This is a stepping stone, not a landing pad - Associate Chemist Nelson Labs Employee Review

2.0
13 Nov 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you allow for exploitation of your labor and are in a position to be under compensated for a while, there are a lot of opportunities to educate yourself and garner several highly marketable skills in a short amount of time. Keep your nose down, don't lose sight of the big picture (which doesn't include staying at Nelson), and you can do well for your future. No matter where you are professionally, think of this place as the internship that gives your candidacy a leg up for the next, better place. Nelson does an excellent job of acquiring talent, so you'll love your coworkers. However, their retention is trash, so learn as much as possible from each other and then get out.

Cons

Nelson Labs has fully adopted the corporate career progression model of: 1. Be hired to do Job A. 2. Excel at Job A. 3. Become obvious candidate for Job B. 4. Perform Job B plus Job A. 5. Excel at Job B plus Job A while starting to take on a little bit of Job C. 6. Ask for formal promotion to Job B with commensurate raise (but still below true market value, let's be honest). 7. Out-of-touch managers haven't decide that you're "ready" for the formal job title promotion and raise, deliberately ignoring your recorded metrics in the promotion conversation. (Blames HR for denial of your career advancement because HR for some reason makes that call? Potentially just a scapegoat. Your manager will, themself, take it "out of my hands.") 8. Shamelessly acknowledging those same metrics and levy expectation to do explicitly Job B, Job A, and increasingly Job C. You have been excelling, after all! So close to that promotion! Great place for experience to write on your resume. Do yourself a favor by standing up for yourself and DO NOT STAY TOO LONG. Advancement is like pulling teeth unless you're a fake-it-til-you-make-it type with a generic MBA.

Explore other reviews about Nelson Labs

5.0
30 Jun 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people in the company

Cons

Lab industry is low margin

3.0
12 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Diversity of medical device projects; High volume chemistry workstream from three laboratories; Business model maximizes consulting revenues with optimized pricing

Cons

Similar to other publicly traded companies, tends to be a bit hyper-focused on month-to-month and quarterly revenues.

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