C1 Consulting Reviews

Pros

Collegiate, high visibility, opportunities for career development

Cons

Long hours, though work from home fridays

Pros

Take the negative reviews with a grain of salt--they are mostly a consequence of company size. Up until 6-12 months ago we were a "small" firm and it's uncomfortable to write a review as a happy current (or former) employee when everyone (in your branch) will know you wrote it. This leaves the most likely people to write reviews to be bitter, former employees. Given that we are now a mid-sized firm I would encourage employees (former and current) to give an honest review of the company. Pros: 1) Very intelligent coworkers 2) Competitive salary and benefits 3) Great work-life balance (for consulting). Work from home Fridays, multiple holidays, managers are very lenient with employees needing to come late/leave early/leave for an hour or two for an appointment. It mostly depends on how reliable you are in terms of getting work done on time and not being someone overtly trying to take advantage of C1's leniency 4) No traveling Monday-Thursday nonsense (i.e. our firm does more than simply sell employees to a business for 6 months at a time) 5) Opportunity to work directly with high-level people (i.e. Directors, Partners--most of whom are open to suggestions on project approaches, design, etc.). Really, this shouldn't be understated: you can quickly get visibility with the owners of the firm. 6) The firm makes a real effort to get you on project types you request to work on

Cons

1) Partners have very different styles of managing projects--mostly due to their areas of expertise and personality types 2) Recent split in NJ/NY office seems likely to cause more complications than it fixes

Pros

C1 will offer all the usual challenges of working in consulting, including some long hours and some stress in meeting deadlines. For me, these are part of the business, and part of the contract you make with yourself when you decide to work in a challenging field like this. In return, C1 provides opportunities for constant learning, honing of skills, and building up expertise and credibility with peers, management, and clients. Also, at C1 you get the chance to work with some of the smartest people you will ever encounter. This includes a good deal of higher education, and people who are seriously trained in a variety of scientific fields, along with professionals with decades of hands-on experience in their particular areas of expertise. The knowledge base at C1 is both broad and deep, and you will inevitably find yourself working with people you can learn from and trust. Finally, C1 has high standards for delivering excellent work. This leads to happy clients who value C1 as a company, and each of us as part of their team helping them answer critical business questions. There is a lot of satisfaction in knowing you have a direct and significant impact on client satisfaction, as part of the C1 team.

Cons

Growing pains. Always a little understaffed and a little overworked, as we continue to grow the business both organically and directly.

Pros

1. Variety in projects keeps it dynamic and challenging: Each project is different and you get the opportunity to work in more than one disease area, including rare diseases. As you get more experienced, you are given the chance to work on more complex projects providing continual growth and challenges without boredom 2. Fellow C1ers are super awesome: The folks working at C1 are very helpful (especially when you are new and learning about the various processes), have a strong work ethic and are great team players 3. Flat structure and well-designed feedback system: Upper management are more than willing to help with different aspects of the project and are continually working to incorporate feedback and improve the C1 experience 4. Perks: Free snacks/beverages, work from home Fridays, pretty frequent free lunches, end of project celebrations, random C1 holidays (got 2 in 2015), Wii nights, karaoke nights

Cons

Work load during certain times of the year can be pretty heavy leading to over 60 hour weeks. However, since I have joined, several mechanisms have been put into motion to help monitor weekly hours and staffing on projects

Pros

Decent pay given the educational/professional requirements, somewhat nice/lofty feeling office, work home on Friday

Cons

Where to start. In my year of being there, favoritism was a big issue. Some people were part of the inner circle, others were outcasts. That feeling extended to meetings, bonuses and PTO. Hours were insane. Not working one day on the weekend but spending 65+ hours a week on a consistent basis with no incentive. The managing director would regularly send emails at 4am and that would be used as an excuse among consultants to work as hard. Well if I were the owner pulling down 500k+ a year, I'd work that hard too! Getting yelled at for a typo on a slide deck was the norm. Employees were being fired regularly and blamed for their performance without thinking internal processes could be the issue. Lots of talk to "improve" employee retention but in the time I was there, 4 people quit (those that stayed were looking for new jobs). Communication was very limited. No one talks at C1. The only time people talk is when you're being berated for doing something wrong.

Pros

Work from home Fridays Good pay

Cons

Everything besides the pay. Cult of personality surrounding one or two individuals in your office They will work you 50 to 60+ hours per week and will have no respect for your familial life. Emails over Christmas holidays are the norm. You will be castigated if you do not respect the "on call 24/7" rule. Sadly, they don't tell you this going into the job. Expectations and training are non existent. Unless you have A LOT of Consulting experience and fully understand the industry, I would stay away. This is a terrible place to learn and develop your career out of undergrad/grad school, but could be a good option for more experienced workers who know what they are getting into. If you have less than 5 years experience, they pay will seem great, but taking a job here could likely set your career back a few years because you WIll get burnt out and hate yourself within 3 months. Just ask what turnover is at the company and you will understand. Seriously, if you get an interview, ask what turnover is in this company. That will tell the story. Middle management is out for themselves, will take credit for your work and blame you when things go wrong. Prepare to live a miserable existence if you want to succeed.

Pros

Collaborative and very smart co-workers who I truly enjoy working with, exciting work, an environment where I have many opportunities to learn, a lot of training for new employees, promotion is based on my own performance and not how long I have been here

Cons

Some clients are too demanding and this can lead to busy days. Can be difficult to learn how to manage a difficult client. Teambuilding activities are really fun but we only do it a couple times a year

Pros

C1 has consistently built up a strong client base and excellent reputation as the go to place for market analytics and customers insight for biotech industry. As a result the company is able to offer reasonable infrastructure and resources to support employee training and professional development. The culture is friendly and cooperative. You will work with a group of very smart, humble and friendly people that either have PhD in science or MBA from top tier schools. The work is intellectual stimulating and interesting and you have a chance to work with many world renowned multi-national companies. Both founders Robert and Elizabeth have been working diligently to grow the business from scratch and they deserve to have credits to accomplish all the significant milestones.

Cons

Working hours can be long sometimes because of clients demands and deadlines but the company is making every effort to have work-life balance.

Pros

C1 is a great place to work - growing business, interesting/high visibility work, diversity in projects/clients, career development opportunities and excellent benefits. Other pros include learning from smart people, collaborative culture and importantly making a difference in the lives of patients. Management has an "open door" policy and have seen them repeatedly soliciting (and implementing) employee feedback.

Cons

Yes, consulting (or any service business for that matter) can be demanding at times, but I must say that management places a high priority on employee morale and work/life balance. In fact, they have reporting to assess/monitor capacity weekly and makes change as business need and capacity limitations dictate. Often times in a highly specialized field as analytics and strategy, it can be hard to find top-notch talent and sometimes resources can lag (not unique to C1), but this is not a result of willingness to invest as management has repeatedly shown commitment to appropriately resourcing the business.

Pros

Most of the analysts and consultants are nice and smart people and are working at the company because they really like doing analysis and want to learn about the industry.

Cons

1. Managers and directors range from juvenile to outright rude and aggressively offensive. Most of them are snarky and completely unprofessional. I even heard one refer to the junior workers as "the kids". 2. Don't complain or offer constructive criticism to anyone in the company (even if they ask you to via hired consultants) because it will be communicated straight to the owners of the company and your review will be impacted. There is a reason why most people in this company are afraid to speak up and don't - and for good reason. 3. Even if you have positive reviews year after year, prepare for the day that you will be sacked with no notice. 4. Pretend to like hockey, even if you don't. Otherwise you will get nowhere. Study hockey coaches and know that you will be treated like a child on a hockey team where the company directors are your coaches. 5. There are two types of managers in the company. The first kind are the ones you micromanage every single aspect of your work (mostly in San Francisco). The other kind are the ones who give you no direction at all but expect you to read their minds (Atlanta and New Jersey). If you want real mentorship or training - go to another company.