Pros
Fantastic place to work overall, particularly for people who are interested to work on climate change, or more broadly on issues relating to sustainable economic development. Company is growing rapidly thanks to the wave of interests in the climate and environment. - Interesting projects that strive to create a positive social impact - Arguably world-class expertise and proprietary models on several policy areas thanks to tight links with academia - The fact that the company is small but rapidly growing means that there is room for junior staff to quickly step up to take ownership of developing certain pillars of the business - A diverse bunch of colleagues that often make people feel at home. Always some high calibre people on the team, fully committed to respect and support you. The mix of academia, PhDs and graduates create a nice intellectual environment - For graduates, Vivid offers a solid mix of client exposure and occasionally throws you into the deep end (in my opinion, is necessary for personal development) - Vivid has relatively low hours compared to its peers. Time crunches do occur, but the management team seems to be committed to reducing that stress. - A jaw-dropping 35-day holiday package for everyone, such that conversations during lunch are often about exotic travels
Cons
No place is perfect, but it seems to me that the downsides at Vivid are dominated by the fact that it truly is a great place to work in. The most frequently-raised issues are: - The fact that Vivid is still a relatively young company means that sometimes you feel that there is a lack of domain knowledge within the team. The flipside to that is that you will be learning at the same time as the manager, and hence the two-way exchange is really interesting and that your thoughts matter a lot. - Some idiosyncratic management styles by individuals that are hard to work with - After 2 or 3 years, there could be some pressure for junior staff to figure out what they wish to specialise in. It is sometimes a difficult choice and you have to figure out whether your area of interest is valuable to the company. - Occasional difficult requests from clients that simply require putting in the hours