Pros
The catered food was great. After eating in a cafeteria at my previous job, this was a nice treat. The casual dress was also nice, but my guess on why this is allowed has to do with the fact that the company wants you to basically live at the office...might as well buy an Army cot and sleep next to your desk. I loved my co-workers. I have never had the pleasure of working with such intelligent people.
Cons
I knew this company was not a good fit for me from day one. I was at the office until 9:00 p.m. on my first day. I was told there would be a lot of training involved and there would be a steep learning curve, but I was not told that the training would begin at 7:00 p.m. and continue until late in the evening. This training typically goes on for a three month period. I felt like I was going through a desensitization process similar to what trafficked women experience before they are forced to prostitute themselves. "Don't worry, this won't last forever". By the time the weekends rolled around, I was too exhausted to do anything and I ended up sleeping most of the mornings away. Other weekends, I had to study for mandatory exams. The results of the exams were broadcast at meetings of 100+ people, so if you don't do well (A.K.A. use your personal time to study) everyone will be aware. I got a 99 on the first exam, so I'm not writing this because I don't have the ability, I just want to prevent other people from taking a job that will consume their lives. I didn't make it to the second exam because I found another job before I ended up in hospital with mono, like my team director (not kidding), from exhaustion. The workload is crushing. I was required to include my cell phone number on my signature block and tell 40 companies with multiple contacts that I am available to them 24/7, which is the honest expectation of the company. 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m are client service hours and nights and weekends are when your expected to get your work done. I felt like an indentured servant. The lunch break at alliantgroup is similar to a unicorn...people have claimed to have seen them, but no one can find proof of their existence. I was directly told by my Project Manager that "We work all day, every day, through lunch". Alliant markets itself as a true meritocracy. This is a blatant lie. The only reason there are so many opportunities for advancement is because the door on 3009 Post Oak is revolving. Every week that I was there, people either quit or got fired. The expectations are unrealistic and the work is not actually that difficult. The issue is the volume of the work. They hire a lot of new or recent graduates banking on the fact that they have student loans to pay and can't afford to quit a job without having another one lined up. There is not time to job hunt with the required hours at alliantgroup and even if an interview was secured, it would require you to locate that unicorn, saddle it and ride it to the interview. Billing...let's talk about billing. There is extreme pressure to bill clients 50 hours per week per employee. There is actually a bonus given if employees hit the target. The company utilizes transactional billing practices, similar to a law firm. This translates to being able to bill, for example, 1.5 hours to a client when only 15 minutes was actually spent performing the task. The company says, the clients are aware of the billing practices, but I sat in on many calls and have never personally heard this being explained to a client. There are so many lawyers at the company that you could throw a rock and hit one, so I'm sure they have some type of clause or preventative measure in place to cover their tails. How does one deal with the stress? The answer is alcohol of course. It's completely ok to drink at work. Mimosas at 9:00 a.m., no problem. People keep beer in the fridge and wine bottles on their desks. On occasion, the company even provides coolers full of alcohol and openly encourages drinking. Let's go play flogger on Post Oak now. Quitting time at alliantgroup coincides perfectly with closing time at The Galeria. Pedestrians beware. One thing I have never seen is favoritism. Everyone is treated equally poorly, so don't worry about that. You will all be suffering together. Oh, an you better reply to all on the mass emails congratulating people you don't know on their promotions. Someone will notice if you don't. I didn't stick around long enough to find out what would happen if you don't participate, but if you plan to stick it out for a year, just do it and don't complain about it. Seriously, think about it before you take a position here. There are only five and one star reviews on this company. That says something. There is no doubt in my mind that management "asks" employees to write the five star reviews. I wasn't fired. I left on my accord and this is an honest description of what I have experienced at alliantgroup. This was not my first job. I worked for a company 4 consecutive years previously and it is not realistic for a company to expect employee's to forego their personal lives for a job on a salary basis! The majority of employees at alliantgroup has been there under one year.
