Vault’s Verdict

Gartner is one of the most trusted and prestigious Research and Advisory firms in the world. While the firm is best known for its industry-leading research—an incredible body of knowledge collected and maintained by the cutting-edge insights of a global network of Gartner professionals—it also has well-respected Conferences and Consulting units that help clients turn research into action through engaging events and longer-term, onsite consulting engagements. 

For the people that work there, Gartner’s massive investment in research is one of the firm’s strongest value propositions as an employer. As one respondent to our survey put it, “it’s empowering to be surrounded by such extensive knowledge daily.” Gartner’s research doesn’t just analyze trends in the industry—it sets those trends—and Gartner employees believe that the world’s most comprehensive collection of technology, data, and tools is what drives their learning and development as professionals. Furthermore, the lack of emphasis on implementation work allows them to focus on pure strategy, facilitating an even deeper connection with those resources.

 Employees believe the Gartner brand lends instant credibility to the work they do, opening doors to C-suite executives across many of the world’s leading companies. Thriving on the frontlines of innovation, Gartner is a place for the tech savvy and the business oriented. The firm is massive, and requires a significant degree of self-guidance to navigate one’s career path. Compensation is often bolstered by consistent and generous bonuses. If you’re looking for prestige, powered by an unparalleled base of knowledge and resources, few experiences are more enriching than Gartner.

Firm Culture

• “A flexible place to grow and thrive in a professional environment with a firm at the bleeding edge of technology.”
• “Close working relationship with entry-level delivery consultants all the way up to managing partners. For younger hires, there is tremendous opportunity to work with leading industry experts (both in Research and Consulting) and to work with them to develop client solutions. Very unique compared to other, more structurally-tiered consulting firms.”
• “Gartner has a strong collaborative and supportive culture that is not typically associated with as competitive a career as consulting.”
• “Gartner is a growth company with ample opportunities for new associates. We have a highly motivated team of intellectually challenging associates who are passionate about clients and creating a diverse culture.”
• “Gartner is great for people who are not afraid of navigating ambiguity, and figuring out how to be successful. We don't have formal programs for onboarding new people, developing associates, or very clear promotion programs. But people who can jump in and figure it out themselves tend to do very well.”
• “Working at Gartner you will work with excellent co-workers who innovate and are committed to the clients. The environment is fast-paced, and you will learn a tremendous amount...”

Quality of Life

• “As with all consulting firms hours and travel requirements are specific to the projects on which you work. Therefore it can be difficult to make plans (other than vacation) more than a week in advance. Having said that, there is some flexibility in terms of what you take on and people try to be respectful of individual's needs (such as for new parents)…”
• “Best: clear expectations of the value of time off to re-charge the body, connect with loved ones and walk away from the business. Very flexible model driven primarily by performance. That is, provided that goals are attained, staff have the flexibility to take as much time off as needed. Worst: at times it is difficult to find the time to take off depending on where you sit in the hierarchy.”
• “Depending on where you live, travel can sometimes be onerous. That said, there is some control of travel time of day, and on/offsite work can often be negotiated with clients. There are times when the engagement will call for more significant onsite work. There is a lot of recognition that travel is a burden to work life balance and efforts are made, as much as possible, to be accommodating.”
• “We are treated as true professionals and there is little oversight like you would might see in other lines of work. I have worked in many places where everything is scrutinized and salaried workers are treated like employees. At Gartner, we are truly respected and are given flexibility and freedom to do our work and focus on successful team and client outcomes and deliverables to provide the best value to our clients.”
• “They don't count accumulated vacation time in utilization rates. If you take all your vacation, it is [difficult] to meet utilization targets.”
• “One needs to take responsibility for planning that time for vacation purposes, and ensuring that clients and colleagues can continue to move forward in their absence. It's not hard to do, and everyone is generally supportive.”

Career Development

• “A new professional development team works closely with associates to secure projects that align with strengths and interests, even if that means expanding into new industry and/or practice areas.”
• “Best aspects: career advancement and promotion, opportunities to be involved, engaging practices and thought leadership. Worst aspects: lack of structure in development, ambiguity in some target goals.”
• “Career development is centered on the associate and their interests. Gartner recognizes that we perform at our best when we have high levels of on-the-job satisfaction and work to support us achieve this. Whether helping us move geographic location, work on certain project types or work internally with different teams.”
• “Formal training could be improved, particularly early on for entry-level employees. However, there is tremendous opportunity for growth and promotion within Gartner Consulting. There are enough initiatives going on internally that employees at all levels can take on new challenges and make a footprint. I like the recent emphasis by Gartner to promote and invest in increasing diversity and inclusion within the firm, but think that they could put more emphasis still on more diverse hires.”
• “Historically, Gartner lacked transparency into career development opportunities which made promotions and growth challenging. However, Gartner recently implemented changes to its organizational model and the early results are positive. Transparency has improved significantly and the advent of new professional development roles is expected to further advance growth.”
• “Recently established hub offices where training sessions occur on a monthly basis. This is also bringing associates together into the office to network/socialize. Promotion policies are fair, it seems that if an associate works hard and is successful, they will get promoted. There has been a new change to the rating/promotion process which occurred last year.”

Compensation

• “The worst aspect is the general lower base salary but decent bonuses. The best part is that there is flexibility as you move up in the firm for making more money.”
• “Expectations for compensation growth are very clear at all levels of the organization. The total compensation package (base + bonus + benefits) is very generous with lots of room to grow for those who are willing to put in the work to exceed targets.”
• “I feel properly compensated, especially with the recent changes to how annual appraisals are scored which impacts raises and bonuses. Because annual raise percentages are typically small, coming into the company with the highest possible negotiated salary is advisable. The Employee Stock Purchase Plan through E*TRADE is a nice perk, since company stock is purchased at a discount (it just has to be held for a minimal time frame or the discount is taxable).”
• “Gartner has numerous ‘hidden’ benefits that aren't widely understood by the general employee base. Small pockets of reimbursement for lifestyle to non-profit donation matching to HSA donations. The company does a good job with benefits.”
• “In my opinion we do a good job of progressing our employees through the organization, which leads to salary progression. We don't offer a ton of ‘non-standard’ perks. The ability to work remotely and charitable match are two that I enjoy.”
• “Best: consistent and transparent compensation, merit increase, and bonus attainment process. Worst: ‘moving targets’ on measurements year-to-year that play into performance review and bonus attainment.”

Outlook

• “The best aspect is the transparency about the future business outlook and data to back up the plans. We have a research arm in the firm and this data really supports our consulting. The research portion provides credibility to our recommendations and analysis.”
• “Gartner is the leader in the space of research and consulting. Our leadership, which is new, has embraced the singular Gartner model and are investing in the practices and behaviors needed for this to drive greater success.”
• “Gartner's unique position as the world's leading research company creates a strong and differentiated foundation for Gartner consulting.  We are still young as a consulting firm, which creates tremendous opportunity for relatively new or junior consultants to play a big role in shaping our business.”
• “The firm is in a strong position to continue its unbelievable record of growth; corporate leadership is shifting some attention to the consulting side of the business, and expectations are positive.”
• “Gartner Consulting's closer integration with Research will accelerate our Asset-Based business model to further disrupt the traditional labor-based consulting industry.”
• “Gartner is the industry leader in IT research and Consulting is well-positioned to use this as a competitive advantage to grow business in our sweet spot.”

Hiring Process

• “For consultants, we do MBA career fairs and info sessions. We review resumes, do phone interviews, do in-person interviews sometimes on campus, then we select a few candidates to do three to four in-person, 1:1 interviews and a case study. The case study materials are given a week ahead of time and the candidate is asked to give a PPT presentation. We are looking for eager, hardworking, critical thinking, detail-oriented, creative people that can solve any problem that comes their way.”
• “Gartner hires people with a wide variety of backgrounds, so there isn't an ‘ideal’ candidate.  The diversity of our people is a competitive strength. Candidates generally (but not always) have several years of experience in an IT-related area.”
• “[We seek] candidates who are interested in working at the intersection of business and technology, and understand the financial implications/risks of large investments in IT-enabled digital solution.”
• “The interview process is long and involves multiple steps. The organization is quite diligent in its hiring practices, so candidates have to want to work here and be patient enough to see the process through. In terms of the ideal candidate: passion for technology, strong client presence, able to work with minimal guidance, able to work collaboratively rather than competitively with peers, either has or is able to develop business development skills, adaptable and willing to take on multiple roles depending on the circumstance.”
• “Lots of interviews. We like to provide an opportunity for candidates to get to know the firm and the individuals that work in this industry. Expect to have one or two more interviews than you might want to. It is important that everyone is comfortable with the agreement to move forward. We want our candidates to be successful once they make the commitment to join the firm.”
• “Rigorous interview process, with multiple behavior interviews and a case presentation. The ideal candidate is confident, intelligent, and eager to learn and improve. The ideal candidate works well in a flexible environment where they manage their own work and are not micromanaged by others.”

Interview Questions

• “Typically a prospective hire who has passed a number of phone call interviews will be given a case study scenario relevant to the targeted position. From my perspective, there are no ‘typical’ questions…”
• “We use a combination of traits-based interviewing and case studies. I always ask candidates what their current or former peers and subordinates would say about them and test for strong self-awareness and fit.”
• “We tend to use a case study approach, and for our associate-level resources are looking to gauge a candidate’s ability to deliver on real-world scenarios. Typically, a 60-minute case study interview will roll through six rapid-fire scenarios, fast-tracking the entire lifecycle of an engagement (initial sale opportunity assessment, approach and project kick-off, assessment of problem, delivering a tough client message, setting a visionary direction etc.).”
• “Review how you would develop an Enterprise Data Management Strategy for a retail/commercial regional bank.”
• “Here is a ton of Gartner Research, here is a problem. Take a week to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively, and come in with a polished presentation and verbal communication—have a point of view and defend it with thorough analysis and slide ware.”
• Case questions are presentation-style: you need to prepare a presentation ahead of time-based on a case instead of walking through a case on the spot.”