I Don't Wake Up Dreading Work - Research Assistant ICF Employee Review

3.0
Oct 28, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work/Life balance is great; I tend to be a bit of a workaholic but I'm glad it's not forced. Knowledgeable colleagues. Managers vary but I haven't heard of many terrible ones and mine is great. Company has lots of long-term projects (consulting can be very volatile). PTO accrual seems a little low and you can only carry over two weeks between calendar years. Most of the benefits packages are middle of the road; not bad, not spectacular.

Cons

PAY! Pay varies among the different LOBs and divisions but apparently mine is the red-headed stepchild. I get paid about $8,000 less than the low end for my job title when I looked it up here (granted, the same job title can do any number of tasks within the company. What I do isn't particularly easy). Being in the DC area, anything less than $40,000 is near-poverty. My raise was less than the spot bonuses at my last job. Going to meetings and hearing about all the multi-million contracts they won while getting paid about $35k can be deflating.

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5.0
Apr 9, 2026
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CEO approval
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Pros

Great culture, friendly staff, and lots of internal support

Cons

Government contracting, takes time to get to Director and VP levels

5.0
Jun 23, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Awesome training and good benefits.

Cons

I cant think of any.

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