Pros
The people are the only real good thing about this firm. It varies from team to team and geographies, but most individuals at the firm mean well and are collaborative. However, this is largely due to the tenure of these people which is generally 2 years or less, so they are still in denial that they are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome Large firm and depending on which team you are on, you get exposure to big deals. If you're self motivated, you can teach yourself a lot about different industries and markets. Unfortunately, your analysis will revolve around explaining irrelevant topics to a dense investment committee who does not want to engage in constructive and insightful debates (mostly because they don't have a real deep understanding of the investments and don't read the memos) and would rather bicker at you over the formatting of your paper or how you missed a step in the glowingly insurmountable investment process. 25 days vacation Global firm which is, generally speaking, well integrated. Work Life balance varies a lot by teams but generally speaking, it is okay. There are a few teams (especially in Europe) that work non-stop
Cons
Below market comp is a known fact - it is the way of doing things and it will never change (company needs to maintain 60% EBITDA margin, and when your only real cost is labor, there is no room for improvement). The comp structure is generally speaking very fixed. Few really "outstanding" individuals will get comp outside of the ranges. They sell you on the "long term comp" structure but that only really kicks in at the AVP and above level. The comp structure is typically as follows - in USD: Financial Analyst Program (undergrad): 55-66k base + 5-10k bonus First Year Analyst : 70 - 80k base + 15-20k bonus First Year Associate: 115-125k base + 30-40k bonus + 10 -20k of shares (vested over 4 years) Associate Program (MBA): 110 -125k base + 30-40k bonus + shares First Year AVP: 135 - 150k base + 40-60k bonus + 20-30k shares (eligible for carry after your first year) First Year VP: 160-175k base + 50-85k bonus + 40-50k shares + 150k-300k carry SVP: 220-250k + 60-100k bonus + shares + carry Share price has kept everyone okay in the end. God forbid their PE multiple every trades in line with other publicly listed PE funds... that would be no fun.