to get a well-rounded introduction to the platform and technology we use.

Cons

Some of the technology and code is a little dated, but it seems like they are working to fix that.

Advice to Senior Management

Overall a great analyst rotation program, and a great way to get an introduction to the firm and find the best fit on both sides.

Pros

Lots of benefits, community involvement, very nice people, salary is more than fair. Lots of relevant communication from leadership at all levels.

Cons

Very politically charged atmosphere when it comes to promotions. Lots of infighting between people that should not be necessary here.

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership seems like they always have the best answer. Suggest listening more to employees and also seek best practices from non BlackRock organizations to get out of groupthink.