Accenture January 2010
Posted 26 February 2010 - 10:26pm by black_label
[size=30]Accenture[/size]
I have found other forums relating to other companies much more comprehensive and useful than the one for Accenture, so I thought I would write a comprehensive, objective take on my application process.
[size=24]Application[/size]
The Accenture application form is very basic, all of the required information is on the website. The one thing I would recommend is do not restrict your research to the graduate pages. Also I would highly recommend attaching a C.V. When I went to my first interview, my C.V was on the table covered in annotations which potentially influenced the questions I was asked.
[size=24]Invitation to Interview[/size]
I applied in the middle of January but did not hear until the end of February, and in order to get a response I had to send graduate recruitment an email enquiring about the status of my application. (I would later discover that they were absolutely snowed under with applications.) Now, the one main gripe you will hear about Accenture is about the call centre. It is in India and this can be frustrating in terms of making yourself understood and the booking of an interview. The thing to remember is, if you get past the first interview, that is the only time you will have to deal with them. Personally, I was called on Tuesday and asked to come in on the Thursday. Although the time frame was tight, if you prepare, this is enough time.
[size=24]First Interview – Competency Based[/size]
Apparently you can have this interview over the phone but personally I recommend doing into the office, first you gain experience of the process and secondly you take part in a case study, something that will hold you in good stead for the Assessment Centre. In terms of content, this interview is one hour and it is rigorous but highly formulaic. What you need to focus on is:
[list]
[*] Learn the main Accenture business sections and what they do (Consulting, Outsourcing, Corporate Functions and Technology)
[*]Learn the main service lines within Consulting and examples of clients (Communications and High Tech, Health and Public Service, Resources, Financial Services and Products)
[*] Learn what you think you would be doing in your first year as an Analyst:
[/list]
Typical activities include:
1. Analysis of business processes, people and technology
2. Development and testing of business processes and technologies
3. Application design activities
4. Preparing business proposals
5. Technology architecture and infrastructure design activities
6. Technology build, test and deployment activities
7. Working with client Human Resource teams to re-evaluate systems and processes with the goal of improving efficiency and performance.
[list]
[*]Revise the main Accenture competencies and examples of how you exhibit each. They are the same as the ones for everywhere else so: teamwork, communication, initiative etc.)
[*]Why do you want to work for Accenture?
[*]Why do you want to be a consultant/analyst?
[/list]
They will flip a few of these on their head so they asked me, give me an example of a time when you had to work with a difficult team member? How did you resolve the situation? Also, they love it when you don’t just use work or university related examples so throw in a few other examples such as sports teams etc
[size=24]The Case Study[/size]
I found this to be quite easy, although you only have about five minutes to read it before responding to questions, the passage is only about one paragraph and the answers are quite clear. Mine was about a water company who were having difficulties with a lot of business processes. I cannot stress enough, they want to see your knowledge of Accentures business process so make sure you mention outsourcing or consulting or the application of technology.
I thought this interview went quite well and I was invited to an Assessment Centre Interview within twenty-four hours.
[size=24]Accenture Buddy[/size]
At this point, you get assigned a buddy who will hopefully answer all your questions. Mine emailed me first and was so useful in directing my preparation, other people I met didn’t even hear from there’s so if you don’t get a response, you can request a different buddy.
[size=24]The Assessment Centre[/size]
So when I arrived I had a chance to meet the other six candidates and we got to know each other, luckily I had a really good group. It’s important to remember Accenture don’t have daily quotas so if all seven of you are good, you will all get employed, so taking this into account, we all made a pact to do whatever we could to help everyone get a job (while of course understanding it is a little dog eat dog!)
You then get taken to a boardroom and are congratulated on reaching this point before listening to a short presentation on the company. Then with very little warning you are thrust into the first task
[size=20]The In Tray Exercise- 30m[/size]
This is an odd task. Each candidate is separated and sat around the table in the boardroom before being given a booklet, a worksheet and a pen. You then have thirty minutes to read through a booklet of information (an email, graphs, tables and free text) relating to a project handover, before then completing a worksheet on which you have to list the main project delivery, financial and ‘other issues.’ Now some of the info is a red herring and is either the same as a piece of info you’ve been given or totally irrelevant, you need to be very aware of these pitfalls. The guy next to me tried to take notes, don’t bother you don’t have enough time, you are allowed to write in bullet points so make sure you get the key points down. Also, leave yourself enough time to write the hand over email at the end of the exercise. YOU WILL BE PUSHED FOR TIME.
[size=20]The Case Study Interview – 20m[/size]
This was the easiest section of the day for me, not only was my CS similar to the one I did in the first interview, but it was very clear what the problems are. You have twenty minutes to prepare notes on the on the problem before discussing it in a role-play style interviewt. I would recommend using Accenture C.A.R concept.
[size=18]CONTEXT-ACTION-RESULT[/size]
So in your notes, say what the problem is, what you would do and what the outcome would be. Also be in the role play, be prepared to identify any potential pitfalls in your plan. Remember all the tools that Accenture use to solve problems such as:
1. I.T outsourcing/upgrade
2. E-Surveys
3. Customer Relationship Management Systems
4. Online E-Training
5. Staff Surveys/workshops
6. Technology (you don’t need to know the lingo just use the logic or principle behind it. So formy case study, the staff were constantly on the move so I said, give them PDAs linked to head office.)
If you have prepared for the interview well in the original 20 minutes, you'll be fine, they aren’t looking to catch you or expect knowledge of detailed technical points they want to see your ability to assimilate info and use logic.
Once you have discussed the major points you then have to prioritise the three main issues. An important point to remember, every candidate was asked would you change the order of your issues? This is a trick question, it doesn’t mean your order is wrong, provided you can justify it you can say what you want.
[size=20]The Team Exercise – 30m[/size]
The one thing I cannot stress enough is, this exercise is not about how well your team completes the task, it is testing your ability to function within a team. Three assessors watched us and that can be unsettling but you need to try and ignore them. We were tasked with coming up with a concept, theme and plan for an Olympic 2012 Museum in Battersea Power Station. The main points were:
[list]
[*]Come up a theme
[*]List all building materials you’ll need
[*]Come up with a timescale and plan
[/list]
We had thirty minutes to accumulate this information and summarise it on a piece of paper which we then had to hand in. After twenty minutes, they added an additional element where each of us had to present one section of the plan in 30s each. We did not finish any aspect of this task and to be honest with you, it didn’t go well. We had one member who didn’t contribute (something I was asked about in the final interview.) My buddy gave me some great advice as to what they are looking for
[list]
[*] Include other team members in discussions
[*]Don’t overpower anybody else
[*]Delegate
[*] TIME MANEGEMENT (30 minutes flies by)
[/list]
[size=20]Final Interview – 15m[/size]
This interview basically sums up the whole day and asks you how you thought it went etc. Key questions I got asked were:
[list]
[*] What 3 competencies do you think are key to this job and give examples of when you’ve shown them?
[*] How do you think each task went?
[*]What would you change about your performance today?
[/list]
Good luck!!!
27 February 2010 - 1:36pm
VaneelaLFAJ
Hi black_label,
Thanks a lot for your input...Did you get the job in the end?
27 February 2010 - 2:25pm
black_label
Yeah sure. Anything in particular? I'm not entirely sure how you can prepare for this one as essentially it comes down to your ability to assimilate information and identify what is important. As the info you have to give is broken down into financial, project delivery and other, it's not too difficult to identify the relevant bits. Go through the email you're given first and jot down all relevant points, then from the tables and graphs, its clear which ones contain info you need, I had a project timeline and a balance sheet which were quite easy to read off. Something else I had was, we were told what the date was 'today' so for us, it was the 5th September, on the project timeline, our handover date was the 10th September so for project delivery issues, I was able to say, we only had five days left to complete the project. Really read the info quickly but carefully!
27 February 2010 - 2:25pm
black_label
Yeah, I got offer within 24h, I got a very nice telephone call. Have you sent an application?
27 February 2010 - 2:46pm
missou2
Hi black_label,
Congratulations for getting the job! Well done :-)
For the E-tray, do you think practising on some random graphs and tables would help me prepare ? I am familiar with the kpmg type of e-tray but this one is different! For the e-mail that you write at the end, how long does it have to be?
Do they give you an introduction to the task before you start? I am really nervous :$
Many thanks
27 February 2010 - 3:11pm
black_label
Thanks!! Yeah you get very clear instructions which are also printed on the front of the book. I really don't think practising would help. Reading the info is very simple and the only problem is the time constraints. The email at the end can be as long as you want, you basically have to include all tasks that you feel need completing in priority order. This can be done in two ways, either by how important you think the task is or based on how many days you have left to complete the task before the project deadline. Really try not to panic, read through the info carefully and make sure you have enough time to write the email at the end. How did things go at KPMG?
27 February 2010 - 4:31pm
VaneelaLFAJ
Hi black_label,
I sent my application on 28th January but I haven't heard from them since...you think I should write them an e-mail?...how long did the entire process take for you?
27 February 2010 - 4:39pm
VaneelaLFAJ
From what I can gather from your post, it took about a month for you...am I right?
27 February 2010 - 5:09pm
black_label
I sent my application on the 18th January, then when I hadn't heard back by the end of January, I filled out the form on the 'contact us' section of the website. From first interview to offer was about 12 days (I got my offer on the 26th February.) My Accenture Buddy told me that they are currently snowed under with applications and this year they will probably have April, June, August and October start dates.
27 February 2010 - 5:19pm
VaneelaLFAJ
Hey, thanks for that...I just dropped them an e-mail, hope to hear from them next week.
Congratulations on your offer! I suppose you are going to accept it, don't you? When's your start date?
1 March 2010 - 10:27pm
black_label
Yeah I think so, I have two other offers but the benefit package from Accenture is immense! My start date is April 12th. Good luck with it!
2 March 2010 - 4:05pm
missou2
Hey black_label, my application to KPMG was not successful :( because of the e-tray! Hopefully I will do better with the Accenture one!
Many thanks for your comments.
3 March 2010 - 2:57pm
hrhodgetts
Hi black_label,
Thanks so much for your post, it’s really insightful and is a really help to all of us a few steps behind you in our bids to join Accenture!
I had a quick question for you, I have been invited to for my first round interview and was wondering what type of competency questions they asked you? Are we talking the usual suspects like leadership, communication, team-work? Or is it a little more complicated like using initiative, project management, complex problem solving?
Thanks in advance!
hrh
3 March 2010 - 5:18pm
black_label
Hrh,
Congratulations on the interview. The questions were very standardised for me, so team work, communication etc. They did throw a couple of curve balls in there like, 'can you give me an example of when you had to work with a difficult team member, how did you deal with the situation?' Also, 'Can you tell me about a time when you had to change the way in which you worked?' A couple of times, I explained a situation and was asked, 'so what did you learn from that?' I also got asked about a time when I had to show persistance/perseverance then on a separate question initiative. I used so many different examples from my current temporary job, university as well as hobbies (mainly sports related.) My buddy told me, they like it when your answers aren't one dimensional or constantly based around the same examples. I felt like at no point were they trying to catch me out and don't feel daunted my the lack of interaction, that's just how they do it. Tbh, the second part of the interview is more challenging.
Also, LEARN YOUR C.V AND APPLICATION INSIDE OUT!!
Hope this helps!
4 March 2010 - 10:55pm
Dex
r.e. their start dates, from Accenture's Twitter page:
"When do you want to start your graduate role? We have vacancies in April, May, July, August 2010 and beyond."
They also explicitly say that this reflects an increase in the no. of graduate positions available for 2010 starts (when I started the application process their only start-date was November 2010), which is a 180degree change after all their lay-offs last year, so hopefully this means a better chance of getting hired! I've got a friend that works for Accenture & he was saying they won a lot of contracts right after they downsized & they've been understaffed for a while, hence the sudden surge in graduate vacancies with an immediate start.
@black_label; I've also got a 1st round interview coming up next week (wednesday) & I've got a few questions.
1) am I right in thinking that the case study is written, basically involving reading a paragraph & giving your thoughts on it - you don't have to illicit more information from the interviewer like a verbal role-play case study?
2) r.e. the competency interview - were you just asked 1 example for each competency? e.g. was the question about a difficult team member the only question about teamwork, or did they also ask another more generic team question like "describe a time when you worked in a team towards a difficult task,etcetc". Was this section roughly a 50/50 split between competencies & Accenture knowledge, or was there more focus one way or the other?
3) Also, aside from the examples you outlined, if you can remember could you please list the questions you were asked in a little more detail? This is my last pending application & while I've learned something from each of the 5 interviews I've had so far I feel my interview technique is letting me down so it'd help if I had some more precise wording to prepare with - obviously I'm unlikely to have the same questions as you did but it'd help me with figuring out how to structure my examples..
4) you say "I used so many different examples..." when giving your answers - does this mean you got asked a lot of questions & gave one example for each, or that you were allowed to elaborate slightly at the end of your main example, e.g. give your best example in depth then say "but that's not the only time I've been in that type of situation, there was also the time when I was in X & did Y, then another similar situation when this other stuff happened & I did this other thing etcetc"?
Thanks! :D
6 March 2010 - 7:24pm
black_label
If I were you, I wouldn't even worry about the number. My company buddy told me that they're moving towards a more quality based policy as opposed to filling the places so if they don't have enough quality candidates they are under no obligation to fill the vacancy, hence why they accept applications all year. Also, the size of the start groups can vary from 15 to 60, so more start dates doesn't equate to more jobs. In terms of the case study, you get given a few minutes to read it before being asked what you feel the three main issues are, what solutions you would give, what problems could you see with your solutions etc. It's entirely verbal, it is quite interactive. As for the comptency section, on some aspects I was asked to elaborate more and on others he stopped me when I was going on a bit too much. There was no 50/50 split between comptencies and knowledge as such, I was asked about myself, motivation, etc and all the Accenture knowledge you need is detailed above. When I said I used different examples, you won't really have the chance to use more than one example per question, what I meant was, when asked about perserverance, teamwork etc, I used different examples, you have time to think so its best to assess what they're asking and answer honestly. When you say, 'it'd help if I had some more precise wording to prepare with' I think this is the wrong approach. I've been in the complete opposite situation to you where I've been successful at each firm I've interviewed with and I think whats worked for me is not over preparing. So study the competencies and think of scenarios in which you've displayed them, but don't prepare the wording of questions like a script otherwise, if they flip the question on its head (compared to what you've prepared) it'll throw you and you'll end up trying to force your pre-prepared answer to a question for which it wasn't intended and this is no obvious to an interviewer. You know what you're going to be asked (its all on their website and this one!!) The fact you've had five interviews means you must be a very strong candidate so the qualities are obviously there. Accenture don't try to catch you out so you shouldn't feel too anxious
6 March 2010 - 9:10pm
Dex
Thanks for all the info, I think this account of the process is the most comprehensive on here & should be added to the main Accenture wiki, especially as the 1st round interview section on that page is currently fairly sparse.
If I've got anything to add to this after my interview I'll post it up, but bar specific wording for the competency questions (the studying of which, as I'm realising, isn't actually the best way to prepare) I doubt there'll be anything new to share from mine :)
9 March 2010 - 12:38pm
sweety285
HI...thanks for all the info provided, I was filling up my application of analyst consulting group-graduate entry level fy10. but got stuck with some questions like:
In what ways does Accenture use technology to help its clients improve their business?
Describe what your day to day tasks and activities might be as an Analyst on a project. Please provide a concise bullet point list of the key activities?
Are they looking for a particular set of answer?? what kind of answers they are looking for??
9 March 2010 - 2:42pm
Dex
You can find all of that information on their website, in the UK careers section & on the main global site, also it's been covered in the 1st post above.
9 March 2010 - 3:10pm
sweety285
thanks for the information, i have completed the application, but I am not sure of what is the minimum entry requirement and do they accept the non uk qualification??
9 March 2010 - 5:05pm
black_label
2:1 or above and at least 340 UCAS points are the minimum entry requirements email HR about foreign qualifcations. Taking into account Accentures position as a global company I'm pretty sure they do.
10 March 2010 - 11:58pm
felix_08
Hey, thanks so much for all the information. I'm just about to apply.
However I just wanted some advice on what to put as the minimum salary.
Why do they ask this. Surely the fact that it states very clearly the salary on offer on their website makes this question pointless. However I just wondered what you guys put on your form.
Thanks again and well done on all the job offers.
11 March 2010 - 2:31pm
dozydodo
Black_label, Thanks very much for all your comments, so helpful!
Felix_08, would agree - i have just written 'standard starting salary' rather than an actual figure! not sure what they really expect.
Anyone who feels they can help - this question might sound ridiculous, but would be grateful if anyone could answer it anyway; i've started an application to Accenture but starting to reconsider, after browsing their website. How important would anyone say 'having an interest in technology' is? I was intially really motivated by the sounds of the opportunities but i'm less sure now ... is this really an essential component of the job? would you spend much of your time, working with software/ redesigning systems, that kind of thing???
11 March 2010 - 5:41pm
black_label
Hey. The basic starting salary is £31,000 + £10,000 signing bonus payable in two chunks over 12 months. The technology element isn't as pronounced as you'd think, within Accenture you can be an HR consultant, strategic consultant etc. People who want to get involved in the tech side will design systems etc and if you apply to the analyst consulting group, you will; be going into the management consultancy arm (technology, management consultancy and systems integration are the three main arms.) Having said that, when they say Technology, you do need to have an interest in how tech can be used to improve the systems of a business as improving IT and innovative tech solutions is part of the job but you wouldnt be the one designing them.
When you start, within the Analyst Consulting Group, 10% of candidates will be analysts with technology alignment and 10% will have strategic alignment (personally the place to be in my opinion) and the remaining 80% will be general analysts. Hope this helps!
11 March 2010 - 8:20pm
felix_08
Hi,
Standard salary - that sounds like a good thing to put. Thanks.
Black_label - What did you put as the minimum starting salary you wanted?
Thanks again everyone
11 March 2010 - 9:03pm
black_label
I put £31,000. I have a feeling the salary question is more relevant to experience hires. How's everyone finding their applications?
11 March 2010 - 9:03pm
black_label
I put £31,000. I have a feeling the salary question is more relevant to experienced hires. How's everyone finding their applications?
11 March 2010 - 9:28pm
VaneelaLFAJ
Hi black_label!
Today I received an e-mail saying I was invited for a first interview :D and that they will soon get in touch with me. How long after receiving this e-mail, did they call you?
So basicaly you're saying you only had one full day to prepare for the interview???
Thanks.
11 March 2010 - 10:03pm
black_label
2 days, but not even full days as I had a job, it's more than enough time, good luck!
12 March 2010 - 4:59am
hrhodgetts
Hi vaneelalfaj
I have also been invited for a 1st round interview, it took them about two days to get back to me and my interview is set for the 29th March. I also think that you dont really need that much time to get ready for it, the only reason that my interview is in three weeks is that I am doing a masters in Sweden and will be home during Easter, so that was the best time for me and i didn’t want to do a telephone interview!
Also i had no problem with the call centre in India, they were actually really polite and helped me book a time around that fit with my travel plans.
Good luck with your interview, let us know how it is and i will do the same!
hrh
12 March 2010 - 11:48am
sweety285
HI all..
Does anyone had applied to IBM graduates?? any experience??
12 March 2010 - 12:20pm
VaneelaLFAJ
Hi hrhodgetts,
They still haven't called me, but I'm not complaining. The reason I was asking is because I have 3 interviews I have to schedule over the next period, and I'm really afraid they will all come together...which I really don't want 'cause I have prevously had interviews 2 days in a row (involving traveling in different cities) and it didn't go too well.
And I feel I would need some more time to take in all the info about what accenture does and how it adds value and so on.
Anyway, good luck with preparing...and of course I'll contribute with my experience. :)
13 March 2010 - 2:36pm
Zoya
Hello!
just wondering how soon after the first interview did you guys hear back?? I haven't heard anything yet from my interview. It was only a few days ago but i think generally they get back to you sooner if you've done well. I am absolutely cacking it and keep replaying the interview over in my head and thinking about how i could have done better.
good luck to everyone!
zoya
13 March 2010 - 11:19pm
Dex
I had my interview on the 10th, here is my experience. I wrote down the questions I was asked on the tube ride back to my friend’s flat so what follows is quite close to what I was asked word-for-word & in roughly the same order– I’ve started doing this for all interviews as it helps with my “post-game analysis” & also is a record of what was asked in case I have to apply again next year!
The lady interviewing me seemed nice, not sure if she was from HR or a manager tho because she didn’t say & I didn’t ask – there was also a guy in the room assessing her as the interviewer. My CV was on the table; no annotations on it, though the 1st question was to do with the content of my CV.
The Questions
1) I see you did Physics at St Andrews & a MSc in International Business at Edinburgh – why did you choose those subjects & those universities?
2) Why consulting?
3) Why Accenture?
4) Who are Accenture’s key competitors?
5) Can you tell me about some pieces of wok we’ve completed or are currently working on (I gave 2, I could probably have given more without being stopped if I decided to do so, but I framed it as one that highlighted the broad profile of services Accenture offer & one that highlighted the sort of project I’d be interested in working on)
6) What do you think you’ll be doing as an analyst?
Competency Questions
Thru all my research I couldn’t find a list of Accenture competencies, the only company I’ve seen that doesn’t actually list them on the careers section of their site, but the questions were obviously grouped around a specific set of competencies so where I can figure out what they were driving at I’ve included my guess [in square brackets].
7) Describe a time you’ve changed a process or a way of doing something
[Initiative]
8) What was your most fulfilling team-working experience? Then a follow up of:
8a) what was it about the experience or the team that made it so good?
[Teamwork & key attributes of a good team]
My answer involved saying everyone was competent & reliable, she then followed up with:
8b) Leading on from that, have you ever been faced with a time when you’ve had to work with a difficult team member?
[Communication, conflict resolution]
9) Describe a time when you’ve had to adapt to someone else’s style of working?
[Flexibility, teamwork again]
10) What’s been your greatest achievement?
11) When have you “gone above & beyond the call of duty” to get something done?
[Client Focus]
Case Study
Mine was about a supermarket having trouble with its procurement: 1 paragraph long, basically they had problems being under stocked which led to customer dissatisfaction; they tried to fix it themselves but that then led to them being overstocked. My interviewer read it out before she gave me the paper - I was told I’d have 5 minutes or so to look it over & I should say when I was ready to begin discussing it (I wasn’t allowed to make notes because she didn’t have any scrap paper) but the problems & solutions were so obvious that I was ready to talk after about 2mins.
I was asked for 3 main problems then, when I said “you just asked for 3, didn’t you?” she said I could talk about more if I saw more. Then solutions – what could Accenture offer them, what are the implications. Was push for more detail on a couple areas e.g. I said Accenture’s CRM practice could help them regain lost customers, she asked me exactly how they might do that; I said that being over stocked is a problem because it would lose a company money, she asked me exactly why etcetc – essentially anything that you throw out there without explanation that’s not 100% obvious will be probed to make sure you’re not bullsh1tting & know what you’re talking about. I was asked about any potential problems with my specific solutions & occasionally prompted “any more?” after giving one or 2.
Final Thoughts
I would echo all the sentiments above about how you should structure your answers. You will loose major points if you don’t say “this problem can be tackled by Accenture’s management consulting X practice, problem Y can be outsourced” etc & every single scenario will involve applying technology &/or IT to solve it. The case study will include very little information – I use this as an opportunity to demonstrate wider knowledge by speculating on things that were hinted at or would logically follow on from what was in the case study & I think this is a good approach, as long as you qualify your answer in this manner.
I would say that at all times I was able to talk for pretty much as long as I wanted to on the competency questions, I was never cut off despite giving multiple examples for each answer (starting off with the strongest one then giving 1 or 2 more in less detail where appropriate) –in the middle of my answer for one of the competency questions I actually said “stop me if I’m going on for too long, it’s just that there’re several things from different areas I could talk about here” & her response was basically “that’s fine, talk about as many examples as you want”. Not sure if this was just her or if it’s company policy.
Overall, I felt it went well – essentially if I don’t get thru to an AC I will have no idea whatsoever what went wrong. It didn’t go 100% perfectly - there were times when I could have elaborated more on some answers & tied my experiences to competencies required in consulting a bit better but I am quietly confident.
I Must say that I was previously under the impression that Accenture were a complete joke, based mostly on the fact that the manager they sent to the careers event I went to reminded my of David Brent & that they have a really slick grad recruitment marketing campaign that has lots of shiny videos that they've clearly spent a lot of time & money on making cool, hip, zany & down with the kids, yo, but don't actually give any specifics about what it's like to work there - it's like watching a TV advert for a perfume (& it wasn’t just me - sitting in the venue in the Balmoral Hotel while we all watched & listened to this guy's rubbish banter, I've never seen 200 people all cringe at once before) - also the fact that they put their £31k + £10k signing bonus front & centre, which is clearly meant to distract you from something, especially the fact without some further research you wouldn't know that it's at best average for consulting (and probably indicates slower salary progression) because no other firms publish their benefits package (in a fantastic Brent moment, an analyst was fielding a question from the audience about what the biggest negatives about consulting & Accenture were & the Manager cut her answer off 3 words in, leaned over to talk into the girls microphone & said, to the HR person on the other side of the room, "oh, I don't think we've told them about what the starting pay is. Could you tell everybody please?" then he beamed out a sh1t-eating grin in our direction as she repeated the above numbers & interrupted her as soon as she'd finished saying "bonus", letting her speak for about 4 seconds before leading off on some other tangential nonsense). It wasn’t helped by the fact that my friends tried to refer me on an almost weekly basis from October thru to December but the IT system wouldn’t let him, then when he tried to fill out the form it submitted it when he saved it as a draft, then when I finished completing the form it submitted it again when I’d saved it as a draft, then my mate got an email from HR after I’d completed the form asking why it hadn’t been completed, then to get past their non-functioning IT they emailed me the online application form copied into a Word document for me to fill out again, which is different from the form to be filled out if you are being referred by a current employee! Shambles.
But, from researching their standing in the industry, awards won, the way their grad program is structured. My experience of that interview & conversations with a friend who's been there for about 2 years, it definitely seems like a great place to at least spend the first 5 years of your career.
I would say that there are no shortcuts in preparing – they clearly want you to have a solid understanding of their company, what they do, what they have done before & what their place in the industry is & the best way to do that is to study the case studies on the MAIN section of their website, not the careers section. There must be several hundred on their main website & these are organised with the goal of selling Accenture’s services to potential clients, so they really hone in on exactly what Accenture did in reasonable detail & what practices were involved.
All of the info included in the 1st post about what you need to know (including tasks of an Accenture analyst) is on their website, if you look hard enough. I spoke to someone else who had an interview the day before mine, same office & they had all different competency q’s but they are still going to be fairly standard regardless. The only question that would have threw me if not for Wikijob would be asking for examples of case studies – however, the fact that they do ask this is a great opportunity to demonstrate genuine enthusiasm for consulting & a good knowledge of Accenture.
Not heard anything yet but the standard time is within 10 working days max – the AC looks very straight forward, as long as you don’t have a shocker & waste time thru a false start on the intray or case study so I’m doubly keen to get thru this!
13 March 2010 - 11:53pm
black_label
Dex, great post mate, I had a completely different Case study to you, mine was about a water company. I too had my reservations about Accenture, but they've all been dispelled. I found out about my AC the next morning and like you, I felt my first interview went well so let us know how you get on!
14 March 2010 - 12:41am
Dex
It's tempting to assume that if you are an obvious yes or no you'd get told straight away, but I get the impression that their HR is very bureaucratic & the interviewer will have to go thru your notes, summarise them, maybe give you a score then send the info to HR to check & arrange AC's, so I'm thinking that the speed of response is linked to how many spaces are left to fill after you on that AC; if you were the 10th person to go thru you'd get a call straight away, if you were the 2nd you wouldnt get the invite till they;d filled the other 8 slots or however many it is. I hope so anyway!
How long to your AC from the date of you getting the email? Just wondering roughly how long I'd have to prepare if I did get thru.
14 March 2010 - 9:10am
VaneelaLFAJ
Dex, thanks a lot for your post...very very insightful. I'll have my interview soon and thanks to all the posts in here, it will be so much easier to prepare.
Tell us when you get through. Good luck.
14 March 2010 - 9:48am
black_label
I wouldn't concern yourself with time frames. Before my AC my Accenture Buddy told me that they have no quotas from each AC or from the entire graduate recruitment process. Apparently they get 15,000 - 20,000 applicants and surprisingly, most candidates don't meet the entry requirements or fall down at interview. If you are good you will get in. I think the the main determining factor is how many people have been interviewed that week hence how many applications have to be processed, so you have been good but it just takes a bit longer, transversely fewer people may have been interviewed in the week I did it. From my first interview to my being offered an AC was one day, then I was given one week to prepare (btw there is a practice in-tray on the Accenture website) then I did my AC on the thursday and got my offer on the Friday. I now have one more final interview for Strategic Alignment and was given two weeks to prepare for that. I bet you hear on Monday Dex! Best of Luck
14 March 2010 - 11:03am
Dex
Yeah, that's what I meant, processing time. You're always going to hear back within a day (or on the same day) with an AC though.
Ah right, so the extra interview for Strategy is post-offer? That's my preference, but I didn't express it at my interview as it wasn't made 100% clear whether or not you still get a place in the ACG if you don't make the Stratey alignment & as it's considerably more competitive than the ACG as a whole my main concern was to secure a job first & foremost.
So, the process is secured job offer with Accenture in the ACG after the AC, then if you express the interest an extra assessment to see if you can get to be aligned to Strategy?
14 March 2010 - 12:50pm
black_label
Yeah, they called me to offer me my ACG position, then based on my performance at the AC, he said that they thought I would be well suited to Strategy. I didnt express a preference for it, although oddly, during my final interview I was asked about Technological Alignment. They were keen to stress the point that if I fail at this third interview, my earlier offer still stands (I have already got my contract and started sending all the required documentation etc). They only take ten people per intake for Strategy and there is considerably less info about the interview, but once I've done it, I'll post up everything you need to know if you're interested.
14 March 2010 - 1:13pm
Dex
Ok, thanks, that'd be great - I'd assume it'd be to do with performance on the case study then, how thorough your answer is, maybe a little to do with what you identify in the in-tray too - can't see what else there is that'd give an impression of your ability to tackle CEO-level strategic issues.
I'd guess that the additional interview is going to be more like an interview for the strategy boutiques - you should get the book Case In Point by Cosentino if you haven't already, I've not read it all the way thru yet but it looks good from what I've seen & comes highly recommended. Monitor Group had a practice case study on their website when I interviewed with them, the likes of Bain, McKinsey, BCG, Booz etc might do too, for extra practice.
14 March 2010 - 3:24pm
dozydodo
Thanks for everyone's help. i've sent off an application - just - & i'll just have to see how it goes! i did try to research everything but found it quite hard to be really specific, especially with 'how tech helps our clients' or exactly what you'd do day to day. but i tried! found their client case studies quite useful as well, if anyone is struggling with a few of the questions. also attached my CV but didn't write a covering letter! will post again if i should hear anything, but if not, good luck to everyone - with accenture & general jobs search!
14 March 2010 - 3:52pm
flyguy88
Hi black_label,
Thanks for your very informative posts on the Accenture process thus far, its been extremely helpful !!
Quick question for you; you say you've already got your contract etc and are now sending off the required documentation, what sort of documentation do you need to send off exactly ?
Reason I ask is that I'm in the process of obtaining a Russian visa for a trip later in the year and have to send off my passport to the embassy and don't want to be caught out by them taking weeks and weeks with my passport if I need it.
Cheers !
14 March 2010 - 4:16pm
black_label
Yeah you need to email a scanned copy or post a photocopy of your passport! They also make you fill out medical questionnaires, send a copy of your degree certificate, bank details etc.
17 March 2010 - 4:42pm
Dex
Got an email this afternoon saying I got thru to the AC!
I can't express how relieved I am, the 7 day wait was killer. No date set for the AC, they said someone will "contact me shortly" to arrange a date - I'd guess it'd be sometime over the next few weeks tho.
Best of luck to anyone still waiting to hear back.
17 March 2010 - 4:51pm
VaneelaLFAJ
Dex, Congratulations!!!
I will soon have my interview but I'm terrified about the case-study part as I haven't done a case-study interview before.
Do you have any advice for me on how best to prepare for it? I've started to look at their case-studies and their service lines, but there are so many practice areas and so many different things they do...
I would really appreciate any tips on how to approach the case study preparation, what areas do you think I should focus on?
17 March 2010 - 8:00pm
Dex
If you read what's been posted above through in detail you'll see that it's not too difficult. It's not a full case study interview like the one you get in the AC or you'd get in a 1st round interview with a strategy firm, it's literally a single paragraph long, maybe 50-100 words at the most - what I wrote about mine is all the info that was in the case study, not a summary of what I found after sifting thru it.
You'll be given a business scenario that has at least 3 very obvious problems (e.g., it'll say something like "Joe Blogs Phone's Ltd have recently seen their market share drop by 15%" & you're from that part of your initial answer is expected to be "problem no.1 is that their market share has decreased". They'll then lead onto probing to see if you can think of the wider implications of the strategies you propose.
The no.1 thing they are looking for is to frame you suggestions in terms of what Accenture would do, so you have to have an understanding of what they can do for clients. As I said, you get this by reading thru their MAIN website, not the careers website, because this section is written with the aim of selling their services to clients, so it really goes in depth about which bits of the organisation did what & how they worked together. The best answers will involve references to other cases Accenture have worked on - the dream scenario is that you happen to read a case study before hand that is the exact same scenario as your case study in the interview, but that's not even that important, you can gain serious points just by saying things like "setting up a collaborative team with stakeholders from the client working alongside Accenture staff to develop a tailored solution is important, I've noticed that that's a common theme with Accenture's work from studying some of your success stories".
The main section of their website has a page for each service line & a series of success stories for each service line so in terms of preparation you should read as many of these as possible - don't have to remember them word-for-word, but be aware of what the problem was & what Accenture did. To make sure you cover everything I'd start by reading 2 for each area, plus the overview page for each service line that tells you what it does, then if you've got time read more. There are hundreds so you wont get thru them all. No short-cuts, unfortunately :)
I've already repeated myself, the initial post plus my experience of my interview above go thru this in detail. I would say that for the interview as a whole, the only thing that would've thrown me if I didn't have prior knowledge of it coming up was the fact that they specifically ask you to talk about 2 projects accenture has completed & that to answer the case study in the best way possible you need to be familiar with all aspects of Accenture's service offerings, so you can say e.g. "well, this is a procurement problem so Supply Chain Management would tackle that.... they are having problems with losing customers so Customer Relationship Management would handle that... they clearly don't have the competencies in-house to do X so they should Outsource it... etcetcetc".
To be honest, I think it's a really good way for them to test your knowledge of the firm & how they actually work, I was quite impressed with the whole process - tho I would've been screwed without this board!
17 March 2010 - 9:50pm
VaneelaLFAJ
Thanks for your quick reply and long post :)...I've already started to analyze in great detail their case-studies but it's going rather slow so far. Yeah, I got the idea it's not a typical case-study interview and they actually want you to show knowledge and understanding of what Accenture does in particular.
With respect to the question about the two recent projects Accenture has worked on...I supposed you refered to UK projects, didn't you?
Good luck with your AC!
17 March 2010 - 10:52pm
Dex
One was with the DWP, the other I don't know if they were UK or not - it was just described as "Global Retailer" because the case was from 2010, I think the client-facing website is done by geographic region as well & if it is I probably would have taken them from the UK site. It really doesn't matter tho, the specific cases you choose are largely irrelevant as long as they are good examples of what Accenture do & ones that interest you.
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Hi,
Can you tell me more about the in-tray exercise ?
Many thanks