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Accenture Open Day for Careers Services July 1, 2011

Posted by Jeff Riley in : Graduate recruitment, consulting, development consultancies, international development, recruiters , add a comment

Every year Accenture have an open day for  Careers staff to update them on their recruitment situation.  This year it’s  at the National Theatre. A trip to the NT usually involves me paying £12 and leaving at the interval but Accenture have promised us an exciting day –so I’m sure I’m going to be here for the duration

The host for the day introduces us to Royce – a Senior Executive. Royce gets me on board by saying he cycled from London to Paris in 24 hours to mark his 50th birthday.  His career has taken him all over the world but started at Norbury. It also included developing Accenture’s relationship with the National Theatre. Because it’s Accenture, Royce says, they focus on ‘innovation’.  So no ‘Noel Coward’ and lots of ‘Warhorse’.  And the National Theatre will soon be coming to the iPhone. A shiver passes through the audience. Anyway, a lovely urbane introduction.The Recruitment Process   The morning session gave us some insights into Accenture’s recruitment process.  Beginning with 

First round telephone interviews – staff making these initial calls follow a consistent method. Almost a script really. Members of the recruitment team role played a call for us. Calls cover  three areas.

Here are some tips flowing from the role play starting with my tip about the tips. Don’t just copy the phrasing you read here but take on board the principles being outlined.

Why Accenture? Looking for specifics – less  ‘you are a big company’ and more ‘you work with such and such a client and offer this and this’.

 What does an analyst do?  Less ‘using PowerPoint and doing research, probably’ and more ‘Well, I’ve seen the video on your website and see there are a range of things. For example…..’

Competencies – The facilitator stated that they explicitly ask for answers structured on the STAR system and the role-playing interviewer reiterated this to the candidate.  

Case study – “How might you help a call centre reduce staff churn?” Do provide specific suggestions.  Don’t say “er…look at what the competition is doing?”. Be ready to be pressed for more detail on your suggestions. Heaps of case studies online on their website which Accenture feels gives you everything you need to get through the process.  

Second Round – The second round consists of an assessment centre comprising an in-tray exercise, a case study, a one to one interview and a group exercise. Concluding with another individual interview.

The group work exercise involved 4 analysts hamming it up as stereotypical

Candidates creating a plan for a school in Africa on behalf of Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP being Accenture’s international development arm).  This was all instructive and fun. In this exercise recruiters are looking for key competencies

Team Play

Initiative

Drive and Motivation

Organisation

 A key distinction was drawn here from other consultancies that place an emphasis on ‘Leadership’. Underlining the importance Accenture place on team work.  In brief –  Don’t talk over people, ensure everyone is included, be proactive and make sure you keep to time and keep to the brief.

I managed to ask a question that included a reference to ‘The Apprentice’. I contrasted the ethos of that programme (one person left standing on top of a pile of bodies who’ve been stabbed in the back) with this exercise that could see all candidates come through. The host said it was a really interesting point, so there.  Encouraged, I start working out how I can get in references to ‘Gladiator’ and ‘The Godfather’. They’re going to love ‘em.

Lunch – the thunderstorm held off long enough for the balcony barbecue to go ahead.  Top lunch as well – kebabs followed by an excellent chocolate pastry and ice cream. After lunch the rain came….spectacularly.  We are in a glass sided building high up above the river like an aviary of nervous canaries. 

Post Lunch – Some key figures setting the context for the 2011-12 campaign

500 graduate analysts needed

Summer Interns up to 250 annually by 2013 and 120 in 2011-12

Accenture considered as a top 10 employer at 14 universities

Is at number 9 in The Times Top 100

Current Share price at an all time high

The Analyst Consulting Group (ACG) – Emma Cooper, a Senior Executive, talked about ACG group that hs been created for all new graduate entrants. Whether they are recruited for Technology or  Management Consultancy.  ACG is designed to provide a chance for new entrants to get broad experience before choosing a specialism. It is the home for new entrants typically for two years. Accenture is a big organisation – 223,000 worldwide and ACG is a smaller family within that. Within ACG new entrants join one of 15 sub groups. These form the main conduit for social and training events.

Support.  The support and training package includes Career Counsellors who act as mentors for new entrants during their time at ACG.  Counsellers have ‘non-corporate’, supportive conversations that help junior analysts find their feet and direction.

Training – While Accenture do not offer a professional qualification they do provide a comprehensive training package (4 to 5 weeks in total).  Elements of this include a 2 day induction covering Accenture structure, housekeeping and a discussion on the founding Accenture values. The training includes an international element. This is to one of their international delivery centres, possibly Chicago or India.

The second year of the support programme covers more generic skills. Encouraging analysts to consider what they are known for and what they  stand for as individuals. Encouraging reflection on their personal brand. The ACG also provides a focus on Performance management and scheduling into their first projects.

Project experience during the ACG period covers the full range of analyst activities everything from training to analysis or developing training materials and providing impact assessments.

Question and Answer Session  As we were a little slow off the mark Accenture recruiters leapt in with some questions of their own to the panel. This was helpful and they were excellent questions.  But, correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t they know this stuff already?  Anyway some of the things that came out included.

Postgrads enter at the same level as those with undergraduates degrees if they don’t already have consulting experience. Accenture is a meritocratic organization so they are able to progress faster if they are high performers.

International Students Tier 1 post study can apply but this is going from April 2012 (closed by the UK Government).  Tier 2 is remaining and applicants are considered on a case-by-case basis

Technology roles are not for geeks, nor do they involve coding. Some of the exciting technology that is creating work for analysts include mobile phones, sustainability, iris and facial recognition (facial technology is being deployed now that can tell identical twins apart).

Internships are being expanded. Because they both improve performance across a range of indicators and help Accenture establish relationships with potential applicants.

International Development Consultancies (again) August 23, 2010

Posted by Jeff Riley in : development consultancies, international development , 1 comment so far

Thanks to Iain a consultant working for PKF in Kabul for pointing us to a list of consultancies when he read a recent post (http://thecareersgroupgid.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/where-do-i-find-a-list-of-development-consultancies/). Ironically it was one on an archive site of ours that we had forgotten about.  I’ve checked it out and rather than re-issue it I am going to make sure the consultancies are linked to from our ‘careerstagged.co.uk’ site – search on development consultancies.  In the meantime one of the links on the list is still extant produced by Insead the european business school http://www.insead.edu/mba/clubs/indevor/careers/IntDevConsultants.cfm

Where do I find a list of development consultancies? July 28, 2010

Posted by Jeff Riley in : development consultancies, international development , 6comments

Good question. Here’s what an experienced consultant told us.     “I haven’t come across one as such. And I wouldn’t be surprised if one does NOT exist. The amount of ‘consultancies’ that would have to be listed on this database would make it terribly overwhelming and could render the service rather obsolete. It would have to include local consultancies as well, and take Kenya for example. In Kenya alone there is probably more than 1000 businesses calling themselves consultancies, and NGOs are starting to call themselves consultancies too. If you are looking for development consultancies in particular, DevEx is a good resource and the UN procurement database has a list of all UN suppliers”

Working in an international development consultancy July 22, 2010

Posted by Jeff Riley in : Government, Intelligence and security, development consultancies, international development , add a comment

Alison Hoskins completed a Masters in International Relations at King’s College in 2009.  She completed the MA part time while continuing to work as a teacher.  She now works as a consultant in the London office of Africa Practice a strategic communications consultancy that works with governments and corporate clients in Africa. I spoke to Alison about her career change and about her successful experience of applying to the Civil Service  FastStream. 

Why did you stop being a teacher? It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy teaching. I did it for six years but  I found myself  increasingly interested in politics and international relations and there  isn’t any outlet for that in school teaching unfortunately. So I completed an MA in International Relations part-time over 2 years, which was funded by my teaching work.

That must have made it hard to do the internships that seem to be so important? Well, I think you are right about it being important but I think the fact that I’d worked as a teacher counted for something. I couldn’t afford to commit significant periods of time to internships, but I did do a couple of related periods of work experience.  I got a place on the BBC’s work experience programme at the World Service. That was four weeks unpaid but really useful and interesting. I also worked one day a week for six months at Dod’s Parliamentary Communications. This helped as well. I got some improved admin skills – there was lots of database work, but they are also a well recognised name So all that together with a good academic track record and the fact that I spoke French helped me get interviews.

You also applied to the FastStream. Tell me about that.  Actually I applied twice and it was because a speaker at the War Studies Alumni event said that he had applied again after being unsuccessful first time round that I also applied again and this time I got offered a position, although they have had to defer it for a year because of the budget cuts. 

What tips do you have for people applying to the FastStream? Well do apply again if you need to. My performance at the Assesment Centre improved second time around.  I would also say do practice for the numeracy tests. It’s more difficult to improve your verbal test scores but numeracy definitely improves with practice.  On the E-tray exercises which are all about decision making and prioritising in the arena of policy recommendations, my tip would be to work through with a bit of velocity and don’t deliberate too long.  You have 30 questions to get through in 45 minutes and not answering them can cost you more than submitting less than perfect answers.  I resisted re-reading the material you get presented with on which your decisions have to be made. Occasionally I consulted it when I knew exactly which document I needed, but in general I trusted my memory of what the issues were.  There is also an assessment centre – which is pretty awful really!  This included interviews. There are no big surprises here. They tell you they will be asking about the core competencies such as ‘Learning and Improving’ and ‘Building Relationships’.  Questions typically start with things like, ‘ Can you think of a time when…’ or ‘Can you give us an example of a good team you have been in?’ They will then drill into what you say. ‘What was good’, ‘What was difficult..?’, ‘What would you do differently?’  You need to be ready to defend what you did or did not do in situations.

In the meantime you also applied to Africa Practice. How did that come about? Well it was after I came to the careers office I read about them and sent them a speculative letter. It wasn’t straightforward but they said they might have something but they were seeing a few people and they had the possibility of some short term work coming up.  I went along for what seemed like an informal interview but in the end they offered me some paid work with the possibility of continuing work if they secured more contracts. 

What are you doing for them? Well, the client they were talking about was the African Union but since I’ve started I have also been doing some work for the government of Gabon.  In Gabon a new President has come to power after 40 years.  Because he is the son of the previous President he wants to make sure that his Presidency involves a shake-up in government communications internally and externally. This involves us advising on transparent internal systems, reshaping the way Gabon is perceived externally, particularly to investors, and a separate stream of work involves creating and supporting the First Lady’s role of meaningful philanthropy. The world doesn’t know about Gabon’s biodiversity initiatives and it’s work to counter climate change through protecting the Congo Basin. Regarding the African Union, we are supporting them in their major project of making 2010 the Year of Peace and Security in Africa. It’s a significant push to end conflict on the continent. We’re creating for them a communication strategy that will help them reach out to new partners in building peace, and reach out to ordinary Africans in a way that they’ve never been able to before.

What kinds of work does this involve?  For example I have had to draft a number of speeches for the Chairperson of the African Union. I’ve also had to write shorter speeches for Heads of State – including President Zuma of South Africa. The speeches have to be politically and culturally sensitive and generally positive. You have to be aware of the political context and the specific messages that need to be conveyed. 

I have to put together events. For example we have arranged a meeting of people the AU have enrolled as ‘Peace Ambassadors’, including FW De Klerk and Archbishop Tutu. This area of work includes working up what are virtually job descriptions for the role and putting together a prospectus together for the first meeting, for example how the meeting will be organised and what the topics are and how things get taken forward.  One of the ideas is to have the Ambassadors make certain ‘pledges’ about what they intend to contribute. We are going to record these and seek advertising space for them, and I’ve been involved in organising that.

I’ve had to learn a lot very quickly about media relations.  Trying to make sure our client’s messages get aired in the media. For example, contacting Africa correspondents of newspapers and the BBC and persuading them that the stories are worth telling.

I’ve some really interesting experiences: I’ve already been out to Addis Ababa to go work at the African Union, I went to see the Ugandan Ambassador to Ethiopia while I was there, and I’ve just met Mo Ibrahim at his office in London.