Pros
Opportunity to work with top notch experts in many fields that support the public good (e.g. social, environmental/green, health, etc.). Innovative, multidisciplinary teams draw on experts from social science, research and evaluation, training, performance, tecfhnology, strategic communications, etc. to help clients solve problems. The work is interesting!
Kontras
Low pay, lack of work/life balance, managers are promoted for technical or domain knowledge but do not necessarily have people management skills. There is little emphasis on developing, mentoring, or supporting staff; they are mostly left on their own. Staff with more aggressive personalities are more likely to succeed. Also, ICF has grown faster than its IT systems and knowledge management can keep up. It has essentially outgrown its smaller company processes and systems, and is struggling with knowledge sharing, collaboration, and other organizational effectiveness challenges. Finally, there is a lack of financial incentive for high performance. Employees can excell in every area and still get a negligible raise (barely above COLA). This includes managers. Quarterly bonuses are low and go to very few staff. Only the senior staff who work on proposals can get higher bonuses. It sends the message that only business developoment is valued.