Hanover Research Employee Reviews about "entry level"

Pros

-First, and most importantly, Hanover's services are excellent. Working in development, I never once felt like we were trying to take advantage of a client. Contract renewal rates are very high, and clients get tons of value from Hanover's services. The research staff is full of PhDs, MBAs, and other advanced degrees (I saw a review on here questioning that, the qualifications of the staff are readily available: http://www.hanoverresearch.com/grant-consulting-bios/). Clients are very confident in our work. Hanover's business model is phenomenal and stands alone against competitors. -Coworkers: All of the employees at Hanover are very bright, driven, and hard-working. Hanover attracts talent from top, elite universities, and the entire staff was a pleasure to work with. -Culture: Bureaucracy is minimal, and if you do good work, you WILL be noticed and acknowledged. The entire development staff works hard to succeed together as a team, not in spite of each other. -Office: Great location on K Street, just a few blocks from the White House. One block from the red line, tons of restaurants and food trucks nearby, and nice office space with gym. -Perks: From Redskin tickets to impromptu (and frequent) comped lunches to free snacks, the little perks DO make a difference. -Benefits: Fully covered healthcare, 401K with employer match, gym access.

Cons

-Bonus pay can be uncertain, and can sometimes feel like it depends more on luck than effort. This is a issue with practically any development/sales job, but I believe that somewhat higher base salaries would help retain top talent who are capable of collecting bigger paychecks elsewhere. -Management can, at times, be unrealistic with goals and expectations. We need to rely on our own research capabilities more. -As a development associate, the work can feel monotonous. If you just come in, do your job description, and go home, it will get old fast. You need to be proactive. Study trends in your industry, work closely with your director, perform your own analysis projects. Management is always happy to hear input from the entry level employees, take advantage of this. Since Hanover hires high caliber staff, most associates don't fall into a monotonous routine, but it would be nice to have some more career training to facilitate and encourage interesting projects.

Pros

Hanover was my first job out of college. I graduated from a good school with a degree in International Relations and had a tough time finding a job in my field so I was very grateful when I got an offer from Hanover for a RA job. The recruiter was upfront about the salary when I interviewed and the offer was at that exact salary. I did negotiate a little bit higher but knew I would be making an entry level salary just out of school with no work experience. It paid less than some of the consulting companies I had interviewed with (didn't get any offers there) but more than the one think tank job I was offered. It took me a while to get used to the pace of the work. My first few months were rough and I struggled to find my feet but got a lot of support from my PM and the L&D staff. Once I got used to the workflow and learned how to make better use of my time, projects became less daunting and I felt like I was thriving. There were so many opportunities to learn things outside of my job - I went to lunch and learns and brownbags and attended a lot of training sessions for research methodologies I had no experience in so I felt like my year and a half really prepared me for graduate school and some of the more advanced statistical courses I am taking. I got promoted once with a pay bump (not big but it was nice to see hard work rewarded) and got a lot of feedback that helped me improve my writing skills.

Cons

The pace is tough. It can get exhausting at times. Some projects are boring but they don't last more than a week or two at the most. While most people are nice, there is a small group of 'mean girls' that huddle together at lunch, happy hours and other social events griping and complaining about everything. They make it clear that if you don't want to join in their commiserating that you are not welcome in their social group. I did my best to avoid them but their nastiness was contagious at times. I was happy when they started to leave the company. I know some people were worried about attrition but I was relieved to see them go even if it meant more work for me until new hires joined the company. While I learned a lot, I knew I didn't want a career in market research or education so even if I didn't go to graduate school, I would have moved on from Hanover at my 2 year mark.

Pros

-The work is quite varied, which means two things: a) access to a lot of experience, such as different industries, quantitative and qualitative research methods, and platforms. b) plenty of opportunities to feel like you're working with something new and avoid feeling bored. -The people you work with are often smart and entertaining. -In my experience, the managers really do care about their entry level employees, such as their professional development and work-life balance.

Cons

-The varied work means that deadlines can sometimes feel arbitrary or overly strict. -Everyone can be so focused on their own work that individual employees might learn a better way to do something and it will take a while to get the word out. However, there are clear steps to correct this.

Pros

A lot of the pros are obvious and repeatedly stated: autonomy on projects and setting your own schedule, 18 days of PTO per year with an additional added per year in seat, nice office spaces, smart people, respectful environment (it's hard to imagine someone ever yelling or getting yelled at), access to senior leadership (monthly coffee hours of the option to simply ask to meet), happy hours, team events, etc. Overall, I like working here, and am generally happy. To some of the points about cons, there have been obvious attempts from leadership to fix some issues repeatedly criticized: 1) performance reviews: the summer session is now expedited after feedback that the process is too lengthy, particularly twice a year. Summer is also informal for managers who tend to be in seat longer. It's probably a more appropriate frequency for those positions. 2) employee feedback surveys: results from the largest one of these were shared (high level, not the whole data set, but a good amount of detail) via PowerPoint to the whole company. 3) project ratings: the VP recently sent out a Content-wide communication asking for feedback on current ratings and including plans to overhaul ratings with less or no numerical feedback. 4) transparency: so far, sporadic attempts to answer questions from the online suggestion box and provide communication about ongoing projects (such as the content process improvement initiative with strategy). Hopeful that this will become more regular. What they have done has been good to see. 5) project quality: there has been a major initiative focus on finding efficiencies in project structure and timelines, aimed not just at making projects faster but at giving researchers more time to work or to focus on development. The project quality will never be like a firm where you work on a project for 6-9 months. That's not what we do. We are the 'value' option which means we do things quicker, and there's less time to polish. You should be ok with turning in imperfect work if you come here. It does provide value to the client. 6) pay: this isn't really a pro or con. Entry level salaries are lower for some positions than others but any promotion is accompanied by a large raise. They probably want to reserve higher salaries for people who demonstrate great work and stick around for a bit.

Cons

There is still room to grow: 1) transparency: there have been updates on what is happening and answers to questions from the vp, executive in residence, strategy, etc., but they are still sporadic. Until they become regular and Hanover starts regularly soliciting employee input for major initiatives (again, like the cpii) there is more room to improve. 2) long-term professional development: Hanover's l&d team is there to get people trained to start working and to support newer employees. The CHRO had a q&a about what professional development in year two would look like and right now that's a good question. People want to keep building their skills and when they feel that stops they get frustrated. Without a plan in place for supporting people who have the basics down, this issue will continue. L&d cannot do all of this when they are spending time getting everyone up and running and also are the same age/general experience level as the analysts. 3) positive workplace culture: perhaps the biggest issue is creating and sustaining a group of happy people. No matter how much incremental progress is made, clearly some people are unhappy. This is more complex than just trying to be more transparent or respond to criticisms because the anger feeds on itself, and incremental progress from Hanover does not satisfy people who are already upset. 4) 401k has good investment options but, yes, the vesting is low and slow. When the rest of the benefits package is very good, that stands out. 5) project timelines, employee boredom, etc.: with constant quick turnaround it is only a matter of time before many people get bored or tired. Some of #2 will help. If improvements in efficiency can provide people a break to focus on their own development that will go a long way for those who get bored or tired. Timelines are not impossible but it's the way that the projects come one after the next.

Pros

It's a great place to start or progress your career. Hard work and success is rewarded and there are a lot of dynamic jobs to choose from. Even more entry level roles have a large degree of responsibility and autonomy.

Cons

At some point you reach a ceiling, like at any organization. Career paths are somewhat limited at Hanover due to it's size.

Pros

People - Everyone is friendly, energetic, and incredibly talented Culture - There are frequent happy hours and events outside of the office Career Opportunities - You can start in an entry level sales position and move into any department within a one to two years Company Growth - The company is continuing to grow rapidly, which means expanded career opportunities and more support systems Vacation & Benefits - The vacation and benefits are very favorable, especially for entry level employees

Cons

Salary increases are minimal as you move up in the company

Pros

Across my year and a half at Hanover, I've found the company to be an excellent transition point from college into the professional world. Hanover gives entry level employees an opportunity to grow within the organization, move up in the company, and try positions across departments. Working at Hanover is certainly a learning experience--providing professional development opportunities and visibility into senior management for all employees along their career paths. For my young age, I feel I was given a great deal of responsibility and felt truly empowered in my interactions with senior management. My ideas had a frequent forum to be heard and I feel that I had the ability to create change in the organization. - Benefits: 100% paid medical + fun perks like happy hours, Redskins/ Caps tickets, and annual parties/company gatherings - Community Outreach: Hanover believes in providing opportunities outside of the workplace, including a strong community partnership with a local non-profit and an annual company-wide day of service

Cons

Hanover is definitely a work hard atmosphere, so be prepared to put your all into your daily work and rise to high expectations.