Vault’s Verdict

With a local delivery model that allows consultants to sleep in their own beds most nights, Jabian seems to have cracked the code on culture and work life balance—something that most insiders are quick to point out. Additionally, insiders really want you to know that “boutique” and “local” are not euphemisms for “lower quality”; this is a firm that very much prides itself on the pedigree of its consultants and the quality of the work they provide for clients.

With lower overall compensation than some of its larger competitors (although not necessarily on a per-hour basis), there is a sense that Jabian is perhaps reaching something of an inflection point. While the firm is continuing to grow, its ability to retain consultants has resulted in a large tier of highly experienced employees with little room to progress further internally within their careers. Coupled with that are the typical pains associated with any growing firm—along with concerns about being able to hold onto its culture and feel as it grows.

With those points in mind, the next handful of years will be interesting to watch. This is clearly a firm that has room to grow and expand further, but doing so without losing the core of what makes it special will be a challenge.

Firm Culture

“Everyone we hire is involved in their community and has similar values. We do not live to work, but we bring high value to our work.”

“Jabian has been ahead of the current trends regarding the talent war and conscious capitalism by a wide margin. Leadership are true thought leaders with the desire to create a legacy firm that fulfills all of the higher goals of a business.”

“Our firm's vision is very well-formulated and positive, and we have structured everything we do to live out that mission daily. The vision is centered around truly maximizing value and satisfaction for our clients, our employees, and our community. It is not the ‘typical’ consulting firm--we truly look for that triple-net win in everything we do. That's why our clients love us, it’s why our employees love us, and its why our reputation within the markets we serve is so good.”

“Values and principles-driven consulting with a focus of deeply understanding client needs and delivery high-quality solutions catered to individual clients.”

“We are not just bodies thrown at a problem to solve in a cookie cutter way. We tailor make our solutions to our clients problems for them to implement, and listen to their concerns.”

Quality of Life

“Best - ability to work remote or support local clients. Very little out of state travel. Very strong social connections with colleagues, lots of outside of the office activities exploring our city. Easy to take time off - both firm and clients are very understanding. Worst - hours get long, leaders preach balance but unrealistic given what needs to be done to earn promotion.”

“I chose Jabian because of the work-life balance and values of staying local to the communities in which we live, work and volunteer. The firm encourages active participation in our local markets, which gives more color to our lives in our neighborhoods outside of work.”

“Heavy focus on long term satisfaction of employees. Rarely working over 45-50 hours and large emphasis on being involved in the community in the evenings/afternoons. Very supportive of individual time management and employees having ability to say ‘no’ or rescheduling non-essential work-related meetings in order to be more involved in the community.”

“Jabian has the most holistic views on quality of life of any firm that I am aware of. Because the local model depends on connections and responsibility to the community, employees at every level are given the space and freedom to bring opportunities in or begin to develop relationships that could bring in business in the future, alongside a focus on work-life balance. It is easy to take hours off when needed, and the hours are balanced, which benefits project performance and employee satisfaction greatly.”

“We are a familial culture and do a lot of talking and promoting of work/life balance, but sometimes don't always walk the talk. Most people usually are very respectful of when you take PTO to make sure you take it fully. We don't have an established in-person policy, but nobody wants to go into our office. A lot of people would prefer to work remotely and do firm wide social events instead. We are all Type A workers and overachievers so inherently will work more than we're allocated for with hours and people just kind of accept it, but I think there should be a concerted effort to occasionally lower the working hours and sign off early on Fridays--something like that.”

Compensation

“Base salary levels are good, and we tend to have pretty sizable annual increases, both within and between career levels. The bonuses are not the highest in terms of percent of salary, but they are pretty stable, which is helpful for financial planning. The 401k match should be more generous than it is.”

“Best - ability to expense networking meals and events both with internal resources, clients, and external contacts; $30 Health and wellness monthly reimbursement is nice but needs to be adjusted given rising costs (it's been the same for 10 years)

Worst - salary still lags despite messaging from leadership. We are responsible for a lot more than employees of our competitors and our base salary does not reflect that. Our bonus is also very low compared to other consulting firms and industry companies our talent frequently leave for. The paternity leave is laughable - only 1 week. Multiple resources have left Jabian because of this.”

“Firm is privately held and is now creating shareholders/issuing stock in the company for Sr. Execs--fantastic addition to overall comp plan. Also positive: Firm is Principle Driven, Metric Aware, so I am not trying to maximize margins...simply staff the best people for the projects for commissions. Downside: limited visibility by junior employees on Exec Comp philosophy/what to expect as you advance your career to shareholder status.”

“The best aspect is a strong bonus compensation program for revenue generated. The worst aspect is they do not adequately support revenue generation activities which makes this effort very difficult to do on your own.”

“We offer a sabbatical every 5 years. Other benefits are very good overall. Areas for increase would be benefits for less than full-time people. Others offer more for parental leave, but I don't see people asking for more.”

Career Development

“Ability to chart your own path. Work with mentor to determine areas you'd like to engage in; business development, product offerings, client delivery, etc.”

“Best - ability to move at our own pace and ability to focus on passion areas and seek professional development opportunities externally that the firm with pay for. Promotion is purely merit based, no bell curve.

Worst - limited opportunity for growth once Director or ED level is reached (career model changes in progress for these two), very little training as part of onboarding - most of our consultants are very experienced but some dedicated training time at the start would be beneficial. Firm is top heavy - we retain our people and promote on merit but this means limited opportunity for career progression beyond entry level Director role and people leave.”

“Career development is more than a slogan: it is a focal point. The program is well-structured and provides ample support. Truly refreshing to be part of an organization which sees the success of each member as the predicate for the success of the firm as a whole.”

“Jabian's career development model is detailed and clearly laid out across the various areas of performance that affect both the firm and an employee's personal success. Promotion is skill-based rather than strictly tenure-centric, and while typically it occurs at year-end, can occur throughout the year.”

“The firm is excellent at helping you to form and nurture relationships within the firm with colleagues, mentors, executives, and partners, but it is geared towards experienced professionals who have been in consulting prior to joining. Until recently, we have not had a well-developed pipeline for experienced industry hires or entry-level consultants, although that has taken a big step forward this year.”

Community Engagement

“I feel everyone has equal access internally. I have no knowledge of efforts made in the hiring process to specifically increase diversity.”

“The firm embraces D&I, both through talk and action. Amongst new hires in the last year or two, there is a big diversity of people. However, overall, and especially at the leadership levels, there is significantly less diversity of people.”

“The firm voices strong support for women, people of color, LGBTQ+ identifying individuals and many others. However, some offices have a very low diversity rate and diversity at senior leadership levels is poor. This is a priority that leadership indicates they are working on, but we have yet to see the results.”

“This is one of the strongest aspects of our firm. Employees are empowered to speak up, partners support our various ERG groups. We still lack diversity at the highest levels but that comes with experience and tenure as we hire AND RETAIN diverse talent.”

“We have 5 ERGs in place for employees from under-represented groups with active local and national programming and initiatives, which is great for a small firm. HR and management are receptive to employee feedback and nimble enough as a small firm to make quick changes/additions to policy, e.g. the creation of a workplace gender transition policy. There's a clearly defined DEI strategy, and all employees have equal access to interesting/high-quality work, but we do struggle with female and minority representation at senior levels.”

Business Outlook

“As a privately held firm, we typically hire in economic downturns...don't have to answer to Wall St/shareholders! Pace of change to industrialize capabilities is slow...wish we would move faster in making core capabilities more industrial strength to take into different markets.”

“Growing firm with a great focus on maintaining core values (i.e., marathon not a sprint mentality). Excellent leadership provides trust that we're heading in the right direction and will make good decisions, not just right decisions.”

“Major obstacles to outlook are macro and not specific to the firm. We have done an excellent job diversifying and expanding our client base and, combined with the ‘stickiness’ that our world-class client delivery brings, that has put us in a great position to weather the storm.”

“The firm is growing very successfully but is also at a pivotal point where shifts from infrastructure for a small company to what is needed for a mid-size company will be needed. It is impossible to say if the firm will be able to make this shift successfully, although they are certainly in a good position.”

“Very strong growth coming out of the pandemic, with no end in sight on the growth. Morale is very high and will only get better with planned updates to our senior executive career model.”

Hiring Process

“Ideal candidates have strong experience of diverse backgrounds aligned with our company culture.”

“Interview process is efficient. Ideal candidate is an experienced management consultant with a passion for community involvement and motivated to forge their own path.”

“My perspective is the talent acquisition team has strong engagement with candidates and process is managed throughout with communication to candidates as well as all internal stakeholders.”

“Our process is strong and we are getting great talent in the door. We are seeking people who actively do great work for clients and community. We also look for them to enhance our culture. Every hire changes our culture and we want it to be for the better.”

“Talent Acquisition does 2 initial call screenings, often punctuated by an informal call with a current consultant who can speak with you about Jabian's consulting practices, culture, etc. The team is quite responsive and will generally call within a few business days to set up the next call. Once you've passed these screenings, there is a panel interview, after which Talent Acquisition will do another follow-up to schedule the partner interview--again, they get back to people a few business days after both the panel and partner interviews, and if the candidate passes the partners, that's the point where an offer is made and negotiation begins. The whole process takes a few weeks, typically.”

Interview Questions

“Describe a time when you coordinated you or others work activities.”

“Describe a time when you introduced a significant innovation or process changes.”

“Example driven questions with a lot of follow ups to understand how a candidate approaches projects and tasks.”

“Jabian takes a unique approach to the case interview and goes in a direction that better analyses long term potential of candidates.”

“Screens from recruiters, then panels with local office employees, then a unique Role Play to conclude the recruiting process. Role play simulates a client meeting/prep/debrief. Very unique!”