Vault’s Verdict

A true boutique firm, Candesic offers a supportive environment where senior leaders invest in consultants’ success. The firm provides early responsibility, high visibility, and access to projects across clients and sectors. 

Insiders highlight the firm’s culture and people as key strengths, although they would like to see the firm update promotion policies they see as fair but rigid. If you’re looking for a small, agile firm to call home while working alongside leading clients in the healthcare space, Candesic is a strong option to consider.

Employee Reviews

Firm Culture

• “The people are honestly nice and not competitive or false, as in other consulting firms.”
• “Diversity is key in a multicultural environment!”

Quality of Life

• “The hours are long, but that’s the nature of the industry. Our new generation of managers are much more respectful of work-life balance.”
• “The firm does respect your weekends when projects allow it, but sometimes you have to work late nights during the week.”
• “The long hours are due as much to management as the nature of the work.”
• “It’s not particularly efficient to have a good work-life balance, even during business development.”

Career Development

• “Projects move extremely quickly allowing for endless learning and growth opportunities. It also extremely easy to get staffed on different sectors for exposure.”
• “You take on a lot of responsibility early, working with large private equity clients in some of the largest healthcare transactions around Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The firm has a clear promotion process, but it lacks flexibility to reward top performers.”
• “Our small teams ensure you’re visible to the senior leadership team and allow for learning opportunities. However, dynamics within individual teams can lead to unfairness.”
• “We have a steep learning curve and strong on-the-job learning opportunities, with more exposure to clients and greater responsibility than at larger firms.”

Compensation

• “Analyst salaries are low given the level of effort these staff exert and the current market environment.”
• “The pay is negotiable, in-line with the industry, and offers bonuses.”
• “The compensation could include more benefits, such as profit-sharing schemes.”
• “The firm offers gym memberships, healthy food in the office, and sports activities.”

Community Engagement

• “There’s a strong gender imbalance but otherwise it’s a very inclusive culture.”
• “They hire whoever they think is best for the position, but besides looking for more women to interview, they are basically an exception at the firm.”

Business Outlook

• “Being a small firm makes us agile.”
• “We have a strong resilience in the healthcare space. The advisory practice will always have a place, and we have a strong ability to gain market share.”
• “The business is following an aggressive growth strategy and is doing well in this aspect.”
• “Partners and senior engagement managers can vary in quality.”

Hiring Process

• “The first-round interview involves two cases. The second round requires you to present on a real business case.”
• “After each interview, we call the person if they pass to the next round or receive an offer. Otherwise, we send an email. In general, we expect good answers during the case studies, but we focus more on determining how each person thinks and approaches problems.”
• “A good candidate has a STEM and consulting background.”

Interview Questions

• “The candidate will have to dissect a commercial due diligence problem.”
• “Estimate the monthly profits of a private hospital that rents out surgery rooms.”
• “Expect to see typical case studies.”
• “It is sink or swim.”
• “Low commitment from the associate class at the expense of the analyst.”