Vault’s Verdict

Insigniam offers a true boutique experience built around lasting relationships with clients—something of a rarity in the modern business environment, and a significant hedge against market downturns.

As an employer, Insigniam places a strong emphasis on personal and professional development, offering extensive training opportunities to all employees, irrespective of tenure. This focus on growth is matched by a transparent and merit-based advancement system. However, achieving promotion criteria can be demanding, requiring dedication beyond standard working hours. While the firm encourages work-life balance, newer employees may find it more challenging to establish this balance compared to their longer-tenured colleagues. Despite these challenges, the rewards of career advancement at Insigniam, including competitive salaries and the potential for significant bonuses, are considerable.

Insigniam is an ideal workplace for individuals who are eager to learn, question the status quo, and are self-managing. Those seeking a more structured experience, with a defined curriculum for professional development, may be less of a fit here.

Employee Reviews

Firm Culture

• “Everyone in the firm is clear on how they contribute to the success of the firm and our clients.”
• “Firm genuinely cares about investing in its people as a key contributor to provide exceptional value to its clients.”
• “If you want to be exposed to the highest level or most elite management consulting in the world, and you want to work with the senior executives of the world's best-run companies, then you should consider applying to Insigniam for your career growth and your future.”
• “This is a place to be part of a high-performing, intentional team while being able to have your self-expression. I have made a career and a fabulous life from being part of Insigniam. Our methodology is unique and useful, both at work and at home. Our clients are amazing and a privilege to get to know and support to win.”
• “We partner with executives and their people to fulfill their commitments. Our clients produce desired outcomes consistently, sustainably, and with speed.”

Quality of Life

• “Best: We actively promote interest in people's lives and not just their contribution at work. Worst: One of our current facilities is not conducive to a high level of interactions in person.”
• “Insigniam has a real sense of purpose and mission; they are alive. The corporate culture goes with it: focused on building intimate relationships with and catalyzing measurable value for clients; a true meritocracy; strong relationships with colleagues. This makes work a joy. There is less travel than before COVID.”
• “The best aspect is that the founding partners honor their commitment to the longevity of our tenure by demanding that we take vacation, and not work on vacation or the weekends. Very little work is asked of us extra-hours during days in which we don't travel. I can't think of the worst part of our quality of life.”
• “The firm has a saying or a belief engrained in the culture which says: ‘You can't get it all done.’ Given the training and performance requirements that are required in order to succeed and be promoted, it seems that it requires an extreme amount of work outside of normal business hours to accomplish the minimum requirements."
• “Work-life balance is what you make it. You can't have 120 billable days and expect to have a personal life that is sustainable; especially if you are newer to the firm. The firm gives less time off than traditional firms so work-life balance is a bit more challenging than other organizations. Those who have been here longer can create the work-life balance that they need and say that they are entitled because they have been here longer and built the organization. In the meantime, those who have not been here as long, work long hours and pay their dues as well but it will never be enough to have the work-life balance needed to have a life and have health!”

Career Development

• “Best aspect: Multiple training and development for each and every person in our firm, regardless of how long one has been in the firm.
  Worst aspect: At times, the volume of training can be challenging when the business is very active with clients.”
• “Development opportunities are transparent. Challenging, fair and transparent.”
• “Great training throughout my career—both formal and informal, inside the Firm and through universities. The partnership criteria are pretty steep but not unreasonable.”
• “The best aspect is that all of the requirements for promotion are laid out in black and white. The worst aspect is that it is very hard to accomplish all of the metrics, many of which seem to be out of the employee's control most of the time. When you are not meeting expectations, there is not much help to get you over that hump or to provide opportunities for one to succeed.”
• “We practice what we preach with our clients, meaning we do the work and intellectual effort on ourselves that translates into the high quality work we do with our clients. Worst aspect, which I see as a best aspect, is that no matter your experience level or tenure, if you are not willing to grow and develop yourself, you will not succeed here.”

Compensation

• “Base salary is lower compared to most firms. However, bonuses are directly tied to business development sales. The bonus package is fairly progressive as business development is typically reserved for senior partners at most other firms.”
• “Best: As a consultant, one can earn an unlimited amount from closing sales. Worst: Bonus structure is evaluated each year and can change.”
• “Best: matching 401(k) and health benefits. Worst: There are no pre-tax commuter benefits offered for those who take public transportation or who pay tolls to get to work.”
• “Salaries are above the mean for consulting firms and bonuses put the comp in the 90th percentile. Health insurance is solid. No complaints.”
• “Team selling—our firm sales contracts as a team, meaning any bonus percentage given for a new contract is split fairly amongst anyone who contributed to the work that got that contract.”

Community Engagement

• “I did not hear about any effort focused on DE&I outside of the annual training. I also see that new consultants are being hired from diverse backgrounds.”
• “Insigniam does back its DE&I words with action. Atmosphere fosters equal opportunity for all. Firm is patriotic and has personal ties to the military.”
• “Our firm hires the best available candidates. We seek people from different backgrounds and experiences to enrich our culture and work. I'm pleased with our efforts and where we've come in the last five years. We're much more ethnically, racially and gender diverse than we were. That's an intentional effort.”
• “The company has historically been woman-majority owned and has hired people from many cultures, countries, ethnicities and military veterans. This is something very special about the company and its culture.”
• “Women make up the majority of both management and partners. Plenty of military veterans. Our firm meeting looks like the United Nations.”

Business Outlook

• “Best: Changes in the market translate into new opportunities for our consulting and methodology.
  Worst: When there is an issue like COVID that impacts in person meetings, that can negatively impact the volume of our consulting.”
• “Don't really know what the business outlook is. There is not enough communication and when there is, there is finger-pointing (at the consultants) even when people are going above and beyond to make a difference for the firm. There is a lack of serious coordinated action and structures that weakens the firm compared to other firms.”
• “Insigniam's strong reputation, brand, and relationship with Clients keep the Firm on a strong glide path. Our focus on large companies and organizational transformation, innovation and breakthrough keeps us as a leader in our discipline—not everything to everyone. The commitment to the purpose and mission keeps morale high. In the Firm's history, the management has only made two layoffs—the Great Recession and COVID—and did those well, so we know that they have our backs.”
• “Same business structure for 25 years. We need a change.”
• “We don't have strong growth prospects. Despite the incredible impact we leave on our clients, we have not solved the riddle of how to grow.”

Hiring Process

• “For hiring consultants, we have a well-documented process that keeps the candidate informed the entire way. We look for people who are eager to learn, willing to question what they know and are self managing."
• “Individuals interview with multiple people in the firm who are from different levels. The input from all interviewers is studied to determine whom to move forward in the process. This input provides a good cross-section for the applicant.”
• “Initial callback was quick.  The 6 rounds were scheduled over the span of about 1.5 months. The ideal candidate is an individual that is curious, able to think from various perspectives, has a world perspective, seeks to grow, and is authentic.“
• “Our process is robust, and paced in a prudent way. We hire very slowly, ensuring that our new hires share the disposition and values that Insigniam was built on. Each candidate speaks to several partners and senior consultants, often conducted in pairs.  We rate candidates on standards of professionalism, worldliness, initiative, and integrity, in additional to traditional metrics of education and experience.”
• “We're seeking experienced businesspeople with a secondary degree (MBA, MA, MS, JD, Ph.D., etc.). We are also seeking people who are coachable, highly motivated, independently responsible, resilient and have grit.”

Interview Questions

• “Convoluted—questions aren't strong enough to get a sense for the person being interviewed or hired. Definitely not questions that speak to one's experiences.”
• “Insigniam is extremely focused on ensuring candidates are the right fit for the firm.  The application process included six rounds of interviews that are primarily focused on experience, how one thinks, and behavior questions.”
• “Please give an example of where you stuck to a commitment when the going got hard.
  What leadership experiences have you had? What was your favorite subject in school, and how would you leverage that to catalyze value for clients?”
• “Tell us about a situation in which you were not winning or even failing and how you handled that.”
• “What's something you regret from your last job? What's something you're proud of from your last job? What would your last boss say about you if we spoke with them?”