Brookings Institution Reviews

I worked at Brookings Institution as an intern for less than a year

Pros – Intelligent people everywhere, from top to bottom.
Interesting projects, and some freedom as junior staff.
They take care of you pretty well, food, references, an overall friendly place.
Great for resume
Business casual

Cons – Can seem pretty divided in terms of expertise (Don't seen gov, Studies and Met. Policy hang out much), but that is expected, and i may be wrong.
Senior management out of office every now an then, but also expected.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Brookings Institution as an intern for less than a year

Pros – The People, the resources, and the impact you are making on policy in DC.
The quality of the work produced is top notch
Great networking and opportunity to meet other people at the forefront of their field

Cons – Very demanding but rewarding in the end
Expect high quality to be expected from your team or boss

Advice to Senior Management – Can be more engaging and give more feedback to employers

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Brookings Institution

Pros – - Incredibly intelligent, good people.
- Phenomenal, positive work environment.
- Unique events and opportunities onsite
- Outstanding benefits
- Great networking and experience

Cons – - No room for upward movement without leaving
- Salaries for support staff are on the low end of the norm
- Difficult place to work as a commuter from the suburbs. All junior staff lives in DC, while senior fellows and mangers live in NW DC and Bethesda (still very close), s expectations are for long, flexible hours and frequent socialization after work.

Advice to Senior Management – Brookings does not have any sort of left/liberal agenda, but certainly is more comfortable interacting with that side of the aisle. More efforts should be made to recruit bipartisan collaboration, and senior fellows and leadership from both sides of the aisle.

Other than that, I am very satisfied with management.

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

I have been working at Brookings Institution

Pros – Plenty of leave, good people, feel like you are making an impact/difference

Cons – Pay is below what you should be making, pigeon hole people not allowing for growth outside of your track, expect incredibly long hours for not much money.

Advice to Senior Management – Reward your people, especially those lower on the rungs.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Brookings Institution

Pros – Extremely intelligent peers
Nice cafeteria
Great location
Good work-life balance

Cons – Limited career growth
Limited peer interaction

Advice to Senior Management – training opportunities for advancement

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Brookings Institution

Pros – Very high level policy institute with lots of intelligent hard-working individuals. A very exciting place to be, as Brookings exerts such a significant influence on the policy areas in which they work. From a workflow perspective, the organization functions very efficiently (e.g. HR, IT, etc) as compared to other non-profits which host similar working environments.

Cons – Little ability for entry- and mid-level staff to move up. Distinct gap between senior officials and program staff. Entry- and mid-level staff will have to go somewhere else (e.g. government, another policy institute, etc) to gain enough experience to become a director, fellow, or senior fellow.

Advice to Senior Management – Offer a venue for program staff to work towards more senior level positions.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Brookings Institution

Pros – The work is generally fascinating and intellectually stimulating. Depending on your program, you will meet interesting and potentially influential people. The benefits are excellent, although the famed 13% 401(k) contribution doesn't kick in until long after most junior staff have left.

Cons – First, there's way too much emphasis on happy hours and parties: fine if you're a 23-year-old sharing a rowhouse near Logan Circle with five other people, not so great if you're married with children and living in Fairfax or Montgomery. If you're a junior staffer (i.e., below the Fellow level), having kids is a serious disadvantage.

Second, I cannot stress enough how lousy the pay is. For people with master's degrees in fields that allow them to work outside of the nonprofit sector, it is unreasonable to expect people to work 60- and 70-hour weeks for this kind of money.

Third, there's a serious lack of promotion opportunities for junior staff. Once you hit Senior Research Analyst, you're expected either to get a PhD or leave--even though many Fellows and Senior Fellows do not have "Dr." in front of their names.

Finally, and most importantly, many of the Senior Fellows have gotten to where they are based on political skill, not any sort of serious research chops. Unlike in academia, when somebody is unhappy with your work or has concerns with your performance, they won't let you know directly. There is a formal evaluation procedure, but Senior Fellows routinely disregard it. In a town full of doublespeak, this is unsurprising but still depressing.

Advice to Senior Management – Brookings' motto is "Quality. Independence. Impact." In certain programs, there's a bit too much emphasis on impact, not nearly enough on quality--and forget about independence. Sometimes it seems that it doesn't matter if you do terrible work, as long as it gets press coverage. During my time there, coworkers of mine had projects representing months of work killed because a donor didn't like what they had to say. This kind of hackery might be appropriate at CAP or Heritage, but Brookings is actually taken seriously by people in academia; it would be a shame for it to throw that away for a few pieces of silver.

I worked at Brookings Institution

Pros – Highly professional environment to work in
Great resources of most of the industries
Very good location in D.C.

Cons – There is very little interaction among co-workers

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Brookings Institution

Pros – People are smart and dedicated - they really want to be at work and go the extra mile.
Great benefits - a 12% contribution to your 403b after two years. Five weeks of vacation.

Cons – Rapid growth led to infrastructure issues that are being addressed, but slowly and with complications.
Each program has the latitude to set their own titles, salary and levels, so people with similar jobs can be differently compensated and have different perceived responsibilities.

Advice to Senior Management – Issue a survey to allow people to bring issues to management. The annual "town hall" has turned into a showcase event, not a forum to voice concerns or ask questions.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Brookings Institution

Pros – Great work atmosphere and enjoyed my stay

Cons – No room for advancement for mid-level professionals

Advice to Senior Management – Address need for mid-level advancement