Pros
Tremendous entrepreneurial platform. The founders have built a business framework that scales quickly and relatively efficiently. That has resulted in incredible growth in its 20 years and means that someone can come into the organization and have a significant impact relatively quickly, with corresponding financial and promotional benefits. Ability to work on large, complex projects. Because languages affect so many parts of a business and so many industries, TransPerfect allows its employees to work on large complex business projects that would typically be handled by simplistic consulting companies. This provides an incredible education on how to sell, launch and manage complex enterprise engagements. Diversity of background. Excluding folks who go to school to study translation, most people don’t set out for a career in the translation business. As a result, most employees at TransPerfect will have a range of liberal arts backgrounds, that you may not see in a traditional business services company, which makes for interesting employees and co-workers. It also allows people who may have taken a more esoteric course of academic study and entre into the traditional business world. Aggressive expansion, with conservative business strategy. While the company is very focused on growing aggressively, it has always been focused on doing so in a financially stable way. While this may not sounds like a very sexy attribute of a company, the practical application is that the company has sustained growth and profitability for over 20 years and means that it is great place to build a stable long term career. In my 16 years with the company, there has only ever been one instance of layoffs due to financial reasons. It is as pure a meritocracy as you are likely to see in the business world. Generally speaking the guidelines for success in any role are clearly laid out, and those that are able to exceed those guidelines are quickly promoted and well compensated. The reverse is also true, i.e. for those who do not perform against those guidelines, it is not a great long term environment.
Cons
As a relatively new company (20 years) that is growing at a rate of 20% a year, it is very much like trying to build a train while it is moving. The plus side is that there is constant action and challenges, the downside is that the infrastructure to support the business is probably always 6 months behind, which leads to some ongoing frustration. The primary goal of the company is to create exceptional customer experiences, which often translates into taking on large, complicated projects with aggressive timelines and budgets. To do those projects successfully and profitably sometimes requires extreme team work effort, which can put wear and tear on employees over time. Do to the aggressive growth of the company and its focus on promoting from within, it has a number of relatively young people in management roles, many of whom are managing people for the first time. As anyone who has managed people knows, it takes years to get good at it and there are definitely growing pains as TransPerfect’s management teams tries to mature.