• Misleading job title: There is no analysis in the research analyst position. Most of what you’ll be doing is browsing LinkedIn, browsing the internal database, and cold calling/emailing prospective experts.
• Low pay: Third Bridge brands itself as the premium expert network, but pays its employees less than competitors (alpha sights have 5k more annual base).
• Bonus system: Somewhat arbitrary and random, your work performance is hugely affected by which vertical/team you are in, who your boss is and what projects you work on. End result is hard work doesn’t necessarily pay off.
• Bonus system 2: The target driven system is rather angsty, a section of your screen is devoted to showing you how much more you need to hit at all times. You do get something of a hamster in his wheel kind of vibe.
• Bonus system 3: For every dollar you generate, you get paid back a cent…Woof!
• THE WORK CULTURE: Apologies for the caps, but this needs emphasis. The work culture at TB is downright unhealthy. Expect institutionalised micromanagement, and constant surveillance and chasing from your bosses. To give you an idea, every single hour of work has to be accounted for, to the minute. And you get no say in what you actually spend your time on. Essentially, you come in the morning, get your orders, input them in the system, get monitored all day, and before leaving you must show proof that you did all the tasks initially inputted. Its beyond Kafkaian.
• The hours: Not incredibly long (9 to 6:30) but zero flexibility and very intense. When they say 9am it’s 9am not 9:02. You will get told of for coming one or two minutes late. You will also never, ever, have time to check your phone or have a chat during work hours.
• The work culture, part 2: As of June, listening to music (even with earphones) has been outlawed. So don’t expect to put on a tune whilst you’re scrolling down 15 pages of LinkedIn profiles. Beyond Kafkaian.
• The work culture, part 3: There is a lot of backstage politicking and factions within the workforce. There is also a culture of secrecy, often for utterly mundane things (e.g. a colleague leaving)
