Booz Allen Hamilton Reviews

Pros

The employees at Booz Allen are of high caliber and can teach you a lot.
The total benefits package is one of the best I have ever seen.
Very clear advancement path and expectations.
Very flexible in terms of work life balance and time scheduling.

Cons

The companies public offering is changing the way the company works, some of the fringe benefits are slowly being taken away. The majority of the technical work is located in the Washington, DC Metro area, so if you want to succeed in this firm, that's the best place to do it.

Pros

Good Name, Flexibility of Work Schedules, Friendly to Veterans and Military Reservists. There are several opportunities to learn new skills.

Cons

The salary is not as competitive as it should be considering the firm's pedigree in the consulting field. They should pay a higher salary.

Pros

You'll work with some very bright, interesting people
Very social company with people doing sports, community service and other things together
Opportunity to work on challenging and unique problems
Collaborative culture where multidisciplinary teams pull together to solve problems; you learn from a lot of disciplines
Benefits, especially the 401k contributions are far above industry norm

Cons

Since the Carlyle buyout, the culture that made the company great is changing for the worse. Over focus on expenses and growth, especially quarterly results, is starting to make the firm much less collaborative and dynamic than it was before.
As you become more senior, the overhead in the firm increases significantly.

Pros

great staff and opportunities to switch lines of business

Cons

work/life balance is an area for improvement

Advice to Senior Management

seek employees opinions

Pros

Everyone in the entire organization treats me with great professionalism. They are sincerely interested in making sure employees achieve a work-life balance.

Cons

Some processes are slower than with small companies but this is a minor inconvenience and when balanced with the strong collaboration environment, becomes trivial in nature.

Advice to Senior Management

There is very little improvement that needs to be made to make this a long term company to work for

Pros

- Good work / life balance (Depending on contract)
- Abundance of facilities in Metro DC area
- Good benefits

Cons

I just moved to the DC area after being hired as a Cyber Consultant, only to find out that I would have to fight for my career as soon as I got here. I was hired for non-existent commercial work, and as a new graduate (entry/junior level) I have found ZERO opportunities within the firm. Upper management is very unhelpful, and only instructs you to make sure that your Hello profile is up to date and that you are checking the jobs.bah.com website for open positions. OH REALLY! I HAD NO IDEA I HAD TO DO THAT! I spend at least 1-2 hours everyday on jobs.bah.com, or reading the internal job reports, and sending out applications / following up with hiring managers. The few jobs that there are, all require clearances. I am FULLY clearable, and have absolutely no reason to be declined a clearance, however finding someone to actually sponsor the clearance is impossible within the firm.

The process goes like this: Apply to job that you meet 75-100% of requirements, notify them that you have a Secret clearance, and ability/willingness for a TS, or SCI or FSP if required. Receive notification that client is not willing to sponsor clearance, and hiring manager hires an outside resource. Original internal Booz Allen candidate receives lack of work notice and is given two weeks to find something, AS IF THEY HAVENT BEEN LOOKING ALL ALONG. At the end of this two weeks, the Booz Allen employee is laid off with no severance.

Terrible experience, unprofessional/disconnected upper management, and a focus on the bottom line at the expense of employee satisfaction.

Advice to Senior Management

If you have a bench, and the choice is to either clear those on the bench, or have them sit idle on the bench and lay them off later down the line due to lack of work, why are you choosing to lay them off? This is people's lives we're talking here, not just a job. Do the right thing and actually help those on the bench versus this philosophy of "every man for themselves".

Pros

- Work-Life Balance
- Great opportunities for training (Technical, Leadership, Management)
- Great benefits
- Competitive salary

Cons

Before BAH went public, they use to retain their skilled and talented resources, now they want bodies to fill a billable seat. If you are not on a billable task, then its more than likely you will be released for the firm.

Advice to Senior Management

Season consultants that have been with the firm for several years are being released, if they can be placed on billable tasks. Retention used to be valued with the firm, now its not.

Pros

You can work with incredibly talented technical people.

Cons

Senior Associates have complete control over those under them, with no culpability or real oversight.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't leave your worker bees at the mercy of a despot Senior Associate.

Pros

Retirement 401K
Resume Builder
Cafe Onsite
Benefits - Health Ins, Disability Ins, Vision, Flexible Spending Account
Parking
Free Coffee and Water

Cons

Not enough jobs for all the new hires
Management is unprofesional (lack people skills, ruthless, untrustworthy)
Employees are overworked, miserable and leaving
Company no longer has a good reputation

Advice to Senior Management

Management needs to focus on employee morale
Stop the mass hiring
Repair reputation with clients
Company can't sustain the rate it's going

Pros

-Great hard-working people below the management levels
-Free water and coffee at the local office
-Teammates often share dedication and work ethic

Cons

-Dishonesty in hiring practices. You're told that you're hired to do a job long term, and then discover that you'll be doing something totally different and it's short term
-Unappreciation for technical/engineering employees. Only those at a level IV or above get the glory.
-There is NOT a flat org chart. Employees are designated at levels and there is a certain pecking order. If you get on the wrong side of a higher level as a level I or II (Consultant or Sr. Consultant), look out
-Technical decisions are made poorly, political motives take precedence
-Oppressive culture, you have to work the overtime and bow to those above you or you will be forced out
-Focus seems to be on making bodies billable instead of properly fitting qualified personnel where they would be better utilized
-Many workers dread a lack of work letter (or LAW), as the company does not assist you in finding billable work, creating a culture of fear. No communication or clarity from management on status of your contract
-Exodus of knowledgebase from office, many leaving for greener pastures and limited passing of knowledge
-Although the company culture forces a strange dress code upon its employees that is often mocked by government customers (expect to wear suits and ties), people are talked to and treated unprofessionally (vindictive behavior by managers, threats, grudges, etc)
-Leadership ignores suggestions, requests, advice of best practices, etc., and marches on their own agenda which can create ethical dilemmas for those executing tasks
-Little to no support from leadership on site, as they are often more concerned with employee reviews or business proposals.
-Leadership is completely blind to the low morale of the workforce
-Reviews grade you on business development instead of quality of work/support of the customer/etc. Thus, unless you're bringing in new contracts promotion is impossible (as well as raises). This applies to EVERY employee, even if you're tasked with engineering/technical work

Advice to Senior Management

Start appreciating your technical staff. They're the ones that make it happen. If you cannot communicate and be honest with your workforce, what hope do you have of staff retention. Also, have HR be honest with potential employees.. work life balance is poor, what their job will really be, etc. Booz Allen felt more like a TekSystems or staffing agency with a silly dress code than it did a strong defense contractor with presence and respect in the local market. People joke that this place is a revolving door and a LAW letter could come at any moment. All the turnover will only hinder growth in the Huntsville market. You're drawn into Booz with all the flashy marketing of career growth/work life balance/long term career and quickly discover that it's the polar opposite.