Pros
Benefits were respectable. Depending on which office, there are a number of projects for which entry level personnel can gain experience. Some larger projects with open-ended budgets are treated as a "blank check" and allow for raking in the overtime if you can get put onto it. Tuition assistance is provided for those that want to continue their education, but realize that this continuing education is completely on your own and can not infringe on your projects or
Cons
Open-budgeted projects are treated as "blank checks" where management and some staff would take advantage of the client. This, in turn, would result in the loss of large, long-term projects - which are often won by lowball numbers due to cheaper billable staff. Pay seems to be significantly lower than its competitors (20-30% lower a few years back, 10-20% recently), and there is a steady flow of entry level employees being hired to replace mid-level leaving for outside promotions and fair compensation. Recent salary adjustments brought entry level employees within striking distance of industry standards, but left the majority of mid-level (1-5 year employees) only a half-hearted raise above those with 0 experience. Career progression is not clearly designed or expressly demonstrated considering a nationwide, publicly-traded company of several thousand employees. Promotions and advancement are at the discretion of supervising PMs and Directors within the office. Employees within certain groups (under specific PMs/PDs) see significantly faster career progression, while others remain stagnant. In these situations, taking a proactive approach by specifically asking for a clearly defined path forward and what training or work would lead to this progression is dismissed with generic statements such as "making yourself available" and "working hard." In those cases, advancement is accomplished by seeking another employer after securing enough experience. Staff is often sent out into the field early on to gain experience, as is the standard across the industry. However, more often than not, female employees are selected for office duties while their male counterparts are often chosen preferentially for field assignments. Most Jr staff, regardless of position, are often put onto a specific task (writing reports, analyzing data, overseeing soil borings, GW sampling, etc) and pigeon-holed into that role for moths or years. Often field staff on larger projects are left out in the field for months or years on end and seem to be forgotten. There is very little "rotation" of activities, despite being sold on this idea in an initial interview. Because field personnel do not get the experience required to write reports, coordinate with subcontractors, or deal with budgets, they are often overlooked when it comes to advancement. Locally, the office is clique-y and often socially divided by project. This is not necessarily a big deal personally, but is detrimental to the organization professionally. This is subconsciously encouraged by Sr staff and PMs who occasionally discourage seeking billable work outside of your project group (even in times when you are light on work) for fear of bumping the statistics of another PM's utilization and making yourself unavailable if/when billable work comes in for your group.
