Accenture Consultant Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – The interview process Consisted of 3 rounds

My recruiter was great and knowledgeable, she updated me on the process of the interviews and expectations beforehand.

1st Round of Interviews -

(Duration = 30-40 Min ) (Type = Phone Interview)

It was a phone screening with the recruiter, she basically went over my resume and the details mentioned within it, to asses my experiences and knowledge for the bases of the job I was applying for.

2nd Round of Interviews -

(Duration = 50 - 60 Min) (Type = Phone Interview)

The interview revolved around situational, and behavioral questions such as :

I- Tell me about a time when you had taken a leadership role?
II-Tell me about a time when you where able to impress a client or a person in a higher position?
III- How did you handle meeting a tight deadline and how did you reduce time to follow up?
IV- How did it feel to reach the goals you set?
V- Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they weren't thrilled about? How did you deal with it?
VI- Give me example of how you worked on some thing with a team?
Etc...

This interviews main intention is to asses how you would interact in certain situations and how you handle them based on your past experiences.
what you need to do is to be concise in your answers, and to elaborate on your own personal experiences as much as possible.
The interviewer was great and made me feel very relaxed before we started.

3rd Round of Interviews -

(Duration = Attend 2 Hr presentation & 45 min interview ) (Type = In Person / face to face)

The Interview is conducted with two senior managers

Interview Details – Interview with HR Recruiter & with Practice Manager, passed
HR Behavioral Test - passed
Sr. Exec interview - this guy was with the firm for 20+ years, never worked anywhere else

I accepted a position with a competing firm at a higher salary, less travel

Reason for Declining – Not impressed with Sr. Exec and his attitude. I accepted a position with a competing firm at a higher salary, less travel

Interview Details – The interview process was pretty quick compared to other consulting firms. My recruiter was great - she kept me up to speed on everything, told me beforehand what type of interview/questions would be asked so I could prepare and responded the next day after each interview.

Consists of 4-5 interviews (I had an extra interview with another Mgr of the same group - normally it is only 4 interviews total)

1st rd - phone screen with Recruiter

2nd rd - past experience phone interview with Manager of the practice I was applying to. Discussed my past, what skills I have that are pertinent to the group, how I would fit in, etc. Some technical questions were asked, however not very difficult.

3rd rd - behavioral interview by phone with HR. She was great and made me feel very relaxed before we began. Tell me about a time where xx questions. I had the flexibility to skip some questions where I could not provide an example of which was a great option (however I did not exercise it). Told stories of different engagements I have been on.

4th rd - skills phone interview with another Manager I was applying to. He asked more technical questions in nature.

5th rd - face to face with Sr Exec. I went into the office to talk to the Sr Exec. We were scheduled for 1 hr however began early and ran about 80 min total. The Sr Exec talked a majority of the time and offered great insight/history of the company and practice. Kind of sold me on Accenture although I had already been sold after hearing what each interviewer said about the company/practice.

Received great feedback the next business day and an offer 2 days after. I had another offer at the time so I asked for 48 hrs to give a reply and they were fine with it.

Negotiation Details – Negotiated a few more on the base (4%) as I had another offer on my end.

Interview Details – I applied via website for a position in Washington D.C. I received a phone call a few days later, which was a simple resume/phone screen. Second interview was more in-depth. About 4-5 questions simple behavioral questions that led into further details depending on your response. A few days later I received a phone call from my initial recruiter inviting me to the final round interview in Chicago, IL. They flew me over and covered all expenses. Put up in Hard Rock Hotel, which was awesome. The next morning, there were three other candidates. They believed that if we made it this far (to the final round), we were pretty much in as long as we maintained our composure as we did during the second round. The third round interview consisted of a short ice breaker, breakfast, an hour long presentation about Accenture, and two interviews 1:1 with managers/executives. My first interview was extremely relaxed, it was more like a conversation than anything. My second interview was similar to the second round interview but barely as in-depth. Ask questions to show that you're interested! I can't remember any questions, sorry!

Negotiation Details – No negotiation. Offer was competitive

Also, even though I applied for the D.C. Metro area with a position in the Data Entry group, I was placed in New York Metro area in another group. So I think as long as you make it there and they want you, you will get your #1 location.

Interview Details – The first round was a simple screening interview. Just basically me walking through my resume. 2nd interview was long one hour to be exact. Its a situational interview where i was asked about 4 "tell me about a time when" questions. It wasn't that hard to me but just be sure to be able to elaborate on any experience that you've had thats job related. They will ask many sub questions about your experience like "why did you do that?", "how did you feel?", "were you successful? ", etc. 3Rd interview is the last and final which is an in person interview. They have you sit in a 2 hour presentation about accenture.then you have two back to back 45minute interview with two senior managers.

Interview Details – I applied for a Change Management consultant role based on the advice from my friend: a former consultant at Accenture. My friend happened to know the recruiter and made sure that she looked at my resume. The recruiter admitted to me that she wouldn't have picked my resume because I didn't have enough change management experience on it, but did so upon recommendation of my friend. I interviewed with the recruiter via phone for the first round. I interviewed with a Change Management Senior Manager via phone for my second round. I interviewed with two Senior Managers in the SF Office for my final round. That was just before Christmas, so I had to wait 2 weeks to get the offer. The hardest part was getting someone to vouch for me to the recruiter to put me on the interview track.

Negotiation Details – I asked for $10,000 more, additional signing bonus, and compensation for an HR certification that I was about to test for. The response was that the salaries were more science than art in the way compensation at Accenture worked, and I was able to squeeze only $2,000 more out of them. I negotiated with the recruiter, and she was very good.

Interview Details – Pretty typical interview process, utilizing STAR method. They ask you a lot about the experiences that you list on your resume.

Interview Details – Met Accenture at a Career Fair (was looking for them all over and found ten or so minutes before the career fair would end for the day), got an onsight 1st interview for the next day.
            - This will be a screening to get to know you, your attitude, resume, working with teams, and Why Accenture (crucial question for all three steps)
After one business week I was told I would be moved to the second round. This round was long (1 hour exactly and I was only able to ask one questions because it seemed as if after the one hour the interviewer had other commitments). This interview is completely behavioral so have atleast 3 stories memorized that you can talk about IN DETAIL in regards to team work and how YOU handled things; even though they dont instruct this way but STAR method is best.
Questions were?
- Name a time you were a part of a project or something for an extended amount of time (perhaps a project you were apart of from start to finish
- Tell me about a time you depended one somebody for information (or in general) and they didnt come through
- Name a time where you had a lot of information and how did you handle it

I spent atleast 15 minutes on each question so i can minimize the amount of questions interviewer would ask because more and more questions can get repititive
So we ended with the why Accenture (this was also indirectly asked in the very beginning as well) + one question I asked and the hour was over

3 busniess days later I was informed I would be moving to the 3rd round a week later (all expense trip to DC location)

Started with the 1.5-2 hour presentation from 4 current analyst (very nice very laid back)

Then the interview part; first with manager, then with senior manager (have ALOT of questions prepared, ALOT)

First interview:
Asked 2 typical behavioral questions (something like general team work skills, and the wierd questions of name a time things went down South; I was completely in a blank...after all you are trying to impress them...right?)
My key in this interview was that I kept asking more and more and more questions about the managers experience and about Accenture to steer away from traditional annoying behavioral questions
....oh yea and WHY ACCENTURE??? (and are you ok with traveling)

Second interview: (was alot more formal and frightening)
Asked like 5 behavioral questions
- Had conflict with co-worker
-Unexpected problem and how did you solve
- A couple others
- Why Accenture
- Ok with traveling?
- Location

tried to ask same amount of questions but because this interview was so much more formal then the previous one I felt like a panicked a bit

....I thought i blew the interview so much...but I got an offer 5 business days later (All praise is to God)

Hope this helps
Be confident but not arrogant
Know your stories and the company
Be proactive

Negotiation Details – Salary: Great
Relocation bonus: Not so good, but being out of college leaved little room for complaining and lots for being thankful

Interview Details – I applied online for an entry level Management consulting position. I have an MBA and three years of finance experience. An HR rep contacted me approximately 3 weeks later asking if I would be interested in a position in Systems Integration despite the fact that I have no technology background. I responded, "Yes of course, I can learn anything I put my mind to." True statement.

1st Interview:
A week later, I was contacted by HR for a phone screening; you go over your resume, etc. They are just trying to make sure you are who you say you are.

2nd Interview:
About 5 days later I had a 30-45 min phone interview with Senior Exec. I found that this was very scripted and really easy if you prepare. RESEARCH the person that is interviewing you! Make a personal connection, build rapport, find commonalities... they will like you and remember you. From my experience, this will be your (only) time to sell yourself and brag about your accomplishments. Review the questions on Glassdoor that are already listed. Each question I was given was on this site.

3rd Interview:
Finally, 4 months after my initial HR screening, Accenture flew me to DC and put me in a hotel. The final round started at 8:30am and there were about 15 other candidates in my group. We stared with a 1 hr. presentation with consultants (very laid back), followed by two 1hr back-to-back interviews with manager/sr. exec. To be honest, the last two interviews completely caught me off-guard; these interviews are simply a conversation, I was hardly asked anything. The first guy didn’t know my background or anything about me. Compared to previous interviews, I was not impressed in the slightest. I left feeling disappointed that I wasn't "drilled" as hard as I would have liked; difficult questions give you your time to shine!
So again, do your RESEARCH. Come prepared with many (intelligent) questions to ask, know what the senior exec's do on a daily basis, even look into which specific projects they are currently working on, they will be impressed! Just simply be able to hold a meaningful conversation. LISTEN to them and be able to provide thoughtful, clever, and quick feedback. Shoot, stroke their egos… all you have to do is get them to like you! They are only testing your interpersonal and communication skills.

Review:
After the final interview I flew home the same day (Thursday), emailed my recruiter to thank her, and asked when I would hear back. I was told either Friday or Monday. So I waited, waited, sent another email on Wednesday (I had another offer pending) and then finally was contacted on Thursday with the news that Accenture would not be able to hire me due to my LACK of TECHNICAL experience. Irritating? Very much so. The fact that I took time from my current job and studies to curtail to this unorganized interview process and fly to DC for such a response, or lack there of. Thankfully I had already accepted the other position before I received Accenture’s call.

So kids, there is my story, good luck! Accenture is a very good company to work for, just not for me or for my career path. Remember: research, study, and listen. If Accenture has come to you, your career/school accomplishments have already spoken for themselves; the goal now is to get them to like you!