BlackRock Reviews

Former Employee – worked at BlackRock

Pros – I can’t say enough about the unique business structure. Working on hourly projects suck; you have no flexibility on the amount of time you spend on a task and are always have to worry about billing enough hours to make it profitable, not enough hours to get the job done right. Consequently, you end up having to work those long hours just to make you revenue goals. Contingent projects give you the freedom to do the best job in how every many hours it takes you to do it. I never have to worry if I’m spending too little or too much time on a task.
Overall, I don’t know of any other company in our space or in another industry that offers such flexibility, generous incentive bonuses, and unique business structure.

Cons – Not all managers are created equally. There is little oversight on how managers implement stuff or the incentive bonuses, so you can end up with a bad manager and everything I said above would not apply.

Advice to Senior Management – other teams that can't utilize stuff at all because of their manager. So, I would provide a survey to team members to rate their manager's adherance to stuff and provide an incentive to mangers rated high and/or help for managers who are rated low.

Current Employee – been working at BlackRock full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – World's largest recognized asset manager

Cons – Large company, was not able to work on many projects.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at BlackRock full-time for more than a year

Pros – I would consider this one of the better firms to work for right out of school. The pay is in the upper range (for doing entry level analyst work that someone at a IB/Vanguard is doing for 35k on the same hours) and at the same time the culture and work done at BLK is something to be proud of. Massive growth which leads to greater opportunities both horizontally and vertically theoretically

Cons – Generic long hours but to be honest it's nothing to complain about..if you are working in finance at a tier firm you will be working them regardless. I actually like the fact that the firm is growing but not hiring at a mass pace (the IBs mass hire during bulls and then do massive lay offs..something they've already done to do at the end of this bull).

Advice to Senior Management – hire more attractive women

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at BlackRock full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Your co-workers are awesome, willing to help and you can learn alot and move throughout the company. Great bonuses.

Cons – Seems as though focus is constantly being shifted and there's poor communication between upper management and employees. If we're not aware of what the overall goals are how can we work to that end?

Advice to Senior Management – Engage your employees more, increase communication and make the promotion process more transparent. Currently the best way to move up is to just switch departments, you're losing that knowledge/experience.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at BlackRock full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Copany is not going anywhwere

Cons – Depending on deportment and division a totally different experience. No employee loyalty

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at BlackRock full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – -Company name will look good on your resume when you move on to another job.
-They give you a decent amount of vacation time to start (although you will be expected to answer the phone and work remotely while you are on "vacation" so keep that in mind)

Cons – -Bonuses are terrible, even though the company has made record profits last year. If you are accepting a job here, negotiate your base salary, because they will not deliver the bonuses they promise. I was told to expect a 25% minimum bonus, actual bonuses have been <15% for the past few years. Raises are negligible, either flat or 1-2%. If you are not front office, don't expect to get any share of those record profits.
- Work Life balance is supposedly a priority but you will be expected to work long hours and you will probably not be able to use your vacation time. Working remotely is looked down upon, even though you probably will be able to get more done at home because the computer you are given in the office is probably a decade old.

Advice to Senior Management – Give your employees some of those profits...almost everyone I know is looking to leave.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at BlackRock full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Well respected firm with an executive committee focused on success and delivering for their clients. Smart, hard working people and great name to have on your resume.

Cons – The organization runs lean and so expect to work a lot of hours. Interestingly, there is still constant reorganization, leaving employees fearing for for their jobs, which adds unnecessary stress, leading to poor productivity and morale. Poor downward communication and quite a few disingenuous managers who look after their favorites is another stress factor. The growth from acquisitions have left the firm with no culture to speak of.

Advice to Senior Management – If only you care about your employees half as much as you care about your bottom line...

Keep your employees motivated, not afraid.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at BlackRock full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Strong brand and performance driven culture. If you're intelligent and hard working, you will be rewarded.

Cons – Can be a challenging work environment for some

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at BlackRock full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Pay, flexibility, benefits, resources, investment research. Blackrock has some great people working very hard in most departments and provides solid operational support.

Cons – Lack of promotions, chasing margins, technology, too big feeling. The company is being run to focus primarily on meeting next quarters budget and profit margin. Headcount is always changing and reducing which leaves increasing workload on the remaining employees.

Advice to Senior Management – Make decisions for short-term goals and not focusing on creating long-term value. Need to invest more in the employees who want to work for the company and take care of the clients.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at BlackRock full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The coworkers are generally nice, but information sharing could be tricky in competitive situations.

Cons – Compensation is abysmal if you don't work on the Alpha team; talk to anybody at Risk Management, Finance, Operations, IT and you will get the idea. I left for a bank and received a large raise.

Advice to Senior Management – Active management needs to change -- the company cannot simply rely on growth in passive products, while the active management business keeps losing AUM and fees. Do something about it, performance matters much more than pretty powerpoint charts.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company