Cardinal Solutions – “Big 4 type consulting, but local”

Pros

Like most large consulting firms (Accenture, IBM, etc) there is a lot of opportunity for people who go above and beyond. Many on the management team are people who put in an lot of effort growing their careers within the company, such as opening a new office. The company does not discriminate on years of service, but tries to objectively weigh based on capability / merit. There are 20 somethings serving as team leads and principal consultants. The CTO and some sales directors are pretty young. The company is growing pretty fast with 4 offices and they are talking about a 5th. All the new office leadership will be staffed by internal promotions. The company puts a lot of emphasis on culture such as social events. Several of the offices (Columbus & Charlotte) were named best place to work as a result.

Cons

Even though the company spends a lot of time on social events and even internal communication through social networking, it is easy to feel on an island when staffed long-term at a particular client. Those who move up quickly spend significant effort beyond a 40 hour billable work week.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep focusing on internal training programs. The feedback on the presentation workshop is really positive. Similarly the future stars training is outstanding - many non college grads would love to be exposed to this type of training.