Aug 1, 2008
Accenture Consulting Development Program reviews
3.6
66% would recommend to a friend
Julie Sweet
62% approve of CEO
47% positive business outlook
Consulting Development Program employees have rated Accenture with 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 1,660 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Consulting Development Program professionals have a good working experience there. Accenture is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Consulting Development Program professionals compared to other employers within the Management & Consulting industry (3.5 stars).
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2K reviews
3.0
Jul 21, 2008
Accenture is an ok place to work, but needs to improve its management and be less insular.
Current employee
San Francisco, CA
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook
Pros
Name recognition. Amazing clients, and amazing co-workers even though turnover is very high. The firm culture encourages everyone to reach out to experts, so it is easy to put together amazing cross-functional teams with deep expertise across a wide variety of issues.
Cons
Lack of a single, comprehensive strategy for the company makes it feel very disorganized. They continually change focus and Leadership cannot articulate what is expected. Also, the firm is extremely insular- very little outside knowledge makes it in. In fact, executives will discourage gaining outside perspectives by attending classes or seminars or doing business reading because "what we have is so superior to what is available elsewhere". Career development is a joke. Even though there is no practical way to compare the performance of management consultants across different functional areas and engagements, Accenture's "rank and yank" performance measurement forces these comparisons each year. So I have been in the middle, then the very bottom, then the very top, then near the top, then the middle in my 5 previous rankings- and my collegues have similar experiences. The reality? Since we have to be promoted or be "counseled out"- Accenture speak for being fired- we all take turns getting the rankings we need, regardless of performance in a given year.
1.0
Jul 18, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook
Pros
You want to go into consulting out of college and work your way up in one firm. This is a great place to do that. If you're smart, and work here for the first 8 years of your career, you will do very well. Period. Far and away superior training to the other mainline consulting firms (excluding all the strategy firms, I'm just talking about the traditional systems integrators). The general training at each level is now probably the best in the business, and the specialist stuff is excellent. Meanwhile, on the job learning is excellent as Accenture has a very strong team-oriented culture, and people will go out of their way to help each other out/teach. Culture is (in my opinion) great. It's a bit abrasive (people can be mean), and it is known to be arrogant since the Anderson Consulting days, but some mellowing has occurred in the last few years. Lots of funny and interesting people. Lots of irreverence. The brand is another excellent reason to work here. In just 7 or so years since coming up with the name, it is (I believe) the most recognized name in professional services. They've done an amazing job. From every billboard you see at the airport, to most every deliverable you bring to a client, the brand is positively reinforced. (Funny note though, most Senior Executives just hate the Tiger Woods stuff... go figure). Good clients. All in all, Accenture clients have something going for them, or they wouldn't be able to afford the rates. Lots of name brand clients means your market value is shooting up every 6 months. Good networking. Accenture people are good at referring opportunities to their co-workers. People tend to look out for each other more passionately than I've observed at the other firms. This goes to the "us vs. them" mentality that most Accenture hires have that join out of college.
Cons
You simply cannot be an experienced hire and expect to do well at Accenture. That's not to say it doesn't happen, but look deeply at the numbers... between 50-75% of their experienced hires quit within 12 months (I received that number from a high-level Senior Executive). The firm has always had this problem, but even with the desperate need to hire at all levels from outside, this probably is not going away at all. You're way better off at one of the other firms if you have more than a few years of work experience. Less ramp up, far more respect right away. Performance reviews are actually overly critical. If you're writing one, you almost feel a pressure to be a little negative. I only comment on this in relation to having worked in other big consulting firms, where I realized the Accenture harshness on these things isn't all that necessary. I'm not sure much value is added sometimes on these things, and I can't count how many times I've heard of someone quitting because of a negative (unnecessarily so) review. Happens all the time.
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