associate

project associate

associate consultant

senior associate

project manager

alliantgroup

Initially, the company seems like a cool place to be. Nice building, mostly younger employees, a lot of people fresh out of college, a starbucks in the lobby, free lunch. That is nice for a few months, then you start to learn how the company operates. You learn very quickly that this company is very unique in all the wrong ways. It is a cult mentality, core values are drilled into every employee, then thrown in everyone's face as often as possible. At most companies, you may have a disagreement with someone, you talk to them face to face, you resolve your differences. At alliantgroup, if someone finds out that you disagree with someone, or they disagree with you, your team lead gets involved, schedules a meeting, and forces everyone involved to sit down and offer each other "feedback", which can sometimes be productive, but it happens for the most ridiculous reasons. It turns into a "lets talk about our feelings" meeting and there is no productive outcome, ever. They force you to offer "feedback" about different processes and procedures. They roll out new processes almost weekly. Then, if you go to a team lead and offer "feedback" and suggest a different way of doing something, the core values are thrown in your face then you are not "culturally aligned", which is a term they throw around a LOT. In fact, I saw DOZENS of people fired for not being "culturally aligned" when they performed their job duties as well, or better than everyone else, their team lead just didn't like the person. 
I was in a half a dozen meetings a day that had no purpose and never had action items, or results as an outcome. If I skipped all the worthless meetings, I could've probably only worked 40 hours a week like a normal job. 
I did pretty well at the company for a long time, I got promoted, and they were very surprised when I left. I started to see the way the company operated was unethical. When I raised concerns, I was sat down and they explained to me that it was okay, it wasn't really unethical. Well... it was, so I left. They way they treat their employees, and especially how they treat their clients. 
They try to control how each employee acts, they tell you who to be friends with, who to avoid, and the hours are insane. I knew going into it the hours were more than a typical company and I was okay with that. Realistically, I worked no less than 60 hours per week, when it wasn't tax season. By the way, tax season is 3 months long twice a year, so 6 months of the year. During a tax season, you cannot take PTO without an extremely good reason. "Client service hours" are 8:30-6:30. They tell you they expect you to be there for that. However, during tax season it is considered unacceptable to leave before 8 PM. My team had people leaving at 7, 7:30, etc. We were all pulled into a conference room and berated because that is "unacceptable". I was one of the ones staying until 10, 11 PM on a regular basis and I still thought that conversation was ridiculous. 
Working for alliantgroup is like letting high school children manage an entire company... they're not sure what they're doing, and they're not willing to admit it. 
I no longer work for the company, and when I tell my friends and family things that would happen on a regular basis, they are baffled. It is laughable the way the company operates. If you want some insight into how the company really is, google some of the lawsuits.

On a positive note, it is true that there are a lot of great people that you will get to work with, and this is due to the recruiters who are excellent and bring in a lot of strong talent.   However, this is a must in order to keep the company afloat due to abnormally high turnover.  It seems like on a weekly basis various friendly faces disappear and everyone must go about their work pretending that everything is normal.  There is a bizarre cult-like atmosphere motivated by fear, but with a relentless fanfare of cheerleading in order to outperform each other.  The culture is Work First, and family (along with your life as you knew it) second….a distant second.   Work hours are typically 12+ hour days which includes a working lunch.  You are expected to travel at the whim of middle management, if your lucky with a few days notice, and sometimes even the same day.   If you don’t live in Houston, be prepared to be there for multiple weeks in a row, with travel only on Sundays and even on holidays.  Travel, or any other job function that is not billable to a client cannot be during client service hours.  Billable hours are your main function, and everything is closely monitored and tracked.   There is little room for creativity, as all functions must follow templates and procedures - which one soon realizes they are an easily replaceable cog in a large machine, or assembly line as it was designed to be.   All activities no matter what department you are in are closely monitored and scrutinized, with daily rankings of performance distributed to everyone.  This works well for them considering that when you gather a large group of performance driven type-A personalities that are motivated by money and pride, and put them against each other, it makes for an interesting dynamic (of which eventually people burn out).  What I didn’t find interesting was observing middle management berate individuals publicly during team meetings, in order to encourage “transparency".  I realize this is part of the formula to squeeze every last drop of effort from employees, because after all...fear and shame are also great motivators.  

My advice to you my friend is do yourself a big favor and look elsewhere for a normal company, with a more well-rounded approach to work and life.

alliantgroup is a sweat shop and a one trick pony. The majority of its earnings come from R&D tax credit analysis. Although the company has tried to branch out into State and Local Tax (SALT), energy tax credits etc., it has not been successful. Management micromanages everybody and demeans people on a regular basis in front of their peers. Salaries are typically 40-50% lower than a big 4 accounting firm although the stress level is almost twice that of a big 4 because the large number of clients deadlines that need to be met. 50-60 hours per week is the norm, and during tax season you will need to put in over 80 hours just to meet the deadlines. However, since you will be salaried there will be no bonuses for the overtime.
Management scrutinizes employee utilization very seriously and even new hires are expected to have full work load within a few weeks of employment. alliantgroup will teach you how to apply R&D tax code to various companies, but lately the training sessions have been curtailed as there are very few senior employees. Most competent people who have other options usually leave within a year and a half. There is hardly anybody whose tenure exceeds more than 2 years.
The work itself is very monotonous and boring. Most of the time, you will try to justify how a project qualifies as R&D under the 4-part test stipulated by the tax code. Sometimes when your judgment tells you that there is no R&D activity for a client, managers will force you to re do your analysis so that the company can bill the clients. Engineers and science majors who join the company soon realize that the work is purely a interviewing and writing job with very little creativity involved. Over the years many incompetent people have been promoted to management, and they will harass you on a regular basis about ‘status’ updates.
Questionable billing practices have prompted several customers to file suit against alliantgroup.

I have been with alliantgroup for one year, and have enjoyed every minute of it. As an Associate, I manage a number of client files, collaborating externally with high level executives and internally with attorneys, engineers, and MBA’s. The opportunity to collaborate with smart, ambitious, and diverse individuals on a daily basis keeps things interesting.  Each day I may spend time conducting client interviews, analyzing financial documents, calculating credits, or problem solving to reach the right answer for our clients. Every day is different and fast based and there’s never an opportunity for boredom. 

The best parts of this position are (1) the people I work with every day and (2) the opportunity to help businesses succeed. Nothing feels better than having your clients call you just to tell you that you’re doing a great job and that they are grateful for all the work that you put in to help them grow their business. It is a rarity to be able to advance your own career while simultaneously being in the service of others.  As a project manager, I have the opportunity to help grow an incredible organization and truly impact our clients. 

The company also provides a number of perks such as free lunches, free parking, free health insurance, office happy hours,and team outings. Salaries are competitive and there are incredible opportunities for advancing your career. Hours can be long, but this is a client service business, and it varies depending on the time of year. If you’re just looking for a job, this isn’t the place for you. alliantgroup was built by and for ambitious, competitive, self-motivated individuals. The opportunities for advancement are incredible. After only a year, I have had the opportunity to develop new Project Associates and develop management and leadership skills at a pace I never would have expected. There is always an opportunity to step up and push yourself further.

I currently work here. I have worked here for almost two years. The first 6 months were miserable. I went home upset and stressed almost every day expect Fridays. It's very unfortunate because this could be an amazing place to work. The co-workers, $5 for lunch, now free lunch since we are in the new location, free happy hours, able to wear jeans, these all make for a great positive atmosphere.... But NO. I was offered pennies at the interview, I made more money working full time in college with no degree than what they offered. I said I need and want a job but I can't work for that. They agreed to go up 2k, but I was told that wasn't a favorable request. All in all I stuck With it. Got a 3k raise after one year, but still making pennies (35k).  It was frowned upon if I left at 6:00 and took a lunch. Salary plus overtime is great but we are human and need a break. Don't ask to change the work hours, or to leave at 5:00 you will get told you don't believe in the culture. Alliantgroup has a horrid turn over rate. Why can't they respect and make people that are hardworking and dedicated respect?  All the pros are superficial. They need to maybe let everyone leave at 5, or not frown upon mediocre things. Most of the people here are young and it's their first job and most of us want to do well and will give you 110% but sometimes we would like may 25% in return. The company is young and has potential to keep these young people here for years, but they do not care enough. There's always another pretty girl just graduating that needs a job. Unfortunate more appreciation can't be shown. I am currently seeking other employment and it will be sad to leave all the wonderful people, not necessarily management.

I would not recommend this place for seasoned professionals, but rather for recent graduates who are willing to endure the headaches and suck up for the experience and the decent pay. People with previous work experience in positive environments do not last long in this draining atmosphere. The turnover is extremely high for a reason.  The management preaches things such as work/life balance but does not provide the support or resources to feel accomplished enough to go home after many 12 hour days. In addition to the unrealistic workload, it is expected to become best friends with management (read teachers pet) and spend much of your free time at the office, rather than at home. They force company happy hours, office parties and extracurricular activities on you and question your loyalty to the company if you opt out. The workforce is extremely young and therefore immature.  There is rampant gossip, inappropriate relationships and daily unprofessional obnoxiousness.  Management favorites are obvious and the meritocracy is a joke.  Superior work product aside, if you don't schmooze you lose. 2nd tier management just happens to be the young kids that stuck it out the longest, and they have absolutely no management experience and are quite unprofessional.  If you are there 2 years and drink the kool-aid you are promoted.  If you question any existing practices/processes in you will be viewed as a rebel and promptly reprimanded. If you leave the company (willingly or not) management will most likely tell people you were not on board with the culture. Oh, but they do have a ping pong table, provide semi-decent lunch everyday (in hopes you don't leave the office for an hour), and often bring in beer, wine, smoothies and ice cream yay! *sarcasm*.

I'll start with the benefits of working here. One of them is there have been some very intelligent people at alliantgroup (though these individuals have high turnover) Another is that the work itself is quite interesting and the approach taken by the firm is a strong one. If you are a woman, especially an attractive one, you will find that doors open quickly for you. If you are a man, doors may open for you too if your personality matches that of "management". 

Besides this, the work environment is depressing, you do not feel like a valuable asset to the company, employees are highly disposable, work hours are extraordinarily burdensome for anyone who has a social life outside the office. Management pushes the line on what is appropriate in so many ways in managing staff. Workload is unbelievable during tax seasons. It is not at all uncommon to have a 20 or more cases at the same time. You are there to serve a purpose and are valued so long as that purpose is your priority, make a mistake prioritizing and you rapidly fall from grace.  There seems to be an inordinate amount of intra-office conflict between departments and teams. Employees resent each other for superficial reasons. Some employees are incredibly inept and it is infuriating.  Corporate culture is highly competitive and critical.  To liken the culture to a post-college Fraternity is not too off-base. 

Expect to work long hours, consider work your number 1 priority, be micromanaged (including ALL your personal time), and to find yourself wondering when if ever you will get a raise/promotion.

I came from staffing industry sales so everything here is a Pro compared to that.  They invest so much into us here; the sales training is actual training and it's comprehensive, you learn about the company, our services, the industries we work with, how to qualify business opportunities and close deals.  You work directly with the most tenured and successful sales directors here and they teach and mentor you so you develop highly effective sales skills compared to staffing where they give you a marketing brochure to read on your first day and then tell you to get on the phones and sell something.  The environment is so much more professional, we work with C-level client contacts so you learn how to have business conversations with CEOs.  The Houston office is amazing, the benefits and perks are over the top but the best thing is the compensation plan.  I had to work like a dog in staffing to get 100 contractors billing and my commission check was a joke on top of a low base salary and awful benefits.  I put the same energy into selling here at alliantgroup where my base salary is higher than my base + commission in staffing and last year I made double that in commission AND I got a bonus at the end of the year that knocked me over, I didn't expect it and it was extremely generous.  With what I earned last year, I was able to pay off my credit cards and buy a new car (BMW) and a house inside the loop.  I'm on track this year to double what I did last year!

I was hired to be an "architecture associate". During the interview process, I was told I would be doing a lot of CAD work, coordinate with engineers, and do some energy modeling. Sounded great because of my experience in architecture, and the pay was better than most firms. Day 1, I learn that there is only about 10% CAD work, the remaining 90% is doing material counts and takeoffs from plans and entering the data into excel spreadsheets. Also, hours were explained to me to be 8:30am to 5:30pm. Sooooooo not the case. Work was until 6:30pm, and if you didn't stay past 7pm, you were harassed and rumors quickly spread. The place runs almost like a sweatshop.

The work environment itself is pretty close to what others have described. Coworkers were CONSTANTLY screwing around, hacking each others emails, nerf guns being shot at each other, food wrappers being thrown, stopping their work almost every 30 minutes to talk across cubicles and halls and being EXTREMELY loud and crude with their language. And we're talking very attractive women dropping the f-bomb and other curse words that would make any man blush.

Blessing in disguise. Worked for 3 months, but got another opportunity. Pay is slightly less, but insanely better environment. But stay the heck away from alliantgroup if you value your sanity.

A nice building, free lunch, and parking may be attractive to new hires but it was not enough to overcome the negatives. I was like most, recent college graduates and was looking for a place to join the workforce. The things I mentioned before were the things that persuaded me to join but it was not an indicator of how the job quickly turned out to be. Long hours and awkward interactions with management were almost a weekly occurrence and did not help cultivate a good working environment. A root cause of the awkwardness and long hours is the constant turnover. Colleagues that I considered very capable and competent were leaving for various reasons that were never addressed and often cast aside as a lack of commitment. This explanation is acceptable for some but not for everyone. Multiple reviews on this website cover other negatives that I eventually experienced as well. If you are searching for a job, I would recommend taking a job elsewhere that does not show amenities and new college graduate enthusiasm as the primary selling point. Choose a job somewhere where your skills will be fully utilized, and career advancement prospects are more material than imaginary.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Associate 18 salaries reported	$74,889 per year
Project associate 9 salaries reported	$62,222 per year
Associate consultant 5 salaries reported	$84,000 per year
Senior associate 14 salaries reported	$118,929 per year
Project manager 5 salaries reported	$107,000 per year

Working at alliantgroup: Company Overview and Reviews

alliantgroup

alliantgroup Ratings

Popular jobs at alliantgroup

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected