Federal Reserve Board Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Federal Reserve Board full-time for more than a year

Pros – Easy transition from college to work environment

Cons – Can get a bit boring

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Federal Reserve Board full-time for more than a year

Pros – Everyone you work with is kind and eager to help and work with you on a variety of projects.

Cons – Certain positions are very stagnant and after a couple years you have to move on.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Federal Reserve Board full-time for more than a year

Pros – - Relaxed work environment: Easy to leave work at work
- Access to top Economists and lots of smart people (and some potential co-authors)
- Prestige: great career starter, especially for those thinking of an econ PhD
- If you are in your twenties: great network of similarly aged, similarly minded people.
- Benefits: health, vision, dental, bike parking, in-house gym, beautiful cafeteria
- You will occasionally find yourself eating lunch within shouting distance of "Big Ben" Bernanke

Cons – - Can get boring for the unambitious employee
- Very little upward mobility within the Fed itself (obvious glass-ceiling for the non-PhD holders)

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Federal Reserve Board full-time for more than a year

Pros – Exposure to SAS, SQL, MS Access; I learned all of that from scratch during my time
Exposure to large data; perfect environment from where you can launch a career in analytics
Good hours
Decent colleagues

Cons – This is an academic environment, so don't expect to find good (or open) management
No teaming; people here work in silos and everyone has a sense of being a boss
The name of the game here is to get your tenure after your 2-year probationary period and then get comfortable; this may not be bad, but it breeds a certain mentality I was/am not comfortable yet
Complete disregard for the private sector

Advice to Senior Management – You don't know everything
It may do you some good to experience some other environment before returning to the Board

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Federal Reserve Board full-time for more than a year

Pros – Benefits are incredible: Still offer a pension; 401(k) match that I can't find elsewhere; can retire by age 55. Salaries are good, but not as generous as other regulatory agencies. Performance-based merit system; pay was constrained, but not frozen. Cash award opportunities. Promotions tend to occur every 18-24 months provided you are pulling your weight.

Cons – No succession plan in place; no push to retire folks who should have gone years ago and no plan on how to identify next batch of leaders nor get them ready. Do not appear serious about developing talent, so recent hires for leadership roles have come from the outside.

Advice to Senior Management – Be sure to spread the wealth. Make sure all staff have the opportunity to do something great. Also, stop hand-holding consistent underperformers and find a way to move them up or out.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Federal Reserve Board as an intern for less than a year

Pros – Fantastic program to get involved in. You get assigned to engaging projects from day 1 and the level of responsibility is usually high, though this will vary by department/economist. Some times there you will get the opportunity to co-author a paper, and generally the FRB outputs academic-level research. Integration into the Board's culture happens from the get-go, with plenty of opportunities to meet with senior economists and the Chairman himself.

Cons – The pay compared to other internships in consulting or banking is relatively low.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Federal Reserve Board full-time for more than a year

Pros – Working for very smart people
Learn to code in multiple languages
Opportunity to learn in depth information about monetary policy
High visibility within your section as well as to the board as a whole

Cons – Job can get boring after a couple years. Minimal upward mobility.

Advice to Senior Management – Teach a little more.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Federal Reserve Board full-time for less than a year

Pros – The job is not too stressful. You can leave your work behind after you clock out.
You get to work with people your age as well as top economists.
You make connections with many different people.

Cons – There's a steep learning curve in terms of learning programming and different data sources.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Federal Reserve Board full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – The Federal Reserve Board is quasi-government, which, among other things, means that they don't automatically adopt policies set by Congress or the President. It also has good benefits and amenities (gym, parking by lottery, etc.).

Cons – Unless you like posturing (rather than working) to get ahead, lots of bureaucracy, meeting about meetings, and occupying yourself with busy work that's only loosely related to what should be done, this isn't the place to be. The Board is very divided. Duplication of efforts is commonplace where interpersonal issues can't or won't be overcome. The fractures within the organization can make it difficult if not impossible to transfer to other divisions or units. This is a very political environment.

Advice to Senior Management – I don't even know where you'd begin.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Federal Reserve Board as an intern for more than a year

Pros – -Great people
-Great mission
-Great senior managers

Cons – -Need to move faster on some issues.
-Need more feedback from managers

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company