Pros
GSG is not anything outstanding, just like every other company, office, or large team, there are good and bad things, and I hope these lines will give prospective applicants a good grasp of what to expect. Good learning experience if you're staffed with a competent project leader and supervisors invested in the project. Getting feedback that is both specific and actionable is one of the best aspects of working at GSG, but very very dependent on who you are working with. Opportunity to quickly develop some subject matter expertise on topics as diverse as digital marketing, sales channels, AI. Very reasonable working hours providing MBB-light experience. Every year welcomes a whole new batch of fun ~30yos. Seoul and the entire penisula are fun to experience year-round
Cons
TL;DR No culture of excellence, inexistent communication, disappointing compensation. Talent management does not foster excellence GSG is not that inclusive of a place, it is made of groups that you need to be part of, else you will be pushed out. The evaluation system is more of a political tool to sort people out between the in-group and the rest, rather than being used to provide constructive feedback. GSG leadership does not push teams towards excellence (Samsung's core value #2) ."Good enough" GSG work often ends up with flat, near-reaching recommendations. It would not surprise me that one would get let go for trying too hard. Top leadership changed a while back, not clear how much positive change came with it. Projects stalled, delayed, canceled, potential impact was questionable, and the process to stay at Samsung after GSG became utterly inflexible and definitely one of the top reasons some of us leave Samsung altogether. GSG is also welcoming experienced hires, but the few ex-Mck are working 8x5, not providing much support beyond editing slide titles, let alone providing feedback or coaching. These people mean well, but don't follow through. Communication issues create frustrations The leadership and their decision making is a black box. The lack of top-down communication makes it very unclear what some individuals do, and this creates confusion and frustration. There is no clear path for bottom-up communication, so you don't know where to go when you have questions. I was told more than once by someone in HR that *insert HR topic* was "not their job". Half of the HR workforce is made of well-meaning young staff that are neither properly trained nor empowered to succeed, and after 1-2 years, they are out - then every year people struggle with the same processes. A big thing to remember: Samsung is a Korean company, and despite having "relevance to Samsung context" as one key criteria for evaluation, internal initiatives are not aligned with reality. Take the well-meaning DNI committee as an example: pushing great values but without considering the broader context of the company, initiatives do not go far beyond the occasional team building exercise, that Korean team members quickly escape to resume their corporate daily duties. Compensation is not aligned with the market Seoul is not immune to rapid inflation and the compensation and perks are not that good. Bonus and raise: the difference between a super star and a slacker is just not enough to motivate people to deliver more than the minimum Salary and perks: I suspect starting salaries and housing allowances have not changed since long before covid times. Overall not that interesting financially to move to Korea with Samsung.