Management Consulting No More: Many people associate Booz Allen with Management Consulting, but this perception is become ever more obsolete. The projects for the govt. are typically very long (think a year or longer). Most projects now are staff augmentation, IT implementation, program management (administrative oversight), Cybersecurity, or other technical fields. It is very important to recognize that management consulting work is no longer a prevalent area for Booz Allen because if you're looking to gain the core management consulting skillsets, you should look at other firms.
Poor Compensation: The pay is far below industry standards. Senior leaders will say our "competitors" are other major management consulting firms, but in reality there are major issues with that statement. 1) the other management consulting firms will pay anywhere from 10% to 50% more in salary with the average falling between 10%-50% more. 2) Booz Allen does not really do the same work as other major management consulting firms. You cannot say that public sector "consulting" is the same as private sector consulting because of one important reason: typically the skillsets gained from public sector consulting are not completely identical to that of private sector consulting. Consequently, Booz Allen employees will lack certain skills that are necessary for transitioning to private sector/industry firms. These skills that management consultants at Booz will lack typically fall into the quantitative analysis category (many who read this may disagree and say that Booz has lots of Data Scientists...well please read the next section).
Qualitative and Quantitative Separation: The typical perception of "management consulting" work is powerpoint and excel everyday with powerpoint being the qualitative/strategy/communications/soft skills side and the excel being the quantitative analysis/hard skills side. There is an interesting phenomenon at Booz where if you're a "management consultant" you're left with the qualitative and strategic side of things and the quantitative is left to the "data scientists". In a world where a balanced skillset between analytical skills in excel and qualitative/soft skills is becoming ever more important, stripping Booz Allen management consultants of their opportunities to learn the quant. side of things truly hurts their careers.
Non-HQ Workers are Treated Terribly: If you work in any geography location (meaning anywhere but the HQ locations in D.C.) you have a TREMENDOUS amount of downside to your job/career. You're treated like a second class citizen because you are not part of the "club" in D.C.; this means as a geography employee, your projects are worse, you are stuck on bad projects, you are limited to a small number of clients, you are limited to certain types of work/projects, leadership doesn't pay attention to you, your pay is less, your activities aren't paid for by the company, you don't get as much training or staff development time, you are disconnected from the firm, you are not able to network, D.C. people think you're not good enough, you're seen as expendable (firings left and right can occur at ease in a downturn), you'll always be picked last for exciting opportunities (meaning you'll never be picked at all), your advancement opportunities hit a ceiling at a point, and much more. It is critical for those seeking opportunities at Booz to recognize the downsides they will face if they do not work in the D.C. offices. Please take heed. The experience in D.C. however, is much better. If I worked in D.C. I would give Booz 3 stars instead of 2.
No Vision/Major Growth Opportunities for the FIrm: Booz does not seem to have a strategic path to the future. And this makes sense given the nature of the govt. work (and consulting firms in general as professional services firms have trouble innovating). Booz will only grow if the govt. grows its needs. As a result, Booz exists as long as the govt. exists (which is forever). But at the same time, the govt. will not likely undergo any sweeping/fundamental changes, and that means neither will Booz (so expect the work to stay status quo for the long haul).
Large and Segmented Company: Booz is a large organization, it's like having multiple public sector consulting companies mashed into one. For example, the defense and civil side operate almost as completely different entities. As a result, these entities can have different cultures, work/life balances, skillsets needed, etc. Take note of which part of the company you're applying for to determine if it will be a good fit.
