ZS Associates Employee Reviews about "steep learning curve"

Pros

1) People - my colleagues were generally down-to-earth, nice, and collaborative. ZS tends to hire the smart, friendly, and nerdy type. Not a cutthroat or internally competitive culture 2) Skillset - ZS definitely enhances your professional skills (e.g., communication, analytical thinking, etc.) in addition to mastering powerpoint and excel. Learning curve is steep in the first few years

Cons

1) Very narrow focus / pigeonholing - 90+% of ZS's work is Pharma sales/marketing. It is great if that is what you are passionate about. But this is not ideal for most new hires who are not sure what they want to do. To make matters worse, you are typically staffed with one client or one type of work for several months to 1 year. If you want to move around, partners often take offense and you are penalized in the form of slower promotions since the firm places a large emphasis on expertise 2) Fractional staffing - a great way for the firm to increase utilization ($$$) but it is terrible for employees. It is not uncommon to be staffed on more than 2 projects at once across partners. So not only do you have to keep up with the unrelenting demands, but also play politics so each team feels like they are your #1 priority. This leads to high burnout and poor work/life balance

Pros

No matter what sort of project or space you're in, you'll be surrounded by extremely intelligent people who are more than happy to help you regardless of what issues you face. The learning curve for the pharma industry is steep, but ZS has such a broad breadth and depth within the industry that you'll always have an opportunity to gain great experience. Also, the environment and culture are very modern and managers truly try to encourage a work-life balance, albeit it's not always possible given the nature of consulting. The offices are also up-to-date and include free snacks/drinks that are a nice bonus.

Cons

The variety of work can definitely be limited to pharma depending on your role/location. While there's definitely a push at the executive level to broaden our horizons, it'd be encouraging to hear about diverse opportunities at all office locations.

Pros

So many responsibilities, steep learning curve

Cons

Cant think of any !

Pros

Tremendous work opportunities Good learning curve Additional benefits over package: Cabs, food, gym, etc

Cons

Poor work life balance Preferential treatment by upper management during promotions