Pros
– Smart, passionate, and hard-working colleagues – Ideal entry-level positions – Associates are given a lot of autonomy (when shown ready) and are the ones driving projects. The Associate role allows you to develop a diversity of skills, including technical skills (evaluation design; data collection, cleaning, and analysis, etc.) and social skills (client relationships, management during fieldwork, etc.) – Diversity across all levels of hierarchy (as, in fact, everybody can see on the website) – Transparent 360° performance review in place – providing detailed feedback on areas of improvement and informing promotion decisions – Impact first – informing everything from project selection to hiring. Make an argument on how IDinsight could increase its social impact and you will always be heard. – Clear focus on performance rather than input – generally, managers don’t care too much about how you do your work as long as you deliver good quality efficiently. – IDinsight is growingly rapidly, thus there are still a lot of opportunities to shape how the organization is operating. – Organization values your professional development – you are encouraged to write and follow a professional development plan and make time for it during workweek.
Cons
– Not the right place for you if you require close supervision to thrive; sometimes not as close mentorship as you would see for example in management consulting (depends on the project though), but you will receive guidance and support if you’re asking for it. – Not the right place for if you’re semi-sure about your commitment to impact – must be willing to take up with extended stays in rural areas and sometimes long hours. – Strategic communications and IDinsight brand still relatively poor outside the social sector – this may affect your exit options if you want to leave the social/development sector after IDinsight (but most Associates either stay in the social/development sector or go to grad school, for which it is great).