Pros
The team itself works hard to support each other- management, not so much. People grow here, but it's because disfunction breeds growth. BAM's disfunction allows the firm to be a launchpad for the next phase of your career. I want to give credit where it is due, because I'm not a disgruntled former employee; I appreciated the growth I had at the firm and made lifelong connections with my former colleagues.
Kontras
First and foremost, check out the concentrated dates that reviews were posted- management makes announcements telling current employees to leave positive reviews.
Management will sell you a lot of lofty ideas about being a "multidisciplinary creative agency," who "hires good people and gets out of their way," with a "no jerks policy," but you'll find these ideas are aspirational at best. Multidisciplinary? They fired the only junior graphic designer without cause. Getting out of the way? Creative mid-level leadership was often stifled, and then blamed for senior leadership's missteps. No jerks? I watched principals at this company bully junior staff (even publicly, in front of clients) and commit and allow microaggressions against people of color (despite having a "Culture Circles" team).
BAM boasted a culture of transparency, but they concealed how badly the company had been mismanaged during the pandemic, and then framed staff layoffs as "getting rid of bad apples who didn't fit the culture," which was a blatantly untrue way to try to save face. Pull back the curtain at BAM and you will find a financial rube goldberg machine.
If you're looking into a career at BAM creative, you will find the potential for growth that chaos often builds- but, buyer beware.
