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WetFeet Insider Guide

Accenture

2005 Edition

Ac

cen

tureLooking for a top-notch consulting and technology

services firm with a youthful culture and a high-end client roster? You’ll find that and more at Accenture. Insiders say that having the Accenture name on your resume opens countless doors later on and that they have the distinct pleasure of working with the best minds in the business. Hiring is competitive and once in, you’ll be expected to work hard, but if you aspire to be involved in massive projects for the nation’s largest Fortune 500 companies, Accenture is the place to be.

Turn to this WetFeet Insider Guide to learn

• How Accenture stacks up against the competition.

• How the firm is organized, from top to bottom.

• What the typical responsibilities are and what day-to-day life is like for analysts and consultants.

• What employees love most and like least about working at Accenture.

• Detailed information about the workplace at Accenture, including the lifestyle and hours, culture, compensation, travel, and training.

• What the recruiting process entails and what recruiters are looking for

• Tips from Accenture insiders for acing the interview.

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The WetFeet Research Methodology

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Inside

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Table of ContentsAccenture at a Glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Company. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Industry Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Organization of the Firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

On the Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Analysts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

The Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Lifestyle and Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Workplace Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Vacation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Career Path. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Insider Scoop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Getting Hired. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

The Recruiting Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Interviewing Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

For Your Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Recommended Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

For Further Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

The Numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Et Cetera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Accenture at a Glance

HeadquartersAccenture is incorporated in Bermuda and does not have a fixed headquarters,though the center of power is expected to shift slightly toward the Boston areawhen it’s new CEO takes the helm. It has offices in more than three dozen U.S.cities. Accenture’s recruiting function is based in its New York office:

1345 Avenue of the AmericasNew York, NY 10105Phone: 917-452-4400Fax: 917-527-9915www.accenture.com

Primary CompetitorsIBM, EDS, BearingPoint, Capgemini, Computer Sciences Corp., McKinsey &Company

Key Differentiating Factors• Accenture has about 95,000 employees in 48 countries.

• Accenture provides everything from hard-core technology support and top-level strategic advice to outsourcing and human resources.

• The firm has a strong, young, and innovation-oriented culture.

In the Recruiter’s Words“From a campus standpoint, we really look for people with a broad and diverseset of experiences—computer science, management information systems,economics, even through liberal arts.”

“Hiring has definitely increased from fiscal year 2003. With our market pickingup with the economy, that’s had ripple effects.”

“Come to the interview with several substantial and recent stories in mind, oneswhich you believe demonstrate your interpersonal strengths, analytical prowess,and ability to overcome challenges.”

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At a Glance

What Insiders SayIn the interview, “I was asked how you handle team problems, individuals whodon’t work, people who miscommunicate. It was easy but you have to behonest.”

“It’s very different from working in a traditional position, because you’reworking on a project. It focuses you.”

Career Ladder• Accenture employees follow a defined career path with set milestones. New

employees move from analyst, to consultant, to manager, to senior manager,and in some cases, to associate partner and partner. IT employees work asprogrammers before moving into system analyst positions, and then in somecases, into manager roles.

• Undergrads who join the firm as analysts can generally move to theconsultant level in 2 to 3 years. Undergrads entering into strategy start asbusiness analysts and may leave to go to business school after 3 or 4 years.

• Midcareer hires join at almost any level, depending on their programming orindustry experience.

Hiring EstimatesAccenture is hiring 30,000 people worldwide for its fiscal year ending August31, 2004. About 8,000 of those positions are in the United States, and of those,1,600 to 1,800 are likely to be new analysts that have just graduated or have afew years of experience.

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Undergrad Hires

Starting salary: $38,000–55,000

Signing bonus: not usually

Relocation bonus: depends on need

MBA Hires

Starting salary: $60,000–100,000; a lot depends on work experience

Signing bonus: $10,000–15,000

Relocation bonus: depends on need

Midcareer Hires

Starting salary: $40,000–100,000

Signing bonus: $0–30,000 depending on experience

Relocation bonus: depends on need

Source: WetFeet estimates; Accenture does not release compensation data.

Estimated Compensation, 2004

The Company

• Overview

• The Bottom Line

• Industry Position

• Organization of the Firm

5

The Company

Overview

Accenture has made a name for itself as one of the world’s leading managementconsulting and technology services companies. Formally established in 1989 by agroup of partners from the consulting division of the various Arthur Andersenfirms around the world, Accenture began life as Andersen Consulting. From itsestablishment until its incorporation in 2001, the company operated as a groupof more than 40 locally owned partnerships in 40-plus countries. Some thingshave certainly changed since 1989: Arthur Andersen is no more, the Internet boomhas come and gone, and Andersen Consulting became Accenture and went public.But there’s one thing that’s stayed the same: The company is still focused ondelivering top-notch consulting and technology services to organizations allover the world.

Today, Accenture is a consulting behemoth with 95,000 employees toiling awayin 110 offices in 48 countries. The company’s traditional stronghold is systemsintegration, but it also lays claim to formidable strategy, technology consulting,human resources, and outsourcing practices. Accenture’s deep client roster is averitable who’s who list, one that straddles a multitude of industries; in additionto a sizeable percentage of Fortune 500 companies, Accenture also consults toa wide range of governmental and nonprofit organizations. Scoring massive projectswith high-profile organizations is the name of the game at Accenture. It madeheadlines in June 2004 when an alliance led by Accenture won a Homeland SecurityDepartment contract worth up to $10 billion.

Of course, the sputtering economy hit consulting companies hard, and Accenturewas no exception. In fact, as one of the few public consulting firms, it isparticularly sensitive to trends in the economy. For the first few years of this

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decade, it introduced successive waves of layoffs andslowed down its recruiting efforts. Employees workedlonger and networked harder to make sure they wouldn’tfind themselves “unstaffed,” or without a project andthus more vulnerable to getting laid off, for too long.Says one insider, “In the bad times, you get a sense ofyour internal worth. The best people, in theory, wouldn’tever be available for a project because if you’re out therenetworking, you’ll never be unstaffed.”

Since mid-2003, insiders report that the mood haschanged. The firm has “turned the taps back on,” for new hires, says aninsider, and skilled analysts and consultants again find themselves in demandfor projects.

Increased hiring stems directly from a rebound in the economy and, in particular,the industry sectors Accenture serves. Communications and technology, financialservices, products (companies ranging from health care to travel services), andresources are all growing at double-digit rates. For its 2004 fiscal year, the companyexpects net revenue to rise 15 to 16 percent, up from 2 percent in 2003.

When corporations slashed their spending budgets during the downturn, contractswith government agencies helped. They continue to buoy earnings. In the first6 months of 2004, operating profits from its government sector made up 14.5percent of total revenue. Meanwhile, it’s increasingly focused on outsourcing,taking over whole IT or human resources functions for clients. In the lastyear, Accenture has inked outsourcing deals with big firms such as Best Buyand Deutsche Bank. Outsourcing now contributes nearly 40 percent of totalrevenue. And in keeping with the trend rippling throughout the rest of CorporateAmerica, it’s helping companies move some of their operations offshore.

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The Company

Accenture can be agreat place to have acareer—you’ll havethe resources andclout of a hugecompany behindyou—but it’s not foreveryone.

“ ”

With a brighter business outlook, some of the work strains seemed to have eased.People don’t feel the need to put in extra overtime just to keep their job. Butmake no mistake, the work is demanding. And the firm attracts the kind ofpeople who like to reach for high hurdles. “One plus about working here is thekind of personality traits you can pick up—people here are at the top of theirgame, A-types, go-getters,” says one insider.

Accenture tries to keep things from getting too intense. It keeps open lines ofcommunication between on-site employees and home-base operations throughregular e-mails, team and industry-specific meetings, and local get-togethers.Everyone has a career counselor who works as the employee’s advocate when itcomes to staffing. The company also commits a ton of resources to training, andpasses on to its employees discounts on services, like cell phones, that come withbeing a big multinational firm. It’s also got prestige: Accenture ranked first in itsindustry in Fortune’s 2004 list of “America’s Most Admired Companies.”

Due in part to its university recruitment, Accenture has a youthful collegiate environmentin which employees have the energy to work hard as projects intensify as well asthe chance to relax with each other and interact socially. It’s not unusual for localoffices or project teams to play softball or have dinner together.

At work, insiders report a positive and cooperative environment. The atmospheremight get a little stiffer when promotions are being decided. But the ability towork well with one’s colleagues is a point of pride at the firm.

“There’s a culture of sharing. If someone happens to be an expert in Javafor instance, I feel I can pick up the phone even if I’ve never talked to thembefore, and they’ll feel an extensive obligation, an esprit de corp, to help meout,” says an insider.

As demanding as consulting can be, getting a job at Accenture can pose aneven greater challenge. Whether you’re an MBA or undergraduate, you shouldbe ready to sell yourself.

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The Bottom Line

Accenture’s employees are often technically specialized and also educationallydiverse. They’ve joined the company because they want to get in on the diverserange of professional experiences consulting has to offer. Competition for jobs isintense. To be successful, candidates should try to demonstrate both team andleadership experiences that combine technical and consulting know-how. If youland a job, you’ll be in fairly good hands. The company is committed to training,and once you’re ready to move on, just having the Accenture name on yourresume will open doors.

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The Company

Industry Position

Accenture is definitely one of the big kids on the consulting block. Accordingto Consultants News’ 2004 ranking of the “75 Largest Consulting Firms in theWorld,” for the second year in a row, Accenture ranks second only to IBM inglobal market share and consulting revenue. Few consulting firms offer as widea range of services as Accenture. Its technology and process groups competewith top technical consulting firms such as IBM and EDS, its human performancecompetency goes head to head with HR consulting firms such as Hewitt, andits strategy group takes on strategy firms such as McKinsey and Deloitte.

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Rank Firm

1 IBM

2 Accenture

3 Deloitte

4 Capgemini

5 CSC

6 BearingPoint

7 Hewlett-Packard

8 McKinsey & Co.

9 Mercer

10 SAP

11 T-Systems

12 Booz Allen Hamilton

13 LogicaCMG

14 Atos Origin

15 Oracle

16 Unisys

17 Altran

18 EDS

19 TietoEnator

20 Watson Wyatt Worldwide

Source: Excerpted and reprinted with permission of Consultants News June 2004; Consultants News/Kennedy Information,Peterborough, NH 03458 USA; phone: 800-531-0007; www.ConsultingCentral.com.

20 Largest Consulting Firms, by 2003 Consulting Revenue

Where MBAs Want to Work

Accenture doesn’t have quite the cache among MBAs that the large strategyfirms such as McKinsey and Bain do. But in 2004 it moved up two notches tonumber 27, between PricewaterhouseCoopers and Lehman Brothers. Thefollowing ranking is a result of Universum’s 2004 survey of MBAs, who rankedthe companies where they would most like to work.

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1 McKinsey & Co.

4 IBM

7 Bain & Co.

10 Booz Allen Hamilton

11 Deloitte

13 Boston Consulting Group

27 Accenture

Source: Based on a study by Universum, published in Fortune. Ann Harrington, Fortune, 4/19/2004.

Consulting Firms that Ranked in the Top 50

Rank Firm

Organization of the Firm

View from the Top

Accenture is a public company that trades on the New York Stock Exchangeunder the symbol ACN. At the top of the organization sits CEO Joe Forehandand the executive committee of partners and officers who report directly tohim, followed by numerous steering and operating committees. Though thefirm has no fixed geographical headquarters, it has big offices in major U.S.cities such as Chicago, New York, and San Francisco.

View from the Middle

Accenture is organized into several partially overlapping industry areas thatallow clients to choose from a smorgasbord of integrated consulting services.The company maintains five global operations groups:

1. Financial services

2. Government

3. Communications and high tech

4. Products

5. Resources

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The Company

Nine service and solutions lines support the global operations groups:

1. Customer relationship management

2. Finance and performance management

3. Human performance

4. Strategy and business architecture

5. Supply chain management

6. Technology research and innovation

7. Technology solutions

8. Microsoft solutions

9. Outsourcing and infrastructure delivery

Accenture’s five operating groups function as umbrella units for 18 separateindustry areas and government services. The service lines are then brokendown between business consulting or technology and outsourcing. Some ofthese groups could change by the time you get there; Accenture is continuallyshifting its organizational structure. That’s not surprising, given that it’s in thebusiness of reorganizing companies and processes. “If we ourselves aren’tchanging, that means we’re stagnant, and we’re not a few steps ahead of theclient,” explains one insider.

The tasks in the various service areas can vary widely. Customer relationshipmanagement, supply chain management, technology research, and technologysolutions often involve more of the hard-core technology work. Members ofthe technology groups are more likely to work on-site for extended periods toimplement new technology. The human performance group deals largely withthe human resources and training issues that arise with technology work.

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Strategy and business architecture, as well as finance and performance management,involve higher level consulting work to determine the client’s business and technologyneeds. Employees in these service lines do often join engineering projects, but alsohandle a wide range of other related duties focusing on business process. Strategyand business-architecture consultants work at the highest levels of projects andmight come in early on in a project to do trends and industry analysis. They oftenget paid more (after all, strategy has to compete with Bain, BCG, Booz Allen, andthe other big-name, big-dollar firms).

One employee describes how various service roles overlap on a typical technologyproject: “First comes requirement analysis, where consultants help define thescope and design of the project. Then we work on common components, puttingtogether the technology architecture. Training—gathering training needs to usethe system—follows. Finally we build out the application, doing the detailedcoding and user acceptance testing.”

View from the Bottom

With Accenture’s senior executives selling the firm’s pricey services on the basisof its highly trained workers, the firm encourages newcomers to constantlyexpand their skill set. For your first few projects, you’ll probably hop aroundbetween service areas, building programming and business skills along the way.Although some folks like to think of themselves as industry generalists, mostinsiders say it’s preferable and easier to stick within one industry and gain somespecialization. “New analysts are encouraged to get a lot of different roles,because once people get to the 3- or 4-year mark, they’re starting to build up aresume that we use to sell them [to clients],” says one insider. “If you have 3years of experience in something you don’t really like, chances are you’re notgoing to stick around.”

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The Company

Consultant teams do most of the work at the client site. These range from the small,paratroop-like squads of the strategy unit, consisting of two to five members, tomassive mobilization units involving dozens to 100 or more folks from other serviceareas. Because of the nature of the work, Accenture project teams tend to belarger and more bottom-heavy than those of rival consulting firms that do lesssystems work. Many projects have an organizational structure worthy of a smallfirm: a senior manager or partner responsible for the most high-level clientinteraction, followed several managers who are each responsible for a part of theproject and supervise two or three teams each of analysts and consultants.

Many analysts and consultants will have their own cubicle and workstation atthe client site. If they’re locally based, they may report every day to that station,just like in an industry job. Strategy consultants and senior managers, who tendto be more mobile, often work out of a laptop and “totes,” or moveable storagecontainers.

Moving from job to job, compounded by the size of Accenture, can be a strain.One insider describes the downside of working in consulting this way: “It’s sobig, you’re always changing clients, you never get a sense of belonging.”

Perhaps mindful of losing touch with its far-flung staff, Accenture has institutedactivities that connect consultants outside of work. Some are as informal asdinners out. Others might be as time-consuming as teaching other consultantsabout a new programming language.

In 1998, Accenture created market unit–based “communities” of 150 or soemployees grouped by their location and industry practice. These communitiesmeet quarterly in most cities to discuss everything from business to personnelissues. The ostensible purpose might be to hear a presentation by a resourcesconsultant in Dallas. But they are really all about networking. “It’s to feel likeyou belong to the company, to not get overwhelmed by the fact that it’s a big,international firm,” says one insider.

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On the Job

• Analysts

• Consultants

17

On the Job

Analysts

Analysts at Accenture come into a market unit and the Core Analysts Program(CAP). After an initial 2-week training, when they might participate in a mockclient engagement, they get staffed with an industry group. The CAP affordsthem the chance to develop core skills through plenty of training as well as on-the-job experience. “We expect all analysts to go in and be information sponges.We want them to be learning how we work, soaking everything up,” says oneinsider.

After 12 to 18 months, they attend another round of training at Accenture’s campusin St. Charles, Illinois. “We found that having the client experience earlier wasvery helpful for our new analysts, to get on-the-job training,” said an insider inrecruiting.

Accenture’s business model revolves around throwing large numbers of peopleinto big projects where they focus on implementation and execution work. Withmore seniority comes increased managerial responsibility, and ultimately, sellingthe firm’s business to new clients. But at the start, analysts are considered the“pack mules” of the consulting staff, says one insider. “You’ll do number crunchingand heavy analysis . . . rather than the high-level thinking—this is calculations,building models, analyzing data line by line.”

18

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Typical Responsibilities

Duties vary depending on the project, but insiders tellus that the first year typically involves the followingtypes of tasks:

• Mapping business processes

• Gathering and analyzing client data

• Developing design parameters for projects

• Designing computer modules

• Interviewing client management and employees

• Writing computer code and configuring software (IT)

• Preparing user-training materials

• Implementing recommended changes at client site

• Developing training models

Strategy

On the strategy side, Accenture hires a small number of undergrads intobusiness analyst positions. “People on strategy spend more time analyzing theindustry, competitive analysis, identifying trends, valuation, economics,” saysone insider. “Traditional consultants deal with processes from an operationalstandpoint—how they run the business. That’s not to say sometimes the twodon’t bleed into one another.”

Here’s a list of typical day-to-day tasks:

• Develop key performance metrics

• Conduct industry research

• Facilitate the flow of work units through their teams

• Discuss specific issues with in-house experts

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On the Job

We expect allanalysts to go inand be informationsponges. We wantthem to be learninghow we work, soak-ing everything up.

“ ”

• Assess existing technology

• Conduct market research

• Develop and maintain client relationships

• Perform benchmarking analysis

• Analyze current systems and problems

• Recommend new approaches

• Present findings to team members

A Day in the Life of a First-Year Analyst

8:30 I get into the client site. While I take a few swigs of my coffee, I checke-mails I got from the client. First I glance to see whether any problemssprouted up overnight. Then I check the requests that piled up earlier inthe week. Is there anything that’s a must-do today? Finally I sift throughmy Accenture e-mails.

9:00 Open Microsoft Word and figure out where I last left off on thedocumentation for the system we’re implementing. It’s pretty long—two-thirds to go. Well, no time like the present.

12:00 It’s the manager’s birthday today, so the team heads out to lunch. Thankgoodness, I’m starved.

1:00 Back to the office. I dive back into the documentation. One page at atime . . .

3:00 I nab a half-hour with one of the consultants when he gets out ofmeetings. I’ve never done one of these documentation projects before,and I want to make sure I’m on track. Is this what I should be doinghere and here?

3:30 He was really helpful with feedback. I keep working and make thenecessary updates.

4:00 Time for a status meeting with the rest of the team. Gives me a chanceto stretch my legs. I walk over to another building on the corporatecampus, where I meet up with my manager, the rest of the team, andsome members of the client firm. We go over what everyone’s workingon, ask questions about the project. It’s a good way to get to knowmembers of the team who work in different offices.

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5:00 My manager has a cube in both buildings, so I just stay at the otherbuilding and work on more detail analysis from his desk.

6:00 Time to head out. But first, I’ll stop by another consultant’s cubicle foran update on our project’s softball team. They got the jerseys. But whodecided we were the Mariners?

A Day in the Life of an Experienced Analyst

8:00 Arrive at client site. Spend 45 minutes checking client e-mails, voicemail, and Accenture e-mails. There are so many! Working with people indifferent time zones means my inbox really fills up when I’m not here.

9:00 Meet with the internal team to discuss any problems and what we needto get done today.

10:30 Back to my desk to tackle my ongoing work for this project. This time,it’s mostly trends analysis and market research.

12:15 Time for lunch. That means walking down to the sandwich shop,grabbing something, and eating at a private table in the corner—myworkstation.

1:00 Time to meet with the clients, who are right down the hall. We go overprogress to date, discuss certain initiatives, make sure we’re on the samepage.

3:00 Back at my desk, working on deliverables—the work we’ll present to theclient. If only I can concentrate on it for a few hours . . .

4:00 Not so fast. My teammates have some questions about a technical aspectof the project they know I’ve handled before. We talk and go over theproblem.

5:00 I might just have enough time to finish up the presentation before Ileave. Now where was I?

6:00 I’m on track to meet this week’s deadline, so I leave earlier than usual.Tomorrow’s going to be a long day, so better take off while the going’sgood!

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Consultants

After a couple of years with the firm, Accenture’s undergraduate hires can becomeconsultants. Consultants have many of the same day-to-day tasks as analysts, withone big exception: They manage a small team. “After a few years at the firm, you’dbe in a supervisory capacity—you’d be responsible for the output of three to fivepeople,” says one insider.

Also at the consultant and manager levels are those advanced-degree holders(e.g., MBAs and/or CPAs, especially those in process and strategy) who aredeemed ready to perform at this level. Many MBAs are also hired as experiencedanalysts, bringing them a year or two closer to the consultant position than anew analyst with just an undergraduate degree. Often MBAs go straight to thefirm’s strategy unit. Says one insider in recruiting, “Typically folks we target arecompleting degree programs with a strategy emphasis. They combine that withpretty significant work experience, and it gives them a nice package.”

Typical Responsibilities

• Lead project meetings

• Monitor and report on project status

• Lead presentations

• Interview vendors

• Supervise analysts

• Facilitate brainstorming sessions

• Conduct client interviews and workshops

• Assess existing technology and future needs

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• Develop acceptance criteria

• Oversee implementation of technical applications (IT)

• Develop and implement financial models

• Oversee training applications

• Conduct structure analysis

A Day in the Life of an IT Consultant

8:30 Arrive at the site. Check my e-mail to see if tests found any bugs overnight. Yep, there are a few critters in this system.

9:00 Meet with the tester to get more information about the bugs. What’s theimpact? By when do we need to resolve them?

10:00 It’s a high-priority bug, so all hands on deck. I shove aside my otherwork and focus on clearing up this problem.

12:00 Almost there, but not quite. Still, I need refueling. I head for the elevatorbank and grab a sandwich at the coffee shop downstairs. I read over anyAccenture e-mails I might have glossed over while I munch through mylunch.

1:00 Work out the last kinks. There! Now I can shift my attention to newdevelopment and new features we’re considering for this project.

3:00 Meet with clients and other Accenture consultants about some of thenew features we’re planning. It’s a good time to make sure we’re in touchwith the client’s needs—and pick some of my colleagues’ smart brains.

4:00 I start working on a proposal for one of these features, trying to distillwhat people want and what we can do.

5:00 I check back with the client to make sure everything’s OK with thatearlier problem. Then I’m back on our proposal.

6:30 Time to head out. A bunch of folks from my last project are meeting towatch the game at 7:00 and I’ve told them to save me a stool.

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A Day in the Life of a Strategy Consultant

7:30 I’m at my computer, waiting for the aircon to kick in. I need to wrap upa PowerPoint presentation that’s due this morning, so no time for chit-chatting with clients over the coffee maker.

11:00 Finished! I click through the slides with my supervisor, and we go overthe presentation.

11:30 She suggests an early lunch, to which I happily agree. Even if it’s a quickone.

12:00 We head over to the other building and find the conference room wherewe’ll meet some of the client managers. We present the PowerPoint andanswer any questions they have.

2:00 The meeting wraps up and my supervisor and I head back to the otherbuilding. We usually have a post-mortem on big meetings. This time wediscuss how the meeting went while we walk.

2:15 I’m back at my desk trying to tackle a bunch of other work that’s piledup. I open up a spreadsheet but then . . .

2:30 One of my teammates, a new analyst, has a question about the analysishe’s responsible for. I’ve done this twice in past projects, so I sit downwith him and show him the ropes.

3:00 Back to my desk and check to see how far I’ve got on my file.

3:05 Not so fast. Another colleague comes by with a different problem. I sitdown with her, discuss what she’s tried, and give her some advice. It’s atricky one, and we spend an hour trying to untangle it.

4:30 Yikes. How did it get so late? I try to get at least half of this reportdone.

6:00 I head for the door, but I’ve got a laptop in hand. I’ll have to wrap upthis work tonight because my manager wants to see it tomorrow. Ohwell, it was going to be quiet evening at the hotel anyway.

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The Workplace

• Lifestyle and Hours

• Culture

• Workplace Diversity

• Compensation

• Travel

• Vacation

• Training

• Career Path

• Insider Scoop

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Lifestyle and Hours

Analysts and consultants should expect an active daily work schedule that getsfilled up quickly with meetings, technical problem solving, and individual reportwork. There’s not a lot of down time: Insiders are continually responding todemands from managers, teammates, or clients. One insider estimates thatconsultants spend 20 to 50 percent of the day in meetings. When you’re notinteracting with the client or fixing bugs, you’ll try to squeeze in an hour toconcentrate on analysis and documentation projects that may be assigned to you.

Accenture folks often find themselves on deadline, as teams finish stages of thebigger project. “There are some self-enforced and some very hard ones. Generallyno one likes to delay a project. At the same time, if this doesn’t get done, youdon’t like to move on to the next change,” says one insider.

Projects can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few years. Regardless of howshort or long they are, projects operate in cycles. So consultants can expect towork longer hours and even some weekends when a big deadline looms. “Itssort of like a college class schedule,” says one insider. “There are times whenthings are slow and chugging along, times when you put a little more in and ifyou pace yourself you should be fine.” Says another insider, “I have had towork a few nights, but nothing too crazy. As you get higher up in the company,you tend to work a few more hours, but that is expected with the nature of thejob. I have only had to work weekends once, but that was told to me ahead oftime and it was due to the nature of the project (a week-long assignment in asunny location, which I didn’t mind at all).”

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Aside from a busy schedule, travel is definitely a part of the Accenture lifestyle.For the most part, that means spending the week with the client and a longweekend at home, often for months at a time. “When you’re more junior,you’re going to be dedicated to one client, so it’s not like you’re going to beflying into Chicago on Monday and then Des Moines on Wednesday,” says oneinsider. Still, travel takes it’s toll. “Everyone tells me you get sick of it after ayear,” says another.

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Culture

Accenture is a company on the move, one that’s engaged in a wide variety ofprojects in a bunch of different locations. As such, Accenture’s culture can varyfrom one extreme to another depending on the client you are working for andthe office in which you reside. Employees who work at the client site, especiallyfor extended periods, will find themselves interacting with the client’s culture asmuch as Accenture’s. “On average, we aspire to blend in with our clients. In myprojects, I want client people on our team, I want them to be integrated,” saidone insider. “We go to lunch together, go out after work. That’s probably verytypical except on the large tech projects, where you have a pod of people in theback room.”

Says another, “We spend 85 to 95 percent of our time at the client site. It maybe a little less true these days, because we actually have offices, where we canwork for clients at an Accenture office. But most of the time, it’s at the client site.”

Two recent events—the downturn in the economy and the transformation ofthe firm from one owned and run by partners to a publicly owned firm—haveleft their mark.

“Because we’re now a public company and our finances are subject to analystscrutiny, there’s more focus on financials and profit margins than there wasbefore. That has a trickle-down effect—there may be less money for someoneto put in a training budget, for instance.” The insider adds, “If there werechanges, it’s hard to say if they were due to strictly economic factors or goingpublic and needing to be more investor-friendly.”

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Another change that followed the firm’s stock listinghas been awarding bonuses. “At the consultant level,your bonus is going to be relatively small compared toyour salary. It’s mostly affected by the firm at large,and to a somewhat lesser extent by your industrygroup,” is the way one insider describes them.

Accenture has a youthful atmosphere that lends itselfeasily to making contacts that will last as you movefrom project to project. “Over all, people like goingout with each other after work. It’s pretty young, andthere’s quite a bit of socializing, especially whenyou’re out of town.”

In spite of the youthful, work-hard/play-hard atmosphere—or maybe becauseof it—employees respond well to Accenture’s high standards, which require alot of dedication and self-discipline on the part of the employees. As oneinsider says, “You do get a lot of opportunities. You’re there because they can’tdo something internally, so you continually have to prove your worth.”

And finally, the people at Accenture seem to genuinely like and respect each other.Good interpersonal skills and a willingness to help are definitely more common than“me first” attitudes. Of course, people who don’t play well with others are probablynot a good fit for consulting. Insiders consistently proclaimed the willingness ofcolleagues in different cities or even countries to respond to a request for help at thedrop of a hat. “We have a very strong collaborative culture. If I go on the[companywide] portal, and post questions, I immediately get answers,” saysone insider.

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It’s definitely morecollegial than someother firms. Theyencourageteamwork. You getoff the plane andyou don’t know anyof your colleagues.Within an hour,you’re workingtogether.

“ ”

Workplace Diversity

Accenture has spent a lot of time trying to recruit and make working conditionsamenable to people of color and other minority groups. The diversity programfocuses on themes such as mentorship, recruitment, career counseling, scheduleflexibility for parents, and retention of women and minorities. Accenture’sChief Diversity Officer Kedrick Adkins has created the Diversity AdvisoryCouncil, a group of leadership partners with representation across all segmentsof the company. This group is instrumental in setting strategic direction andimplementing key initiatives.

In terms of recruiting, Accenture offers internships, jobs, and scholarshipsthrough INROADS, the National Society of Black Engineers, and the Societyof Hispanic Professional Engineers. Once employees start working, Accentureoffers a sponsorship program in addition to its recruiting program. Sponsorswork with others on the employee’s behalf, particularly when it comes to salaryincreases or promotion discussions, and the company’s diversity unit is pushingto get women and minorities strong sponsors.

“We are spending a lot of time working with our senior leadership. That’s notto say that we didn’t have their interest and visibility before, but I spend thevast majority of my time working with our senior executives on diversity-relatedopportunities, such as recruiting and promotion,” says Adkins in a recentinterview in The Black Collegian. “I report directly to our CEO, Joe Forehand,which speaks volumes to the importance our company places on diversity.”

In addition, the firm offers diversity training. Some highlights include a 3-hourinstructor-led course that demonstrates the importance of appreciating and

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valuing the dynamics between men and women; the “diversity principle,” a1-hour course that underlines that diversity in the workforce is a key companypriority and shows how stereotypes can contribute to a nonproductive workenvironment; and “the diversity principle in motion,” a group workshop onrecognizing inappropriate behaviors related to differences in the workplace.

As far back as 1994, Accenture was named one of the “100 Best Companiesfor Gay Men and Lesbians” in the Ed Mickens book of the same title. Amongthe seven networking groups that comprise its Local Office Diversity Programis one for gay and lesbians. Plus, Accenture extends domestic partner benefitsto U.S. personnel in same-sex relationships under its medical, dental, and dependentlife insurance plans. The plans and their benefits are the same as those availableto spouses of married personnel, wherever it is legally possible to do so. Childrenof same-sex domestic partners can be covered under the same rules as thosefor children of married personnel.

Opportunities for Women

Like the consulting industry as a whole, Accenture has relatively low femalerepresentation among its very senior management. At last count, three of its21 management committee members were female. Still, the number of womenin top positions at Accenture has steadily increased over the past decade. Thepercentage of female senior-level executives rose from 5.8 percent in 1994 to10 percent in 2002. However, in 2002 (most recent available) women onlyaccounted for a little more than 14 percent of all promotions to partner statusglobally and 19 percent of all promotions to partner in the United States.

In general, insiders report plenty of women in the workforce, though someareas attract more than others. “There are quite a number of females, but it’svery polarized. It’s often in testing and functional design, and less in

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technology,” says one insider. Another says, “When I was hired in, not manywomen were hired at the same time. I think that’s just coincidence, though. Onmy current project, more than half of my team members are female and theyhold positions at all levels.”

In 1995, Accenture leadership created a U.S. Women’s Initiatives team composedof eight women partners and led by Managing Partner Pam Craig. These womenrepresent all U.S. regions and industries and work closely with the firm’s CEO toidentify strategies that will attract, retain, promote, and advance women atAccenture. Some of the programs include local women’s initiatives (31 women’steams in U.S. offices), mentoring/sponsorship, training, and work-life integration.The firm works hard to make it possible for working mothers to achieve a work-life balance, with such options as part-time schedules and job sharing.

“Accenture gives great emphasis to providing opportunities for personal growthand advancement for women,” says a female insider. “Additionally, all of mymentors at Accenture have been men—each of whom has shown an enormousinterest in providing feedback and helping me achieve my personal goals andaspirations.”

Accenture’s efforts earned it the praise and notice of outsiders. In September2003, the firm made its debut on Working Mother’s 18th annual “100 BestCompanies for Working Mothers.” That same year it won a Catalyst award forits efforts to include women in its workforce. Catalyst, a nonprofit research andadvisory organization working to advance women in business and the professions,honors innovative approaches with proven results taken by companies attemptingto address the recruitment, development, and advancement of all managerial women,including women of color.

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Compensation

Accenture has been known to pay well and to offer significant raises. Thoughthe weak economy brought back salaries for both MBAs and undergraduatesto preboom levels, the rebound is trickling down to even new hire levels.Undergraduate hires can expect to start in the $40,000 to $55,000 range, andinsiders report raises are anywhere from 10 to 20 percent a year.

MBAs and other advanced-degree holders entering the strategy practice shouldstart from $60,000 to $100,000, depending on office location, educational background,and work experience. Of course, many MBAs move to the level of manager afew years after they start, getting an additional salary boost when they advance.

“A lot of the MBA programs are people who have pretty good experience—4or 5 years experience in some fields,” says one insider. “Typically when we hireoff the higher-ranking MBA schools, we’ll bring those people in at a managerlevel with the expectation that they’ll be a senior manager fairly soon.”

Note: Compensation numbers are based on WetFeet research; Accenture doesnot release this information.

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Travel

Most of Accenture’s work takes place at client sites, and you’ll often need totravel to get there. For some, this is a perk, and for others, a trying routine.

To try to lessen the burden of being away from friends and family for days at atime, the firm follows a “seven to seven” schedule, meaning consultants leave forthe client site around 7:00 a.m. on Monday morning and are at home by Friday at7:00 p.m. Many return to their home city on Thursday night and then work fromtheir home or a local Accenture office on Friday. “The plus is that you’re spendingmore nights at home than at the apartment. The downside—you’re stillspending three nights away,” says an insider.

Some insiders report that travel has subsided from years past. “We tend to havemuch larger contracts and that lets you forecast what your demand is, ratherthan having short-term demand where you’re bringing in short-term resources.”On the flip side, strategy consultants, whose project work can be as short as amonth, can find themselves in several cities each year.

A lot of factors go into whether you end up in Honolulu or Manhattan, startingwith your skill set and whether you’re in an industry group that’s clustered aroundcertain cities. And not everyone ends up living out of a suitcase 4 days a week.Consultants in government services, not surprisingly, can work for years out oftheir home base—as long as it’s Washington, D.C., or another big capital city.“It’s really just luck of the draw. It’s very much timing—if you happen to beavailable at a time when there’s a big demand for a project that’s in another city,you’ll be on that project.”

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Accenture also has a program called Flexible Fly-Back, which means you do notneed to return to your home office every weekend. Instead, every other “flyback”(for assignments within the United States this equates to once every 2 weeks),you can fly anywhere else as long as the ticket is no more than what it wouldcost to fly home. For instance, an employee who is headquartered in Los Angelesbut working in New York could fly to London for the weekend instead of backto Los Angeles. Accenture employees may also fly friends or family members totheir engagement locations. This provision is also available on cross-borderassignments.

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Vacation

In September 2002, Accenture started its PTO, or paid time off, program. Thefirm doesn’t distinguish between vacation, personal, or sick days, providingemployees with greater flexibility than a traditional vacation and sick time bankapproach. From the corporation’s viewpoint, the PTO approach reducesunplanned absences and allows smoother business operations.

Analysts and consultants get 25 PTO days, which include both vacation andpersonal days. Employees who work in outsourcing or the internal businessfunctions at Accenture add on PTO days as they work—18 days for the first5 years, then 21 days for the next 5 years.

In terms of being able to actually schedule vacations, due to the relatively stablenature of project work, a consultant can and will reach a point where the workwill start to taper off. As such, scheduling is a fairly straightforward process—unlike that of other consulting firms.

Insiders report that the firm strives to maintain a good work-life balance, whetherthat means helping employees get home on the weekends or recognizing overtime.

“Managers are quite aware of the time and effort that you put into a project,and they never hesitate to appreciate you. While it is not necessarily companypractice, some of my managers have bought me dinner on nights that we worka little longer,” says one insider.

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Training

Accenture provides technical and managerial skills development. At the entrylevel, employees in the consulting workforce can expect at least 300 hours ofcore training during their first 5 years. The training enables consultants to builda common corporate culture, and the firm sees it as a competitive advantage.So do other firms. Insiders report that Accenture analysts are often recruited bycompetitors in part because of the thorough training they receive at Accenture.

A key component is a 2-week visit to the Accenture facility in the Chicagosuburb of St. Charles, Illinois. Analysts used to attend classes at the corporatecampus shortly after they started work. Recently the firm shifted the schedule,and it now sends new recruits to St. Charles once they have several months ofon-the-job experience.

“It makes a lot more sense,” says one insider. “I would have been able to get alot more experience from St. Charles after a year than right off the chute . . .also, it’s expensive for the firm to do it at the front end.”

But Accenture won’t throw you into a big project cold. Most analysts start witha week’s orientation, followed by 2 weeks of guidance on skills necessary forinteracting with a client and working on the project. Training helps consultantsdevelop critical skills such as leadership, value creation, relationship building,business and technology acumen, selling, and methodology. But it also teacheshands-on skills such as programming languages used in the debugging and dataanalysis that occurs in so many of Accenture’s projects.

In training and thereafter, they are instructed on how to think, act, and speaklike an Accenture consultant. As a result, people in Accenture all use a uniform

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business language, so cross-group (or transnational) communication poses noproblem (in theory, at least). One insider says, “Our 2-week training course inSt. Charles consisted of 180 people from all over the world. Not only are thetrainees from all over the world, but the trainers are as well.”

New consultants also learn how to use the Knowledge xChange, Accenture’sinternal information-management system, which enables them to tap intomountains of data from all of the firm’s consulting assignments, regardless ofbusiness group or geographical location.

Accenture is increasingly offering training in an online format calledmyLearning.accenture.com. That’s a common way that Accenture employeeslearn new skills. For ongoing training there’s also a 3-day classroom trainingconducted by the company’s top leadership.

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Career Path

Most undergraduates enter the firm as analysts (or as business analysts, in strategy).Most MBAs enter the strategy service line as consultants or experienced analysts,if they lack significant prior experience.

Accenture employees follow a defined career path with set milestones. Newemployees move from analyst, to consultant, to manager, to senior manager, toassociate partner, and finally to partner. The chart below shows the opportunitiesfor applicants in each of the three main categories: undergraduates, MBAs, andmidcareer candidates.

“The whole theory, in those couple of years, is that not only do you get the initialfoundation, but it’s like a blank check to jump around with clients and get abroader experience,” says one insider about the Core Analysts Program. “Afteryou’ve been with the firm for a few years, the expectation is that you’ve alignedwith an industry group and specialty group. The further you go on, the morevaluable you are if you have something unique.”

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Job Title Eligibility

Analyst (except strategy) Undergrad hires, for 1½ to 3 years

Business analyst (strategy only) Undergrad or MBA, entry-level hires, for 2 to 4 years

Consultant New MBA hires and analysts with at least 2 years’ experience

Manager Consultants with 2 to 4 years’ experience

Senior manager Managers with 3 to 4 years’ experience

Associate partner Experienced managers

Partner Those elected to firm’s partnership (currently 2,300)

Source: WetFeet research.

Accenture Career Path

Opportunities for Undergraduates

Undergraduates join the CAP as analysts and, except in strategy, can generallyfind opportunities to move straight up the career ladder without investing asmall fortune in another degree. On the strategy side, Accenture has a businessanalyst program for undergraduates.

Depending on needs, Accenture offers a limited number of paid 10- to 12-weekinternships for undergraduates, typically in the summer before their senior year.The profile is similar to that of a full-time entry-level analyst. That is, they musthave technical skills, a strong GPA and show involvement in extracurricularactivities.

The firm also sponsors several minority internship programs, including:

• Entry-Level Summer Intern Program, in which the firm works withidentified star candidates from key schools and programs. This programincludes a 3-day leadership conference.

• Student Leadership Conference, in which the firm provides top studentswho are unable to perform internships with a 3-day leadership conference tolearn about Accenture.

• Accenture’s Commitment to Empower Successful Students Program is amultiyear mentorship program targeting top African-American and Hispanic-American students at key sources.

• Diversity Leadership Weekend, in which students attend a 3-day leadershipevent led by Monster.com. Students get to network with each other duringsummer by attending workshops and information sessions.

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Opportunities for MBAs

MBAs start as experienced analysts or consultants (some MBAs with little relevantwork experience start as new analysts), and move up to manager, senior manager,associate partner, and partner. The trip to the top could take as little as 10 years.Insiders report some executives prefer to stay at the senior manager or managerlevel if they want to stay involved with the operational, hands-on side of consulting.Associate partners and partners spend much of the time selling the firm toclients.

“You might be hired in strategy, [and] you’d be focused much more on analysis,”says an insider. “You’re involved much more on the early phases of a project.You wouldn’t be in a role at the tale end.”

Opportunities for Midcareer Candidates

Midcareer hires come into the firm at any level, from analyst to senior manager.“It varies greatly by profile and experience,” says an insider in recruiting. Manyindustry hires occur when Accenture expands and pulls in consultants knowl-edgeable in a skills area or industry sector. Often they come from a rival firm orwithin the industry. But consulting or industry experience doesn’t necessarilymean you’ll enter as a manager; with just a few years of work experience underyour belt, you may still start as an analyst.

“We do it, but it’s usually because there’s a specific skill, and we need to haveit,” says on insider.

“It didn’t used to be common, but it’s increasingly common, because we’ve gota lot bigger. When we’ve branched out, we’ve needed to hire for a certainexpertise,” says another insider. But experienced hires can sometimes havedifficulties. “I’ve heard people say that they have a unique expertise that isn’t

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valued properly,” adds the insider. “Sometimes we were more interested in theprocess of doing something rather than the expertise. We put a lot of emphasison methodology.”

International Opportunities

Accenture has offices in 48 countries and is well known around the world. Infact, the lion’s share of its hiring for its fiscal year 2004 is taking place outsidethe United States. And in the first 6 months of 2004, non-U.S. business accountsmade up 54 percent of the firm’s net revenues. But Accenture doesn’t currentlyoffer many opportunities to go abroad.

Instead, the firm prefers to staff locally. The most common way to do a stintoverseas is to be staffed on an international project, which is only going tohappen if your particular skill set is in demand and if you have the requisitelanguage skills.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the norm,” says one insider in recruiting about overseasassignments. “If the client has a global presence, they have a large project-needoutside the United States, we may deploy consultants,” says the insider. “Wetake interest in these opportunities seriously, or if they have a background inlanguage, etc., that would make them particularly valuable.”

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Insider Scoop

What Employees Really Like

Neither Burnout nor Rust

Sure, Accenture consultants, especially in strategy, can get tired of the meeting/deadline/meeting routine when projects heat up. Working out of town andflying back for a Friday to Sunday stay in your hometown can take its toll. Butthere’s a silver lining to the kind of work they do: the opportunity to, in essence,start a new job every 6 to 12 months. When things go as they should, consultantsspend enough time on-site to truly know the client’s business and culture, butnot so much time that they burn out. “One partner told me the partner lived inperiods of 2-year chunks. You keep reevaluating and saying I’ll stay another2 years, and chances are, before long you’re a partner,” said one insider.

People Helping People

Though it’s surprising given its size, Accenture gets good marks for openness,responsiveness, and flexibility. Insiders regularly highlight their colleagues’positive attributes when describing the atmosphere of the firm. “High performing,results-oriented, generally quite energetic,” says one insider about the people.It’s fairly young, although the slowdown in hiring over the last few years tookaway a little of that Accenture U. feeling. “We probably had a bit of a demographic shift, when we stopped the pipeline for recruiting. Now we’ve turnedthe taps back on,” says the insider.

Accenture employees often embrace the networking possibilities the companyprovides, even if that means meeting after hours to plan a class and then teach

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it. They seem ready to spend a little of their personal time helping unknowncolleagues, because they know they’ll get that service back some day. Managersand partners are reportedly approachable on projects. And the firm, while large,isn’t inflexible when it comes to individual needs. “If you’re determined enough,if you’re persistent and not too much of a pain, you can usually get what youwant,” says one insider.

Opportunity Knocks

Accenture is a great name to have on your resume, and it’s a great place to learnabout a variety of industries and get quality training. One insider describes thetypical departure points for consultants this way: “A lot of people leave betweenyear 1 and 2—a lot of people who thought travel was fantastic and it wasn’ttheir cup of tea. The next batch, people leave at the 4-year mark. These peopletend to leave because the headhunters drive them crazy, people who want totake advantage of the fact that we invest a lot in their training.”

The insider continues, “The next big area are people who leave between year 7and year 10. These people are leaving for a combination of getting very goodroles, sometimes with clients. Or they’re starting to have a family, and itbecomes a bigger deal being away.”

Watch Out!

Know What You’re Getting Into

Contrary to what some MBAs might think, not everyone would give up his lefttooth to get a strategy consulting job. Accenture’s strong suit has traditionallybeen systems integration, and insiders report that a lot of people are attractedto the firm because of its tech reputation. In fact, new analysts often don’t realizethe scope of activities that Accenture consultants engage in.

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“The biggest misconception that new people have is around the technologyparts of the business. It often depends on who they’ve interviewed with,” saysone insider. “Sometimes they think they’re going to do lots of technology andwant to know why we aren’t building a system. Then on the flip side, peoplewho have done organization design, then they’re testing a system, and that’s notwhat they expected, either.”

Jack-of-All-Trades?

The bottom line to working in Accenture’s consulting practice is that you couldeasily end up with bit parts on a variety of projects, from writing training scriptsto proofing user manuals to helping screw in large computer systems. Thepossibility for different types of project work seems only likely to expand as thefirm builds out newer areas, such as outsourcing and offshoring, and partnerssell clients packages of services—from high-level strategic thinking to nuts-and-bolts system installation.

“If you look at the firm like a bell curve, the far right would be pure strategy.We’re not pure strategy. We can do strategy and technology and outsourcing,”says one insider. “For Accenture, on a typical deal, the business consultant sayswe’ll implement the technology or we’ll outsource the function. The clientmight say, ‘If you execute it, that’s great, how about the strategic direction?’”

The downside of working on different types of projects means “you’re a jack-all-trades and a master of none,” says one insider. But rest assured, you willspecialize whether you want to or not. Managers typically staff their projectswith analysts and consultants who have particular industry, programming, orbusiness analysis expertise. The more projects of a certain type that you do,the more likely you are to be a master of some.

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The Workplace

Get Out and Mingle

Almost from day 1, Accenture analysts and consultants have two jobs: workingon a project for clients, and working to make sure they’ll be staffed on a goodproject when the current one ends. Of course, client work takes up the bulk ofconsultants’ time, energy, and focus. But insiders say it’s important to keep intouch with colleagues from past projects, acquaintances met at local industrygatherings, and anyone who might work on a project you’d want to join. In aword, networking.

“You really don’t want to tempt fate by just plodding along,” says one insider.“In the best of times, you’ll just get marginal projects. In down times, you maynot get projects at all. You really have to work hard to get to know people.”

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Getting Hired

• The Recruiting Process

• Interviewing Tips

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Getting Hired

The Recruiting Process

Accenture has a fairly focused recruiting strategy. Recruitment areas are determinedseparately by industry needs. Accenture targets schools and applicants who fitthose needs as well as those who fit its goals for retaining a diverse workforce.Local Accenture offices send out representatives from those groups to conductmarketing and interviewing at the selected schools in their areas.

Accenture also accepts applications from students at schools at which it doesn’trecruit. The company advises would-be candidates to speak first with their campuscareer center to learn whether there’s a liaison at their school. If Accenturedoes not visit your campus, students are encouraged to apply through thecompany website, by submitting a resume. Students should visit Accenture atwww.campusconnection.accenture.com. The site also lists the locations currentlyhiring entry-level analysts.

First-round interviews with Accenture take place on campus or by phone.They are really an initial screening, lasting from 15 to 20 minutes. But don’t besurprised if the manager throws some behavioral questions out at this stage.The company looks for people who can handle deadlines, work with colleaguesin an office and act professionally with clients. “We go through a fairly involvedassessment process,” says an insider in recruiting.

Some questions you may be asked:

• I’ve seen your resume; can you make it come alive?

• Why consulting?

• Why Accenture?

• What group within the firm are you interested in? Why?

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• When was a time in your life that you had tomeet deadlines?

• How do you react to tough situations?

The second-round interview lasts 30 to 45 minutesand spends more time on behavioral questions, skills,and experience. “The manager wanted to know moreabout which group I was interested in, technology orprocess. He gave me a lot more detailed questions, like‘How do you handle team problems, individuals who don’t want to work,people who miscommunicate?’” says one insider. In other words, your interviewerwill be looking for two things: examples from your background—usually schoolor work experience—that will shed light on how you’ll perform as an Accentureemployee, and evidence of how you operate as a problem solver.

There’s more of an art to giving knockout answers to behavioral questions thanone might think. An insider in recruiting advises, “Be prepared to walk throughstories in detail. Focus on the role that you played specifically, not what a teamdid overall.”

A typical question in the first or second round might be: “Tell me about a complexproblem you had to solve, and walk me through your thinking as you solved it.”

The third round is mostly a formality, say insiders. Candidates meet with moreAccenture executives, and if all goes well, can receive an offer from a partner.

In general, “They basically want to see how you would handle yourself in aconsultant-type role where you will be constantly changing projects and teammembers. They want to make sure that you can not only survive, but excel inthis type of environment,” says an insider.

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Be honest—somesetbacks often leadto other greatexamples of howsomeone handledthem self.

“ ”

“I would suggest that you pick a few examples out of your life where you havedemonstrated these characteristics,” advises the insider. Don’t be afraid to giveexamples of leadership qualities the firm prides itself on. “They are looking forpeople who are very driven and who take charge of a situation when necessary.”

The process for interviewing strategy candidates is much like that for candidatesin the service lines, but with one exception: Strategy candidates are also askedto analyze and describe their thought processes related to case studies.

“We ask general, open-ended questions that ask a recruit to describe a situationfrom his or her recent past,” says an Accenture recruiter. “We believe in thepremise that past performance is the best indicator of future performance.Therefore, we are trying to understand what a recruit did, knowing that peopleoften handle things similarly when faced with like situations,” says the insider.

Each service line at Accenture draws people from distinct educational backgrounds,though the firm does make exceptions. Human performance hires, for instance, arelikely to have degrees in areas such as organizational design, organizational behavior,industrial or organizational psychology, instructional design, executive leadership,liberal arts, and business with an organizational development or human resourcesconcentration. Solutions operations hires generally have degrees in industrialengineering, management information systems, computer information systems,math, economics, or business administration. The various tech-oriented servicelines hire folks with degrees in things like computer science, electrical engineering,computer engineering, management information systems, computer informationsystems, math, economics, and business administration.

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Undergraduates

Accenture hires the bulk of entry-level undergrads from computer science orengineering programs, plus organizational management and economics. Studentsfrom “softer” disciplines can get jobs at Accenture, but human performance isprobably the group most receptive to English majors and the like. For positionsother than those in strategy, Accenture recruits at many schools; check withyour recruiting center.

MBAs

Accenture hires a lot of MBAs—as well as other advanced-degree holders,such as PhDs, MDs, and JDs—and looks to programs far and wide to helpfill its staffing needs. Compensation levels vary according to location and thecandidate’s experience.

Accenture recruits for strategy at such top MBA schools as Harvard, U.C.Berkeley, Wharton, University of Chicago, Stanford, Kellogg, and MIT Sloan.

Midcareer Candidates

Historically, Accenture has hired a substantial number of experienced people.These hires include some who have worked in industry and some who haveworked for other consulting firms. If you don’t have a contact in the firm, thebest bet is to contact the recruiting director at the office of your choice. In anycase, you’ll want to think long and hard about how to show that you’re a goodfit in Accenture’s famously strong culture. At this level, prepare to show howyour specific technical or industry skills and knowledge match Accenture’s needs.Experienced candidates generally go through two rounds of interviews—ascreening interview followed by a behavioral and skills-assessment interview—but the process is much less set in stone than it is for undergrads and MBAs.

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Getting Hired

Interviewing Tips

After the first round, which exists mainly to screen out candidates whose resumesor personalities obviously don’t fit with Accenture, recruiters use the behavioralinterviewing technique to seek out personality types that will fit well in the firm’sculture. They’re looking for well-rounded types with strong communication skills,problem-solving abilities, an interest in technology, determination, a stronglearning capacity, a willingness to work hard, and flexibility, among other traits.

1. To prepare for your interview, think about your work and school experiences,paying special attention to times when you worked as part of a group. Tryto take every relevant piece of experience you have and demonstrate how thatexperience has directed you toward consulting and Accenture specifically.Have the names, dates, and numbers for these experiences at your fingertipsso you can mention them quickly, and then spend time explaining theirsignificance.

2. Be prepared to discuss your feelings and emotional responses to workexperiences. Insiders tell us that a big part of Accenture’s behavioralinterviewing technique is to ask how you felt about particular situations,especially those involving conflict: What frustrated you and how did youovercome that frustration? In what areas are you particularly confidentand why? What difficulties do you experience on group projects and howdo you address those problems?

3. Do your homework about the organization. Reading this guide is a goodstart. But also visit the company website (www.accenture.com) and look atthe “Careers” section thoroughly. Do job searches and read related job

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announcements to familiarize yourself with the Accenture language. You’lldefinitely want to know the structure of the firm and the differences betweenthe services, not to mention have a compelling rationale for choosing oneservice line over the others.

4. Recruiters are always impressed by an educated query. This is your chanceto interview the company as it interviews you. If you can get the interviewerto try to sell the company to you rather than vice versa, you will have madean impression. The following are a few questions to help get you started:

- What are the specific expectations you would have of me as a newemployee, and how will Accenture help me meet those expectations?

- How much client interaction should I expect?- What would you say are the benefits of having so many different industry

and service lines in one company? - How much leeway would I have in determining which industry or client I

will work for?

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For Your Reference

• Recommended Reading

• For Further Study

• The Numbers

• Et Cetera

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For Your Reference

Recommended Reading

“Skin in the Game”

Corporate clients, wary of expensive consulting projects that don’t live up topromises, are pressuring firms like Accenture to tie fees to results.

Source: Daniel Lyons, Forbes, 2/16/04.

“Sharing Gains, Risks; Accenture Finds Opportunity in BusinessTransformation Outsourcing”

An interview with a senior executive about the burgeoning market foroutsourcing and Accenture’s place in it.

Source: Stan Gibson, eWeek 3/15/04.

“The Incredible Shrinking Consultant”

The consulting industry may be changing, and according to this article,Accenture may be one of the biggest beneficiaries of those changes.

Source: Melanie Warner, Fortune, 5/26/03.

“A Rose by Any Other Name”

A good discussion of the wisdom of Andersen Consulting changing its name;in hindsight, it was a smart move.

Source: Joanne Gordon, Forbes, 3/4/02.

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For Further Study

Spend some time looking at Accenture’s website at www.accenture.com.

A general resource for information about the consulting industry is ConsultantsNews, which is published by Kennedy Information. For more information aboutthis and other Kennedy publications, visit ConsultingCentral.com or the KennedyInformation website at www.kennedyinfo.com.

Visit www.WetFeet.com for more information about a number of consultingfirms, their jobs, and recruiting. And for help with your case interviews, checkout the best-selling Ace Your Case series, also available at www.WetFeet.com.

Finally, Accenture consultants have written or contributed to a wide array ofbooks. For a taste of what you might be dealing with as a consultant, Check outWhat’s the Big Idea? Creating and Capitalizing on the Best Management Thinking, abook that gives insight on when to pursue an idea; Geeks & Geezers: How Era,Values and Defining Moments Shape Leaders, co-authored by an Accentureassociate partner; Making Markets: How Firms can Design and Profit from OnlineAuctions and Exchange, co-authored by a senior research fellow at the AccentureInstitute for Strategic Change; and The Future of Leadership: Today’s Top LeadershipThinkers Speak to Tomorrow’s Leaders, to which three Accenture professionalscontributed.

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For Your Reference

The Numbers

Revenue (in thousands) for the 6-month period ending February 29, 2004,compared to February 28, 2003:

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Operating Group 2004 ($) 2003 ($) 1-Yr. Change (%)

Communication & high tech 1,809,822 1,616,451 12

Financial services 1,293,580 1,172,171 10

Government 946,145 720,498 31

Products 1,416,527 1,291,808 10

Resources 1,092,895 950,985 15

Other 4,825 4,241 14

TToottaall 77,,225566,,779922 66,,551166,,447700 1111

Source: www.accenture.com.

Accenture Revenue

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Et Cetera

Recruiting Contacts

Accenture is probably coming soon to a school near you. If not, your chancesof getting a position will be tougher. Nevertheless, take heart: The firm ishiring lots of people, many of them during the off-season. It’s best to contactthe recruiting coordinator at your office of choice (check the Accenturewebsite). If you’re a midcareer candidate interested in working in the UnitedStates, you can submit your resume at www.accenture.com.

Key People

Joe W. Forehand, Chairman and CEO (William D. Green will become CEO onSeptember 1, 2004)Michael G. McGrath, Chief Financial OfficerStephan A. James, Chief Operating Officer—CapabilitiesWilliam D. Green, Chief Operating Officer—Client Services, CEO designateR. Timothy S. Breene, Chief Strategy Officer

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For Your Reference

Major Offices

Accenture has hundreds of offices around the world. For a complete list, checkout www.accenture.com. Also refer to the New York address listed in theAccenture at a Glance section.

Large U.S. offices include:

Chicago161 North Clark StreetChicago, IL 60601Phone: 312-693-0161Fax: 312-693-0507

San FranciscoSpear Street TowerSuite 4200, One MarketSan Francisco, CA 94105Phone: 415-537-5000Fax: 415-537-5037

Dallas5221 North O’Connor Boulevard, Suite 1400Irving, TX 75039Phone: 469-665-0000Fax: 469-665-2000

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Careers/Job Search

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Accenture

2005 Edition

Ac

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services firm with a youthful culture and a high-end client roster? You’ll find that and more at Accenture. Insiders say that having the Accenture name on your resume opens countless doors later on and that they have the distinct pleasure of working with the best minds in the business. Hiring is competitive and once in, you’ll be expected to work hard, but if you aspire to be involved in massive projects for the nation’s largest Fortune 500 companies, Accenture is the place to be.

Turn to this WetFeet Insider Guide to learn

• How Accenture stacks up against the competition.

• How the firm is organized, from top to bottom.

• What the typical responsibilities are and what day-to-day life is like for analysts and consultants.

• What employees love most and like least about working at Accenture.

• Detailed information about the workplace at Accenture, including the lifestyle and hours, culture, compensation, travel, and training.

• What the recruiting process entails and what recruiters are looking for

• Tips from Accenture insiders for acing the interview.

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