Pros
Imerys will provide as much opportunity as you can handle. Nearly all positions are challenging and exciting. You will gain a lot of knowledge if you can handle the work load. It is one of the best experiences you can get in finance because there is so much exposure to day-to-day operations. The international exposure is a major upside. The San Jose CA office recently relocated from Santa Barbara which housed the divisions World Minerals & Celite.
Cons
In my opinion, micromanagement, arrogance and politics define the experience. The culture is similar to an accounting or consulting firm with minimal diversity and grueling work loads. Inspiration and creativity will not serve you well, instead focus on endurance. Too few at Imerys have sufficient knowledge of markets, customers or products/technology. This may be because of high turnover in the positions that manage this information. Given this lack of knowledge-management, spreadsheets seem to be the main tool for strategic decisions. Imerys is not family friendly, there are frequent disruptions to evenings and weekends. Meetings are routinely taken past midnight. Vacations are disrupted with conference calls and last minute requests. Most positions exclusively manage-up, mentoring is virtually absent. The closer your position is to a customer, the less likely it will be enjoyable, the closer your position is to the investor, the more likely you will find it rewarding.