NC4 reviews

The schedule is the most flexible I’ve ever had. The shifts are 12 hours, so you work 3-5 days (or nights) in a row and get the next 3-5 off. The best part is, you get to pick the shifts. For example, John and Jane both work nights at the west coast office. John and Jane divide up all the night shifts for the month. As long as weekend nights (Friday/Saturday nights are weekend rate) and holiday nights are relatively evenly distributed, management doesn’t care who is working. So if you want to go on a vacation, you can theoretically get 5 days off without using any vacation time. The pay is pretty decent for a recent graduate. If you take overtime shifts, you can really put up some good numbers. The overtime rate can kill you in taxes if you’re not careful, so you have to figure out exactly what the “sweet spot” is. If you’re a news junkie, it can be interesting work that can lead to a great opportunity down the road.

The following review is based on experiences gleaned while working in NC4’s 24/7 NIMC division, which is the same part of the company associated with most other reviews on this site. I worked at NC4 full-time for over five years. First off: the work environment “gripes” that many former/current disgruntled NIMC employees mention in other reviews are entirely accurate and true. However: 12 hour shifts, and holiday and weekend work in a solitary, windowless office are all requirements of the job and really aren’t things that can be changed (unless the company’s business model and locations are radically overhauled). Entry-level analysts are informed about all of this prior to being hired, so I am not sure why so many reviewers complain so vehemently about it. To me, this is akin to enlisting in the Navy and then complaining that they stationed you near the ocean. If you knew you were going to be miserable working 12-hour shifts staring at a computer screen while all of your “normal” friends were off enjoying Happy Hour, then why did you accept a job that requires that? Getting a job is a two-way street, at least in most first world countries, so if the job description doesn’t appeal to you, there isn’t going to be anyone forcing you to accept it. Simply exercise your right as a free-market laborer to consider something else for a career… That said, due in part to the unconventional scheduling and office environment, the entry-level analyst role is definitely not for everybody – even those with sincere interest in the type of work performed may not find it ideal or conventionally “enjoyable”. In addition to the above-mentioned downsides, the day-to-day work required of analysts can be menial. The work is much more “repetitive copy writing” than it is “dynamic analysis”, and for someone with an advanced degree in an interesting Social Science field, this could be a bit demoralizing to your pride and less-than-stimulating. But, if you accept the challenging aspects of the position for what they are – necessary tradeoffs for the success of the business and thus continued employment – and focus on the positive by-products of the arrangement, you’ll likely be able to maintain a fairly high quality of life even while spending half of the day’s hours in the office performing much the same tasks day-after-day. The 12-hour, rotating schedule results in as many as 5 days off between shift blocks, which allows you to schedule vacation, appointments and/or chores on those off-days without having to use precious PTO hours or cramming things-in during lunch or after a workday. After you accrue a bit of tenure, you’ll also likely get the opportunity to “make your own schedule” insomuch as you work with a “partner” analyst to split up the shifts on a month-to-month basis. If you maintain positive, collaborate relationships with your managers and co-workers and plan ahead, you’ll usually be able to get the days off that you really want. The company usually tries to send newer analysts to industry events to get acquainted with the sales process, so you might get the opportunity to travel early-on in your tenure, which is kind of a reward and opportunity to get out of the office for a few days while still getting paid. In terms of advancement opportunities, they are unfortunately somewhat limited, as many have mentioned in other reviews; however, the company has expanded in recent years and there are a couple of varieties of analyst and support roles available that offer different scheduling paradigms – so even without regular advancement opportunities, you at least won’t feel hopelessly wedded to the 12-hour grind. I ended my tenure with the company as a middle manager. Being a middle manager in any organization is a fairly thankless, tedious chore, but it was even more so at NC4. Each day, I was faced with complaints, unreasonable requests, lousy attitudes and conflicting agendas from above and below, both from inside the company and from clients. While that “rock and a hard place” position is shared by middle managers across the globe, at NC4, the position is that much more untenable for the long-term since the NIMC operation is 24/7/365 – the complaints, requests, attitudes and agendas continue flowing into your inbox and onto your phone long after business hours, and as a manager, you’re expected to respond to them quickly at all hours and on all days. This was a well-understood expectation and a necessity of the business, like the windowless office, so this isn’t a complaint so much as an accurate representation of the manager’s role in case any readers aspire to that type of position at NC4. For many years, the company did a very poor job of preparing employees for the next step in their careers. I’ll be the first to admit that I definitely wasn’t prepared to be a manager after my promotion. Being an effective manager requires an entirely different skillset than being a good analyst, and I didn’t initially have what it took to be the former. The company did not offer any formal managerial training, and so I developed management acumen through trial and error, which unfortunately resulted in strained relationships with subordinates and tension on some occasions during the “learning” process. Fortunately, the company has learned that this is not the ideal way to breed leaders, and has begun to formalize training regimens that better prepare middle managers for the challenges of guiding a diverse, well-educated analyst team. As a result, the current crop of NIMC managers are highly competent, while also being considerate of staff needs - which is a difficult balancing act that many organizations fail to achieve. In terms of benefits, NC4 provides full medical, dental and vision from the first day of employment, which was a huge deal and somewhat rare back when I started, but probably not as valuable of a perk with Obamacare available now. In any case, the company assumes most of the costs of insurance and you can choose between the usual PPO/HMO type plans. After a probationary period, the company also offers employees a fully-matching 401(k) plan, which is pretty generous. You start accruing vacation and sick time immediately – the accrual formulas are more or less industry-standard. Pros: Above-average benefits and compensation; flexible schedule; possibilities for travel; education reimbursement; good networking opportunities in the security, public safety, defense and intelligence industries