Vault’s Verdict

If you’ve got previous consulting experience at a top firm and are looking for great compensation paired with the power to shape your own career, ghSMART should be near the top of your list of firms to join. Insiders often use the same two words to describe the firm’s culture: freedom and flexibility. Consultants at ghSMART are fully remote, can scale their workload up or down as long as they stay above a set minimum, and can set their own hours as long as they do great work for the firm’s blue-chip client roster.

When new team members join ghSMART, the firm provides an onboarding program to help them get up to speed quickly. Executive coaching is available from some of the best coaches in the world through the firm’s apprenticeship model, and senior employees are happy to serve as formal or informal mentors. Leaders also actively seek out developmental and international opportunities for their team, and promotion criteria are simple and transparent.

According to insiders, compensation at ghSMART is among the best in the business. Pay is tied to your volume of work, allowing you to earn as much as you want in a given year, and base salaries are equitable. In particular, insiders appreciate the firm’s delivery commission, which can exceed their base salaries. A recent minority investment from global investment firm KRR has only strengthened the firm’s business outlook, along with recent publications in Harvard Business Review that increase its brand recognition.

Employee Reviews

Firm Culture

• “Freedom and flexibility is real here. You have to get your work done, but you have flexibility to do it on your own terms, as long as you’re meeting the expectations of your clients and your teams.”
• “The informal and formal mentoring is the best I’ve received in my career.”
• “ghSMART spikes on catering to each individual’s definition of work/life balance. You have full autonomy over the volume of work you take on without any judgement.”
• “Firm culture reflects a great blend of high performing people who also want and respect other’s need for reasonable work-life balance.”

Quality of Life

• “You choose how much work you take on above a minimum threshold. This has significant impact on the overall quality and health of your life and how the holistic work/non-work elements of your life fit together. It is remarkable.”
• “Freedom and flexibility model that allows us to work with blue-chip clients on their most important leadership topics while still prioritizing what’s important to us outside of work. Advise a CEO in the morning, interview an executive in the afternoon, and still make it to your kid’s soccer game in the evening.”
• “We’re fully distributed, which makes it much easier to integrate your professional and personal lives. Primary downside is that we don’t get to see our colleagues in person as often as we would like to, especially given how well everyone gets along.”
• “I would not dream of working any place else. Today, I got word that I was winning a new deal, and I took off in the middle of the day to take a short hike. I worked nine hours today, but it was on my terms. I don’t have to ask anyone about the vacations that I take; I make my numbers, and no one cares how many days I take off. Consequently, I’m motivated to exceed my numbers, and I do.”

Career Development

• “I really appreciate the hands-on mentoring/apprenticeship model that happens from day 1. There are also several ongoing training programs as you progress in your tenure. Promotion criteria are pretty straightforward and transparent.”
• “ghSMART doesn’t have an up-or-out model. As a result, you have the time to build a skillset and area of expertise to match your career goals, without a clock ticking above you. Also, the fact that we have much lower historical turnover means that senior leaders spend more team investing in your growth.”
• “Mentoring is top-notch. My mentors can answer any questions I have, and I serve as a formal and informal mentor to many, focusing on the quality of teaching our craft but also looking at potential development assignments. International opportunities are robust as well.”
• “Amazing apprenticeship from some of the best executive coaches in the world. We’re coached by colleagues who also coach Fortune 100 CEOs.”

Compensation

• “Pay is very fair because you earn how much tied to your volume of work. Pay is also pretty efficient, in that you have set products so there is not a lot of ambiguity.”
• “Compensation is fully transparent; you know how you’ll be paid and when you’ll be paid, by level. It’s completely equal across the board, and so I therefore feel good that all people are paid under the same guidelines, which are consistently applied across the enterprise.”
• “Delivery (not sales) commission model that pays you for the work you do, which gives you complete control over your hours and compensation. The delivery commission can be two to three times your base salary. I make more at ghSMART than people at my comparable level at my former MBB firm.”
• “We have wellness plans through our healthcare and lean on each other heavily. We also support each other’s out-of-the-off exercise preferences, with many of us being on Strava and openly sharing our workouts with each other. This is just one of the myriad ways our culture of openness and transparency shows up.”

Inclusion

• “We are a majority women partnership group! It’s amazing and has powerful downstream culture effects that support productive lifestyles.”
• “I think we’re one of the more diverse places that I’ve ever worked. I just needed to staff a team for a client need, and it’s one Black female, one gay man, and one white man (I am female). The client appreciates this also.”
• “The most inclusive place I’ve ever worked at or heard about.”
• “We have a very diverse organization with colleagues from all over the world and who also currently live all over the world! We also have more women consultants than men, which appears to be unusual in the consulting industry.”

Business Outlook

• “KKR’s recent minority investment in our firm has supercharged our research and innovation, keeping us at the top of the list for leadership advisory firms.”
• “We have several articles recently published in publications like Harvard Business Review, which contributes to a solid business outlook. Morale is strong.”
• “We’re well positioned to continue to grow and thrive, investing significantly in our IP and geographic expansion. We also took on KKR as a minority/non-control partner this year which provides us with even greater access to resources.”
• “Unlimited white space and demand for our services globally. AI trend is a positive.”

Hiring Process

• “We do a phone screen or two, followed by a deep dive career walkthrough interview (half day), then multiple references. As far as ideal candidates, it’s people out of the McKinsey/Bain/BCG molds or PhD psychologists who effectively blend both business skills and psychology skills.”
• “It is a very extensive process, but I felt well-supported by the recruiting team. There were so many opportunities for me to understand exactly what the work entails and to speak to current consultants across different levels to inform my decision.”
• “For our consultant roles (Principal and Partner) we desire candidates who are many years out of their graduate school programs (MBA, JD, PhD, PsyD, etc.) who have super high levels of both IQ and EQ, and a deep commitment to client and colleague service. We also look for those who are a natural fit to our Values and Credo, but who will also push us to become better and better.”
• “The ideal candidate is a top 20 percent performer at another top professional services firm.”

Interview Questions

• “We like to probe on a candidate‘s highs and lows, with biggest accomplishments and lessons learned. Questions like ‘What are you proudest of?’ and ‘What was your biggest mistake?’”
• “We run our candidates through the same process we describe in our best-selling book Who. We believe it’s important to practice what we preach.”
• “What are the strengths and risks associated with candidate X (case question)?”
• “We conduct in depth, five-hour behavioral interviews spanning a candidate’s life and career. Along with this we do a case study of an example leader assessment. It is the most rigorous hiring process among professional services firms.”

Uppers

• “Deeply meaningful work, kind colleagues, unmatched flexibility, and superior compensation.”
• “Freedom and flexibility culture.”
• “Amazing colleagues, an ability to determine how much you earn (for the most part), and ownership over what work you do, when, and where.”
• “Work from home, flexible hours, and client impact.”

Downers

• “Limited perks and benefits beyond high compensation.”
• “As a new consultant, getting staffed on new opportunities is a bit opaque. Healthcare premiums are very expensive.”
• “Harder to build relationships with colleagues since it's a remote model.”
• “We are increasingly investing innovation and digital tools but could do even more on that front.”