Booz Allen Hamilton Reviews

Pros

They tried to help me learn more about government contracting

Cons

A lot of down time

Pros

The ability to manage my own career and projects.

Cons

Highly social nature of decision making often results in it taking a long time to make decisions.

Advice to Senior Management

Balancing working load across the firm's levels will be important for continued strong growth and quality delivery.

Pros

Talented staff are usually recognized. Opportunities for advancement usually based on results. Culture of collegial management (at least historically) and proactive mentoring. Fair amount of autonomy.

Cons

Life-work balance close to nonexistent for management and business development levels- it's assumed you're available 24/7. Cyclical over-reaction to events throughout the fiscal year. Get off the billable hours train and focus on business development at your own risk.

Advice to Senior Management

Manage the transition to a public firm without forgetting your roots - the commitment to people as resources is becoming a joke.

Pros

flexible (depending on client), learning opportunities, education reimbursement, interesting work, remote work is very convenient

Cons

a lot of work for not great pay, managers need to learn how to manage, expected extracurriculars

Advice to Senior Management

compensate staff for their extracurricular work

Pros

Benefits are better than most, particularly the retirement fund
Pay is comparable with other firms
People (most) are great to work with
Opportunities abound for those who seek them

Cons

Bureaucracy is a bit tedious - I feel like it takes weeks or months to get things reviewed/approved, when at my previous VERY small firm it would takes minutes or hours
Not all managers are created equal...some are great while others are dreadful and are allowed to continue in their roles unchecked
It's not as "fun" as it used to be - some of the cultural advantages seem to have gone away

Advice to Senior Management

Minimize all of the layers of bureaucracy. It shouldn't take 20 meetings to get a deliverable or proposal reviewed.
Be honest with the people you hire - I see so much misalignment between what new hires think they're going to be doing, and what they're actually doing. Particularly in the more junior staff. The recruiting process needs some checks and balances.

Pros

They have alot of talented people that work for them. They are a matrixed organization which gives you access to those expertise.

Cons

The amount of support you get in when you are at a remote site is limited.

Advice to Senior Management

I applied for a position and was hired for that position. When I got to the client site it was a completely different job than what was advertised.

Pros

Reputable company to work for
Training Opportunities are abundant and frequent
Many Clients to work for

Cons

Over the past 3 years I have been with BAH the company has changed. First, since September 2011 people have been receiving "Lack of Work letters" and given 10 days to find another job inside of BAH or they are told to hit the street. Second, if it is taking more than usual to get someone cleared, they are told they don't meet BAH requirements and let go. (you have 2 tries on the POLYGRAPH, although the GOVT gives you four). Third, we are now told they want to make the company more competitive by firing Partners, Principals, and Senior Associates. My fear is that next quater they will go after Associates and Senior Consultants (the worker Bees). My prediction is that they will get rid of the beach and ... people will not be able to charge to General Admin (G). BAH want you to attend team meetings, trainings, and complete BAH requirements, but they don't want you to bill to "G" BAH is becoming like CSC, CACI, and Deloitte. I would be suprised if BAH is making themselves attractive so that they can be sold to another company like....... IBM...

Advice to Senior Management

TELL THE TRUTH.

Pros

+ Good salary and benefits
+ Good firm for transitioning military members
+ Ample training opportunities

Cons

+ 360 review structure is very time consuming
+ Little flexibility on which clients and projects you want to work with -- very siloed organization
+ No bonus structure for most -- creates complacent work atmosphere
+ Lack of innovation and motivation among employees -- partly to blame on resistant government clients
+ Difficult for employees on client site to connect with the rest of the firm
+ Hired too many people and no surprise they had to trim the fat -- unfortunate for those who were let go

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate to employees and create better incentives to increase performance.

Pros

The combination of Work-Life Balance, Tuition Reimbursement, Compensation, 401(k) Retirement Plan, and Breadth of Service Offerings to the Client are unparalleled at any other Consulting Firm.

Cons

Booz Allen is mainly focused in the Federal Government Market, need to create a greater footprint in the private sectors; such as healthcare, cyber security, and energy.

Advice to Senior Management

The idea of a "360 Degree" annual assessment is a great idea, however is should not be so labor intensive that it becomes a burnden to the assessee and/or assessor.

Pros

-Pay (sort of)
-You get to work with a lot of experts in their respective fields
-Hoteling often lets you work from many different offices
-Really understanding about flexible working situations
-The company is dedicated to providing training and development to all employees

Cons

-Layoffs are big now. 130+ senior staff were let go last week and today (1/27/2012) over 300 people were let go in just this area. Types of people let go today: Mailroom staff (most of them), printshop staff, Human Capital staff, EA's and others. This is just the start.

-Management is terrible at communication. You never know what is going on and when you ask about anything you are looked at as "creating waves" and that is not a good thing right now (considering the layoffs).

-The pay isn't great -- especially for what they charge gov't clients.

-Benefits are about to get a big overall for a lot of people. In the coming weeks, Booz Allen senior staff will be rolling out a plan that will put a great number of staff in what they call "Cost Band 8." Those put into this category will have greatly reduced benefits, reduction in pay/level in the firm, reduced tuition reimbursement, and many other benefits stripped from them. If you are on the client side and are not cleared, are at a low level (Sr. Consultant or below), or don't have high value to the firm -- expect to be on the list. GO Team people can expect it to shortly after.