Accenture Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

ESOP with a 15% discount on last trading day. Worked in Finance so no recommendation on consulting environment, but the people made it a great place to work and everyone is willing to help you out, even across groups.

Cons

Pay was usually lower compared to other comparable positions. Also review process for non-consulting was the same as it was for consulting, making it hard to get the top tier/review in your peer group. Bascially it came down to how much clout your manager had (if he/she liked you). This was one of the biggest flaws in the review process. Also it was difficult to move upward in a group if you liked it as there were very few positions to go around.

Advice to Senior Management

Fix the review process for non-consulting positions and be willing to "create" new positions in those groups in order not to lose good workers.

Pros

Competitive entry level salary. Good atmosphere and camaraderie. Possible to be in a range of roles and industries. The company is fairly supportive of its employees when it comes to career goals and other big picture things (time off, family etc.).

Cons

Pay increases and bonuses are not great. Hours can be a bit long. There is no true management consulting arm. It's merely a front for the IT consulting (Accenture's core competency).

Advice to Senior Management

In general management is running the company well. The review process is a bit shaky since you depend heavily on a bunch of senior management that may not know you at all.

Pros

Variety. The breadth of work Accenture does is huge so it offers opportunities to work in a lot of different industries and projects.

Cons

Extremely difficult to get promoted. Accenture has become so large and transitioned so much to outsourcing for steady, predictable revenue streams (in part as a result of being a public company) that it takes more and more "people leverage" to create slots at the Senior Executive level.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't forget about the consulting staff who grind it out every day on big, complicated system integration or transformation projects. That is the engine of the firm.

Pros

Flexible work arrangements (sometimes)
Great benefits/health coverage

Cons

Internal review process is terrible
Only real opportunities are for folks on the line

Advice to Senior Management

Stop hiring your neighbor's kid and promoting your drinking buddies
Start rewarding the people who actually produce

Pros

--Broad range of experiences - because of its sheer size, broad list of clients and industries, large number of services it offers and its geographic span Accenture can offer a huge amount of opportunities to be exposed to things you want to see and learn.
--Great training and on-the-job learning - Accenture invests heavily in training its employees. Before going on his / her first project assignment each analyst or consultant spends 3 weeks in formal training. In addition, the majority of learning occurs on the job through mentoring from managers with more experience or others in the practice.
--Great people to work with - even with its over 180,000 employees worldwide, Accenture manages to provide an atmosphere where you feel a part of a community or practice and are free to bond and exchange experience and ideas with colleagues with a broad range of interests and experiences.

Cons

--Accenture's focus is IT, even in projects that start out as non-IT. There is a lot of IT knowledge around and they lead the industry in that area. However, if you're not into IT Accenture may not be the best place to start your career.

Advice to Senior Management

The pay at Accenture is below what the industry is offering for the same type of work. In some cases, there are large discrepancies in pay for people doing the same job, because of how they ended up in the job. To retain top talent, it might be a good idea to look at making pay a bit more equitable.

Pros

Has a great management structure, pay and benefits package very generous. I loved to travel and ccenture has many profects throughout the country

Cons

No room for growth. Many employees leave the company to excel with competitors. It is hard to move up in management.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to put more effort and concentration toward future leaders. The pay for experienced SAp consultants are not up to par with competiters

Pros

Variety of experience and clients. Variety in project work. The ability to work with a variety of people within the company in a short period of time. Lots of training resources at your disposal.

Cons

The traveling can be very taxing. In my 2 and a half years there, I was traveling 4 days a week.

Advice to Senior Management

The employee valuation system could use some work. I would also say they could do a lot in the way of creating more of a sense of community in the local offices.

Pros

Accenture recruits out of college, so you can get your start in this industry here. Opportunities are good overall. You'll meet and work with bright people. If you're not too interested in doing technical work, this is a good place to be.

Cons

Pay is well below market. You could get laid off at any moment. If you want to get in-depth knowledge about specific technologies, I'm afraid you're in the wrong company.

Spend a few years here and then jump to greener pastures.

Advice to Senior Management

Why does Accenture work so hard to perpetuate the myth that the best way to serve clients is to bill them hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to fly people in from other locations? What good does that do? Telecommuting would save our company and our clients a great deal of money and contribute immeasurably to employee satisfaction. It's time for Accenture to be a leader in this indsutry for once.

Pros

Accenture looks great on your resume & opens up loads of opportunities after you cut your teeth here. They provide good experience, & quick advancement -assuming you navigate the political snake waters. Having worked here will give you tons more experience in shorter time than your collegues elsewhere -- so it will shave years off your promotion path once you move to a 'regular' job.

Cons

Accenture very much has a chew-them-up-and-spit-them-out mentality. There is no work-life balance. Promotions are extremely political, despite lots of talk from senior leadership about pay and promos being based on individual performance.

Advice to Senior Management

After 9 years with the firm, I'm sad to see our 'Core Values' increasingly being made just hollow words printed on our letterhead. We need to start weeding out the snakes, and retaining the real talent. It seems all our smartest, hardest working keep leaving in droves -- and the people who remain are not up to the moral codes we claim to promote.

Pros

I work with other intelligent people who I enjoy and respect. Benefits are good. I can work from home sometimes.

Cons

Often asked to cancel vacations. I get stuck in the same kind of role over and over. Uncompetitive pay.

Advice to Senior Management

Your people are your biggest asset. Focus on making us happy through respecting our work-life balance and supporting our growth.