Vault’s Verdict

Insiders at CRA depict their firm as a caring, supportive environment that balances providing consultants with professional autonomy, incentive-driven pay, and good short-term and long-term career prospects. Employees work from the office four days a week but are free to adjust their schedules around personal boundaries. Hours have their peaks and valleys but tend to average between 40 and 45 per week, but insiders do warn that individual consultants must take responsibility for work-life balance.

Senior leaders tend to know everyone on their team and care about them personally, providing junior employees chances to make their mark on the company by contributing to practice-wide or firm-wide projects. New staff also receive formally assigned mentors and buddies to help them navigate their careers. While cross-practice work and international opportunities may not appear every day, the firm does offer them on occasion.

High performers can unlock promotions and increase their compensation rapidly, say insiders. The base salary undergoes market adjustments in addition to annual cost-of-living increases, although some insiders feel it’s slightly below market. However, bonuses more than bridge the difference, offering consultants the chance to increase their earnings as they work more hours, with virtually no limits for senior employees.

Employee Reviews

Firm Culture

• “Great deal of autonomy to balance work and life; never missed a kids game or performance because I could adjust schedule around those events; no micromanaging of work location. However, there is a lack of coordination across practice areas.”
• “We get to work on very interesting high-impact projects, and the work is often challenging and creative. The people here are great—very invested in your development (with early development opportunities) and also care about you.”
• “The team is the best, with great mentors from senior levels, and I’m proud to say that the firm fully supports employees in case of any health issues, doesn’t matter how busy or urgent work can be, trusting the employee (I haven’t been requested any private information).”
• “In the office four days per week, which works out well and is helpful to staff and the cohesiveness of the practice and development of the team.”

Quality of Life

• “CRA has a good time off policy, which is generous in quantity as well as it being based on a 40-hour workweek. The hours have high variance but average out to around 45 billable on average per week.”
• “Hours are dependent on firm’s needs. Usually the hours are okay (35 to 50 project hours a week), but certain seasons can be busier or quieter. Travel requirements are minimal, so that’s good. Firm offers some opportunities to travel if truly needed (readouts, workshops) but usually optional. Very easy to take time off. No need to get approval to schedule PTO. Peers respect time off.”
• “Weekly workload, even during busy times, is still sustainable. PTO policy is generous and easy to take. Travel requirements are typically light and for good career advancing opportunities when they happen. Firm is very understanding and supportive of personal needs.”
• “You have to take personal responsibility for your own work-life balance, but your desired balance will be respected, within reason.”

Career Development

• “Most promotion guidelines are clear and fair, but the promotion to VP seems like it is more difficult than it should be and takes a very long time. I’ve found mentorship opportunities to be plentiful, but informal training resources to be disorganized.”
• “CRA provide great long-term career opportunities for those consultants interested in advancing in the field. Increasingly, there are opportunities for working on cross-practice teams on interesting, complex consulting projects, some involving international opportunities.”
• “Rapid advancement is possible. New joiners can contribute to office and practice wide initiatives quickly. Promotion still depends too much on quantitative metrics (utilization, quality score) which can be subjective and open to interpretation by different senior team members.”
• “CRA has great formal and informal training. This includes being assigned both an onboarding buddy and a professional supervisor. There are tons of training opportunities with extensive initial onboarding training and then ongoing trainings for growth.”

Compensation

• “My salary has nearly doubled since starting in 2021. The regular market adjustments every two to three years seem beneficial on top of some annual increases.”
• “Bonuses scale with hours so potential for very large bonuses. However, base salaries are slightly lower than average and sometimes it’s difficult to get as many hours as you might want (staffing frictions, delayed projects, etc.).”
• “At the VP/partner level ,there is no upper limit on compensation as it is tied to an individual’s revenue sourcing.”
• “We have good health and wellness programs, including but not limited to flu shot day, massage in the office, many happy hours, wellness webinar, wellness reimbursement program, etc.”

Inclusion

• “CRA’s affinity groups have helped broaden our diversity efforts within the last few years. There is also a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer who spearheads these efforts. I do feel that all consultants at the firm have equal access.”
• “Individuals are treated equally in performance reviews, irrespective of gender/ethnicity/etc. Hiring has improved in terms of inclusion.”
• “The firm is inclusive ... there are not a lot of people of color at the firm, but that may be more due to them not applying for jobs at CRA vs. not being made an offer here. And different offices globally will of course have different percentages of people who apply from various categories of race/ethnicity just based on geography.”
• “Our firm is committed to having a diverse and inclusive environment, and they do seem to walk the walk.”

Business Outlook

• “Fantastic senior leadership with a strong track record of growth and success, all while continuing to build a supportive firm culture.”
• “We have a diversified array of specialized consulting services that often function in a complementary nature, lending themselves well to the multi-disciplinary and intellectually rigorous nature of our engagements. I am aware of several large projects in the case pipeline within my practice.”
• “Very good at complex economic research and strategic advisory work. Talent pipeline is strong. Slower to innovate than other firms”
• “We are engaged in most of the high-stake cases in the field and have a good result in cases overall.”

Hiring Process

• “Our process is three rounds: materials review, phone screener, and interview day. We’ve done this remotely but prefer it in-person. Our most recent callback percentage was 10 percent between screener and interviews, and we expect final offers to go to 20 percent of those who participate in interview day. Ideal candidate: has grounding in a quantitative major (e.g., economics, math), some writing fluency, and demonstrably intellectual curiosity.”
• “Two rounds of interviews after an intensive resume review. The second is a Super Day style. The ideal candidate is intellectually curious with demonstrated analytical and research skills.”
• “We’re looking for health economists or people with strong scientific backgrounds who can apply themselves to business problems”
• “A candidate with lots of academic research and data analysis experience. At the senior level it feels like we’re accepting more candidates with PhDs.”

Interview Questions

• “What is a monopsony? What is HHI? How do you calculate HHI?”
• “We have a formal job market seminar when interviewing PhD candidates.”
• “Sample audit of an exhibit or report section. Describing previous work done with data analysis or economic research.”
• “Excel skills test. Case study related to assessing damages in a similar context to our engagements”