Rothstein Kass Reviews

I have been working at Rothstein Kass

Pros – 7 weeks vacation a decent health coverage. You will learn alot in your first few months at the company. The company has a reputation in the finance field so it looks good on your resume when looking for other jobs in hedge funds.

Cons – Too much backstabbing at Rothstein. Alot of the seniors I work with give a ton of work and then go sit back and chat it about the last episode of Lost. Those of us at the low levels are very overworked and the few seniors that take pride in their job and take the time to explain to staff how to do things in an audit are usually the ones fired at end of busy season.

The seniors who lazy it up and stuff their staff with everything they should be doing so they can take probably 2 hours of breaks (excluding lunch) are the ones kept around. They are the ones who usually backstab those under them by blaming others for hours billed to a client when it's they who didn't hard hard for the hours they did. And of course it's these types of seniors and managers that get to head up roundtable meetings cause they are such "real leaders" when it's them who talks behind people's backs but they give a big smile when they see the same person face to face.

The partner level leadership are completely clueless. They tell staff and lower seniors theat they shouldn't complain when it's 10 pm and they are required to email scheduling if there is anymore work that needs to be done. One aprtner even stated that hey if you have to stay until 1 or 2 then that's the nature of the business. But when you walk by the partners offices they are usually done by 5 or 6. They tell us oh how they have to work harder than us during review time for financials which is the time they claim he have reduced schedules and are enjoying the time. That is a lie. We are here just as late and if not later than msot of these aprtners who still go home early.

They tell us how we need to do more to impress the clients and how it is not enough. Last I check it's the few of us that are working hard late trying to get things done while the leadership of the company are talking about how they couldn;t paly as much golf over the weekend cause of the rain. I barely have time for ymself and while they claim how Rothstein Kass is about being balanced most of us know that is just another lie.

Management can keep denying how miserable msot of us employees are and they can keep promoting alot of the backstabbing seniors who head up the roundtables but when most of us decide to leave the company you will be stuck with those seniors who will be partners and you iwll look back and think "huh why did all these people quit?" Just look at who you kept and promoted to hhigh levels for the answer.

Looking at what is psoted and not postd guidelines I have a feeling someone from RK managment will complain because they don't want the truth out there. No problem. Silence people here but people will end up quitting and so the new, unsuspecting people who can't read reviews like this will have to waste an year or two of their lives to get the lesson. If this is about educating people who a company, they should read the good and bad about a company and then use their intuition to decide if a company is good for them or not. This is based on my experiences and they are real. And if I seen a review like this before I came here, then I would never have wasted my time with this company. But I am stuck here until the economy can get better and there are more jobs that are available to be had. Hopefully this review makes it.

Advice to Senior Management – Leadership needs to start treating their employees as human beings and not robots. Cutting employees citing a "down economy" when you are one of the few company who made a huge profit discourages employees. Hire more employees but stop taking on more clients. Otherwise you will keep getting more and more people leaving. They haven't left yet because it is a down economy for loooking for other jobs. So please dot he right thing and treat us s humans. You will burn out the few of us who work hard and actually care about the company. But continually overworknig employees will cause employees to resent the company and want to leave. It does not foster any trust in management. Reviews cannot be only from top down or manger up to partner but seniors need to be reviewed too. Giving power to a handful of seniors can get out of hand since they hold alot of power and can take adntage of it. Please don't have 4 or 5 seniors determining who should stay or who should go and they are the eyes and ears of management. It makes other feel like it's Big Brother environment and you are being watched all the time. Stop that so that working at Rothstein Kass can feel warm and welcoming place to be. Also Rothstein Kass management said they were committed to diversity in management positions. But last year you let go of the majority of nonwhite employees at the senior level. Stacking the staff levls with nonwhites but not allowing the majority to go far in the seniro, maanger and partner levels discrdits your policy to try and diversify Rothstein Kass. The people you let go were not the worst employees so there is no excuses. If management sticks to their word, employees will felt hey can trust management. Management should not be making a big push about how employees need to be wowing clients. They need to start thinking how can Rothstein Kassmanagement start wowing their employees. Wowing your employees will help keep t he good people who work hard and care in the company. That only helps Rohstein grow as a company by having less turnover, improved morale and so better company performance for the company in profits.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Rothstein Kass

Pros – benefits, pay, time-off, location only if you survive the annual layoffs that occur at Rothstein Kass

Cons – no job security, performance appraisals very politicized and whimsical, upper management are very willing to throw people under the bus, no constructive feedback given to employees until it's too late,

Advice to Senior Management – management and the company as whole needs to get some integrity in how to treat employees, way too much back-stabbing & office politics here compared to other audit firms (I also worked at a Big Four firm after RK; Big Four was MUCH better in terms of work environment)

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Rothstein Kass

Pros – If nothing else, I would say the best reason to work there is you get paid overtime that can be used towards having up to 7 weeks off a year!

Cons – Like any job it is a complete toss up if you get along with the people you work for. It is better than most audit companies.

Advice to Senior Management – The management doesn't really care to much about the lower levels, there is no consistency in what they do there.

I have been working at Rothstein Kass

Pros – great pay, you can earn up to 7 weeks vacation or choose to be paid in cash for overtime worked,

Cons – lack of proper training, lack of acknowledgement of good work, lack of constructive feedback, lack of professional environment, lack of opportunities for career advancement

Advice to Senior Management – Improve performance evaluation process, improve brand name by improving the quality of work not by lowering price, improve consistency in work performed and management philosophy

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Rothstein Kass

Pros – 1 - Great place to learn the financial services/hedge fund industry.
2 - Great people to work with. RK is a very friendly and casual atmosphere.

Cons – 1 - It can be difficult to get progressive career experience. Senior managers/partners don't involve staff/seniors in any unique projects.
2 - Very long hours (although staff/seniors are paid straight OT).

Advice to Senior Management – Do something to show appreciation of the work your employees provide. I mean anything....a pizza day, a company happy hour.....anything. Just something. There is an entire firm of jaded and unmotivated individuals who are not going to have the desire to meet client expectations. People aren't going to believe that "next time" they will be appreciated for all their hard work, late nights, saturday and sunday workdays, and giving everything they have to the firm. These people won't be going above and beyond to please the client and their superiors because there is no self-interest in doing so anymore.

I worked at Rothstein Kass

Pros – Good pay & Benefits, that's it.

Cons – Lots of office politics. Managers don't appreciate your work. You can get laid off for no reason, (probably because some manager didn't like you). Make sure you do a good amount of research on this firm. I wouldn't even accept it if its the only job offer I had.

Advice to Senior Management – Get a new team of managers/

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Rothstein Kass

Pros – learning about hedge funds & accounting, understanding what it's like to work for a horrible, unfair company so that you can appreciate better jobs later

Cons – partners & senior managers are spineless and love to throw people under the bus the first chance they get, there was a layoff this past Monday 4/27/09

Advice to Senior Management – get some integrity & humanity

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Rothstein Kass

Pros – The diverse, team-oriented culture that brings all of us together. Although the job itself can be tough, but the people make the office a great place to be in. Plenty of opportunities organized to bond. Great access & exposure to senior management.

Cons – Political climate in the office may be annoying to some, and the nature of the work itself isn't the most exciting so don't expect too much. Can be a little repetitive, but you can get really good at it. In the end you're the one who is in control so it depends a lot on you on where you want to be ahead in.

Advice to Senior Management – Organize more events to know entry-level employees more, improve the technological facilities there. Enhance internship program by making it more challenging, and provide greater opportunities for career advancement.