Credit Suisse Reviews in San Francisco, CA Area

Former Employee – worked at Credit Suisse full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Great team, good strategy, leading product skills

Cons – Difficult industry and competitive environment

Advice to Senior Management – Continue to retain and attract top talent to remain competitive

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Credit Suisse

Pros – Smart and aggressive people. Being a part of a large investment bank. Easy to network. Good name recognition and brand.

Cons – If you are not in Private Banking you need to be in New York to advance. Constant management shake ups. Groups renamed. New bosses just shake up things just to be different from the previous guy.

Advice to Senior Management – Too much instability within my group. We changed our group name 3 times and had several different bosses in which you constantly had to explain what you did and then hope they understood. But not likely...

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Credit Suisse

Pros – Good deal flow, wide variety of deal types.
Lots of responsibility, associate often called upon to put together the entire book with little initial direction
Fast paced, like drinking from a firehose.

Cons – Because the levels above abdicate some of the presentation creation to the associate and only parachute in after a draft is complete, you often end up wasting work when they change their mind.
The review cycle is a joke. New York groups know how to play the game and trump other regional groups during review cycle.

Advice to Senior Management – Take a hard look at your review process. It isn't really 360 and games are played.

Current Employee – been working at Credit Suisse

Pros – The firm has a lot of momentum after the financial downturn, as several of its major compeitors (i.e. Lehman, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch) are no longer around.

Cons – There is no life-work balance in investment banking. People will ALWAYS expect you to put your job ahead of your life. Vacation is generally something one has to "earn" and actively seek; otherwise, you'll spend all your time in the office.

Advice to Senior Management – The firm can distinguish itself more from the competition by taking a more bottoms-up approach. By that, I mean allowing junior people take on "real" responsibility, have more active roles in client relationships, and be encouraged to go outside their comfort zones / positions.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Credit Suisse

Pros – Global Capabilities were strong and interaction between zurich and NY worked fairly well. Alternative Investment capabilities were a strong plus.

Cons – Regional management was not as strong as national management in New York, San Francisco offices were outdated compared to competitors.

Advice to Senior Management – Management navigated the credit crisis very well but brand recognition is still not as high as it should be even with less competitors.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Credit Suisse

Pros – Great place to launch career if straight out of college. Definitely builds strong work ethics, and you do get rewarded for hard work and good performance. The exit opportunities once you have completed the banking program are broad, and if you develop good relationships with your senior peers, they will definitely support your cause.

Cons – Downsides are the bureaucratic nature of the company and the highly political nature of the work environment. But those exist in any large corporation. You just have to know how to play it to your advantage. This again is not particular to the Company, but the work life balance is definitely not optimal. You will work more than you have ever expected, and predictability of freedom is nonexistent.

Advice to Senior Management – None.