The Blackstone Group Reviews

Pros

Great compensation, benefits, and a great group of people

Cons

Hours can be long, but the work is rewarding

Pros

great brand name
highly regarded
people are very proud to be working in blackstone
people are very intelligent and all graduated from Ivy league

Cons

no work life balance
expect to live at work
high demand
High pressure
people are arrogant
US centric
Constant checking of blackberry
very competitive

Pros

The pay is very competetive. There is little hand holding which encourages new emploiyees to learn and contiribute early on. Opportunity to work with management.

Cons

To much focus in hiring outside rather than promoting within. Environment can be somewhat stuffy and conceded. Opportunity to move to other business groups (if you are really great your group heads don't want to lose you and if you are weak you will be a bad representation of the former).

Advice to Senior Management

Know who is good and keep them interested - invest in them. Don't hesitate to trim the fat and cut the non-performers.

Pros

Really good money. Nice people.

Cons

Bad hours and its hard to be promoted.

Advice to Senior Management

Be tougher on subordinates.

Pros

- Great exposure to large PE deals with many quirky tax and legal issues.
- Excellent investor base
- Smart people

Cons

- Non-front office personnel are treated as 'the little people'
- Base compensation is average at best
- Long hours

Pros

Entreprenurial Feel; Ability to create your own career path;

Cons

Difficult to effectively balance work and life

Advice to Senior Management

Don't just grow for the sake of growing

Pros

Smart people, good compensation, decent benefits. The firm likes and promotes a very edgy culture. They know how to make good deals and make money for the investors. The bankers are truly world class professionals. If you want to be in Private Equity or M & A, this is a great place for you.

Cons

Newish management in Finance has brought in a lot of people from a different firm who now run the place. People who were there before are being let go, overlooked for promotions, and have had their responsibilities moved to the newer people, leaving skilled people idle. If you aren't part of that club, you do not exist. Morale is low and although this has been brought to upper management and Human Resource's attention. The message is "leave if you don't like it." Communication from management is poor/nonexistent. Favoritism abounds and backstabbing is common. This used to be a place people were proud to say they worked. Not anymore.

Advice to Senior Management

Remember the people who who worked 24/7 to help the firm go public/make those millions for you. It's not necessary to toss them out/treat them like garbage and speaks volumes about your class and values.

Treat your team with respect, courtesy and decency. You can be good without deliberately pitting your people against each other.

Pros

Pay attention to details and be a team player

Cons

Get ready for long hours

Advice to Senior Management

Value hard work

Pros

good pay, good experience, good job empowering junior professionals, the people are great to work with, great brand recognition on Wall Street

Cons

Long hours, rough culture, implicit ceiling to advancement given that many of the partners came in from other firms, high turnover

Advice to Senior Management

management is doing a good job, I have no real advice. They do a good job of getting into a diverse array of businesses

Pros

I enjoyed the transparency of my internship. I was constantly reviewed and in contact with upper level management. Very educational.

Cons

I had a terrific internship with Blackstone. Everyone reached out to me and understood that they were the drivers of my internship, helping me to fit in and teach me along the way.

Advice to Senior Management

I feel that hiring interns only fuels interest from outside candidates, allowing them to see the inner workings of the company before they may apply.