L.E.K. Consulting Senior Consultant Reviews

Pros

Great people, fast progression, fun culture

Cons

Long, draining hours with an obsessive work culture

Pros

A ton of opportunity to learn Exposure to many industries and teams Constantly being challenged

Cons

Difficult lifestyle that inevitably leads to burnout

Pros

You learn a lot. Still good brand name. Very smart and driven colleagues.

Cons

The 1-2 star reviews are true. It is a sweat shop that doesn't care about its employees at all. Most people hate their jobs and are miserable. Alums (the ones that I talked to) feel very bitter about the company. Look for the comments under a 2017 Poets&Quants article that ranked LEK as #2 best copmany for MBAs.

Advice to Management

MDs, be honest with yourself: scope and staff projects with proper resources for a realistic timeline. Can someone git rid the existing HR department and start working on company culture? P.S., Consultant-level exits are hard because of the pure focus on DD for cases, especially in smaller offices such as San Francisco.

Pros

Steep learning curve prepares you to solve strategic business problems and manage talented, intelligent teams Interesting, impactful cases using traditional and novel market research and analytical tools Early and broad client exposure at the C level

Cons

Long hours and high expectations

Advice to Management

Be more transparent of the challenges and expectations of direct from MBA hires.

Pros

A few good partners if you look hard Smart colleagues Allocations does its best

Cons

Sweat shop culture / under-staffing HR (and everyone knows it)

Pros

-The associate level employees are fantastic to work with! -Pay and profit sharing are in line with other firms, but growth lags -Strong revenue growth prospects due to increased PE activity require more DDs

Cons

-Leadership is terrible - Due to the terrible culture, high performers leave as soon as they can. There are very few managers or partners that are inspiring (or even good) to work with -High levels of due diligence work - don't join expecting to do strategy work or to get any client exposure. 90%+ of the work is DDs. You will be doing market research as opposed to strategy work -Minimal post MBA exit... opportunities - All you do is market research, there may be opportunities to jump to another second tier firm, but high profile recruiters do not come to LEK with great opportunities (Pre-MBA opportunities appeared to be decent) -Limited interest in developing people - the training is terrible and consultants are viewed as widgets to burn out, not a resource to develop

Advice to Management

-Diversify your work away from just DD's -Start caring about your consulting employees, view them as more than a widget in the machine

Pros

Great ramp up of responsibilities Strong analytical requirements and lots of opportunities to learn

Cons

Cold calling during the first year

Pros

Collaborative culture, broad exposure to industries and types of projects, no travel!

Cons

Higher focus on diligence projects