In its efforts to reduce overhead costs, the firm seems to be intent on placing more and more of its staff on 'client site'. To be fair, this also helps the firm to win more business and to support its clients better; however, it also isolates staff from the firm, especially if you spend 100% of your time with the client. Frankly, I'm prone to identifying myself as a member of my client's organization rather than as a Booz Allen employee. It also seems that the firm is in danger of becoming a 'temping' company. More and more, the firm seems to be focused on putting people in chairs to fill roles traditionally staffed by civil servants. In essense, the firm is becoming a 'parallel government', in my opinion, one that is focused on helping the government outsource its staffing requirements. As someone who joined the firm to do more traditional consulting work, I must admit that I'm rather disappointed in this turn of events. The firm is also growing quickly and has won a lot of work (work, quite often, equals a contract to put a Booz Allen employee in a government seat). This makes me wonder about the quality of employees coming aboard.
The benefits and 401k plan are great. I really can't complain about them at all. The salaries, however, are lower than average. There's also no bonus (for Level I, II, and III). You truly have to fight hard for a high starting salary, as the firm will play hardball and try to hire you for pennies. Frankly, they're extremely cheap in that regard. They claim that you only have to work 40 hour weeks, which unfortunately is not true (were that true, the salary might not be so unbearable).
There are tons of opportunities, insofar as projects; however, your ability to jump from one project to the next may be extremely limited. It really depends on your management. I'm part of a project that won't let me leave (even though I've been part of it for almost 18 months!). I'm craving professional development and opportunities to grow, and certainly am not finding them where I am right now. The only way out of this project, due to the management, is for me to leave the firm, or transfer to another admin group. Moving from one admin team to another isn't as easy as the firm would like you to believe.
In short, I'm part of a lousy admin team and find myself at a dead end (was promoted at my first assessment, so I'm not a problem child). As such, I'm looking for a new employer that will give me better opportunities and pay me a better salary (and let me use my vacation days!).
