Basically you could try and read through most of the recruitment threads of the alliances that posted here and see if any of them suits you and visit their IRC channel if they have one (i would recommend alliances
with IRC channel only) and talk to one of their officer to get more specific info.
Sadly not all alliances post up on recruitment boards and again a lot are 'invite-only' - so if you know nobody yet it will be about to be impossible to get into these. You shouldnt forget that the alliances try to sell them here
So obviously written words mean not that they convert their words into actions during the round!
Maybe you should wait until after the galaxy shuffle when you know who you play with - you will end up with hopefully more experienced players who have an alliance or can you tell more inside information about other alliances
For your start up in PA i would suggest you quality medium sized alliances such as
Tides of Fire (#ToF) or
Vengeance (#VgN) . i consider both as *newbie friendly* alliances but they are still demanding activity and quality from their members, too.
Another place you might want to check out that a lot of beginners try is
F-Crew (#F-crew) which are now for the large amounts of new players and for the energy and work they put into it to get them started
´
All 3 of them have lasted for several rounds and are proven to be a solid base for your planet.
(i dont want to advertise for certain alliances but this is just what came to my mind
)
Dont panic, there will be spaces free in alliances even after tickstart
good luck