Vault’s Verdict

According to insiders, Dayblink recently narrowed its service offerings to enable to focus on its highest impact, most profitable sectors—a move that seems to already be paying off in terms of business, with the firm experiencing record demand. As such, while the tech industry outlook for 2023 might be causing some trepidation elsewhere, Dayblink appears to be gearing up for a strong year.

As an employer, meanwhile, insiders have nothing but good things to say about their firm, generally describing the culture as friendly and collaborative, work life balance as manageable, and compensation as better than average, thanks to a strong bonus component. Assuming all works out as planned in the coming year, we’d expect to see more of the same in next year’s survey. Fingers crossed, then, for a strong year ahead for the firm.

Firm Culture

“All of the best parts of management consulting.”

“I've grown so much professionally here and the culture is very strong and supportive.”

“Management consulting is typically an industry that is categorized by being cut-throat, resulting in incredibly long hours and high turnover. At DayBlink, while you are always expected to meet your clients’ demands, they do a great job protecting their resources and ensuring that they can be involved in the community/focus on things that are important to them.”

“Our quality of work sets us apart from the competition and our people are what keeps our clients coming back to work with us, oftentimes specifically requesting to work with certain consultants on our team because of the solid work they've delivered in the past.”

“Willing to go the extra mile where larger firms will not bother.”

Quality of Life

“Best: People truly come first at DayBlink and you are always supported. They consistently take care of their employees and do everything in their power to ensure an appropriate work life balance is achieved so you can focus on other things that you love (logging off early for appointments, having flexible work hours if client meetings permit, ample PTO/VTO, etc.)

Worst: There can still be some judgement if you're only working 40-45 hours, regardless if you are getting everything done and operating more efficiently than others. However, I think this is largely part of the shift to remote work and will get better over time.”

“DayBlink Consulting has high standards for client delivery and generating value. Not easy but not crazy work hours. From time to time a work week might exceed 50 hours. They are also highly flexible on time off and accommodating individual needs.”

“I love DayBlink! We have an unbelievably accepting, warm culture. I control my own schedule, which affords me time for family events. Best place I've ever worked.”

“Like all consulting firms, the expectation is the client comes first. That being said, people generally feel that they are able to take a week's vacation as needed. Since the start of Covid, travel requirements have not been nearly as extensive, and the company has shifted policy to allow people to work from home anywhere.”

“We have the best culture in the industry, bar none. We provide our team with great benefits, respect their time, and do a ton of fun stuff. We meet monthly for all-team meetings and happy hour, do all company retreats in places like Nashville and Puerto Rico, do cooking classes together, trivia, volunteering, and much, much more.”

Compensation

“Best: pay equity by level. Everyone at the same level makes the same amount of money. No secrets.”

“Best: salary progression and frequent increases, very strong bonus directly tied to client utilization

Worst: Base is not always as high as other firms, but it still can be a high salary overall at year end due to utilization bonus.”

“Compensation is very good. The firm pays high base salaries and bonuses that exceed industry averages. That, coupled with fast promotions, allows you to make more sooner in your career. Salaries for all titles and levels are published so there is no question about unequal pay. Bonuses are achieved by completing clear tasks that do not vary across practice areas. On top of base salaries and structured bonuses, Partners may offer miscellaneous bonuses or commission shares for high performance on client projects. The firm provides 5 year anniversary gifts (examples include Rolex watches, Peloton bikes, ski trips, etc.). The firm also plans an annual retreat in a destination city that is fully paid (past locations include Las Vegas, Austin, Puerto Rico, and Nashville). Finally, the firm ensures that any expenses related to company/client events are always reimbursed and dedicates a large amount of budget for employee's to participate with no financial stress.”

“DayBlink's compensation program is designed to beat market average. It includes salary, performance, spot bonuses and commission on sales participation.”

“The consulting staff has a bonus-heavy compensation model. I work in the back office so have a smaller target bonus but still generous. Salary progression is strong here too.”

Career Development

“Best: Fast Promotions, competitive pay, narrow focus means resources will be focused on getting deeper in specific areas.

Worst: Narrowed focus on Cyber & Applied Automation limits options as staff progress, but a narrow focus is necessary for growing a small firm.”

“Best: Promotions are done on a monthly basis so you don't have to wait for formal evaluation cycles and are rewarded for your efforts more quickly than other firms.

Worst: The evaluation process isn't always consistent (some managers partners view it differently than others) and sometimes things fall through the cracks when transitioning between evaluators.”

“DayBlink is a small firm that focuses on development through working with leadership and management team members. We pair up young resources with experienced ones so they can learn on the job and excel. We also utilize online platforms like Udemy, brown bag sessions, and more to nail down the basics. DayBlink has a fantastic training ground to grow great resources. “

“Monthly promotion reviews is a large departure from the big firms, and incentivizes me in my career knowing that I will not be held back arbitrarily by long promotion timelines. DayBlink is committed to diversity measures and does an excellent job both promoting and incentivizing trainings as well as providing company-wide trainings for upskilling.”

“Our formal training program has improved greatly with much more content available to employees through investment in a training platform. Our informal and on-the-job training opportunities remain top-notch as Partners with 20+ years of experience spend time to help deliver projects and work with junior resources to build skills. 

Our promotion policies are very good and provide employees an opportunity to be promoted in any given month and promotions are not tied to ‘time in role.’ However, while the policy claims to not consider ‘time in role,’ this metric is used to the detriment of employees' career advancement. Employees are only evaluated on their time at their current level so if previous promotions were achieved at a below average rate (potentially due to environmental reasons outside of the employee's control), they are then ‘punished’ double by not being able to advance to the next level even if they have been consistently demonstrating the desired behaviors.”

Community Engagement

“All consultants are treated equally and we foster a culture of inclusivity. We actively are trying to hire qualified members of minority communities.”

“D&I is not as formal, but the team has a special contract with a diversity recruiter and pays extra to hire diverse candidates. As a woman at the firm, we don't have as many, but that is typical for the tech consulting space. I'd like to see it improve but also feel like a leader at the firm and am included in everything.”

“The firm is very focused on hiring and retaining more diverse talent but has struggled to be highly effective in this area. The firm actively pursues new strategies to better support D&I efforts and offers an environment where all types of people feel comfortable and can be successful. The firm has also organized numerous events to educate employees on diversity and inclusion topics such as unconscious bias.”

“We attempt to be as diverse as possible and value contributions from everyone.”

“While DayBlink actively promotes a very open and diverse culture, the employee body doesn't quite reflect their commitment to diversity (largely white and male). Granted, they are a very small company so losing 3-4 individuals can have a significant impact (like this past year), but overall I think they can do a bit better.”

Business Outlook

“Best: We are becoming more specialized in automation and cybersecurity and are winning A LOT of work in this space.

Worst: We have struggled to hit the sweet spot with hiring to meet our client demands, which is something we need to be better at (we had to turn down a handful of projects this past year because we didn't have enough people).”

“DayBlink recently announced three-year strategy focused on cybersecurity and automation as its long term strategy and is growing substantially in these areas.”

“Narrowed focus will allow for resources to be deployed more effectively. Focusing on high-growth, high-demand sectors is paying off.”

“Pivoting to be in a better position for the automation and cyber security needs of the future; employee morale strong.”

“We have had a very strong year and will continue to thrive in this business. As we continue to get more and more refined in our services, we have experienced cold outreach more than ever, and feel as though we will continue to succeed in our field(s). I feel very strongly about the future of DayBlink.”

Hiring Process

“DayBlink does an initial screening and then a single 90 min panel interview. The panel usually includes a consultant/sr. consultant, manager, partner and head of HR.”

“Honest, transparent, and agile.”

“Interview process is a typical case interview and presentation. Ideal candidate thinks quickly, has a technical background, and is very friendly and engaging.”

“Our interviews are always via panel and involve a case, as well as the development and delivery of a presentation.”

“We are ideally looking for candidates with management consulting experience and it's a plus if the candidate has an interest in either cybersecurity and/or applied automation.”

Interview Questions

“DayBlink maintains a catalog of case study questions that are common for management consulting interviews.” 

“DayBlink provides a 1-time interview that lasts 3 hours. It consists of 2 parts, one being 90 minutes of a candidate working on a comprehensive case that includes research, analysis, problem solving, etc. and puts them in a real-life situation. The other is behavioral to learn more about the candidate and see how they would fit here at Dayblink.”

“Our interviews are always via panel and involve a case, as well as the development and delivery of a presentation.”

“Profitability case interview and slide deck creation.”

“Tell us about challenging/technology/previous projects/teams/clients...”