Booz Allen Hamilton Reviews in San Diego, CA Area

Pros

Willing to take young inexperienced grads and train them. PTO is generous. Government sector work is 9 to 5 and pretty chill.

Cons

Upward mobility past associate/ lead associate level is limited. Pretty much have to wait for someone to leave the firm to make the jump. Lots of administrative burden comes with higher management positions. You lose exposure to functional area expertise.

Advice to Senior Management

Stick to it's claim that it is a flexible work environment. If clients want you to work compressed work week schedule, the firm should support those requests.

Pros

-Great amount of respect is given to employees
-Great Flexibility and time/work life balance
-Amazing 401k free bonus
-Can change what you do without changing your job if you're tired of doing it, bored, unhappy, underwater -etc as long as you handle it right

If you can get a Job at BAH consider yourself very lucky. It is an amazing resume builder and you will learn a LOT about proposals, business development, professionalism, productivity, etc. especially if you're right out of college.

Cons

Ever since their purchase by Carlyle there have been little changes adding up to a big problem. There is a serious vacuum formed by the decisions of management to enslave themselves to quarterly profit reports. The company culture used to be very people-centric; they knew they didn't sell widgets, only people's time and invested in it. People didn't come to BAH to learn, they brought skills and experience that could deliver (for the most part).

For the last 3 years, they have been trying to emulate CSC/SAIC/ManTech and just put butts in the seat. They are so focused on reducing costs to the government to be more competitive against more 'value' contractors that they are turning into them. It's a slow march to mediocrity. The truly dedicated and talented who are still around are stressed to hell trying to carry the water for 5 underlings right out of college with no experience in the field (or anywhere). Every veteran lost increases the size of the vacuum, but there are no acquisitions or senior strategic hires to fill the void; instead they just stretch whatever is left which is just accelerating the drain.

Pros

Leadership cares about the staff, there are multiple career paths, and even as the company has grown it has maintained an entrepreneurial environment.

Cons

As the company has grown there has been an increasing communications gap. In prior years it was very much the feel f a partnership, has been trending towards more of a traditional corporate environment lately.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't forget that the company's sole product is knowledge and expertise of individual people; as decisions need to be made the staff need to get clearer reasons why choices are made to be able to buy into the vision.

Pros

1.) The people you'll work with are incredibly bright, perceptive, and forward-leaning to get the job done
2.) The benefit packages are outstanding. I don't think you'll be able to find a better 401-k matching program most other plances
3.) As a Senior Consultant, the work-life balance is great. However, as you go up past Associate, expectations for work load are much higher.
4.) Very veteran friendly organization. Many of its employees are military veteran's, so they greatly respect your previous service and any current service if you are a Reservist. As a Reservist myself, I have had the flexibility to perform as much as I needed to without flashback from Booz Allen as an employer. That flexibility was outstanding!

Cons

The only con is that it can be very slow to advance depending on your situation. If you are in a position where you can help bring in a lot of business, then things will move faster for you. If not, it can feel a little stagnant promotion-wise if you're in a position where it's difficult to find our build work.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the great work!

Pros

As a management services company, to be an employee of the Firm of Booz Allen Hamilton is a real feather in the cap. Booz Allen is on the cutting edge of client consulting, with a nearly 100 year history. BAH coined the term "consultant." The management has strong leadership capability, with a lot of former military officers holding those positions. That's a pro for good management, and possibly a con for breaking in. Advanced degrees are common and a boost getting in. Training opportunities within the Firm are good. Proposals are bread and butter to your career, so get involved somehow.
~ The office environment is top notch - great building, great area...nice lobby and frontage area.
~ Great technology support. 24/7 helpdesk by phone or remote into your computer. Good people on site when you have to take your computer in (everyone gets a laptop).
~ 360 degree assessment process is the most fair. Your assessment doesn't totally depend on your relationship to one person--your manager.
~ Client environment is close

Cons

~ Management is heavy on the prior military officers.
~ Proposal time has to be accounted for and goes against overhead, so small tiger teams are put together and time is managed closely. Volunteering is harder than it used to be.
~ Client environment is SPAWAR primarily. Very little commercial work as of the time of my departure.
~ Many employees have to work at the Old Town SPAWAR "campus." That's a whole 'nother story.
~ And this is the biggie--Defense work is getting more and more hard to find. Price competition seems to be forcing the hiring of younger workers for lower rates. Therefore the true role of consultant may be waning and giving way once again to services alone.

Advice to Senior Management

You're doing a good job of getting the Firm through hard times of Defense reductions. Go commercial. Go medical, as you're starting to do. Stick with the 360 degree assessment if you can figure a way to make it less consumptive of time. Check out online tools and services for conduct of them.

Pros

Great opportunity for professional development.
Compensation is comparable if not better than similar competitors
The management cares about staff career plans

Cons

With the market turning into what it is, you honestly do need to know people in order to get ahead. This may be a bad thing for some, but I honestly believe it's necessary.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you're doing. The majority of the employees understand why the company moves and changes its strategy the way it does.

Pros

Good work-life balance; pride in co-worker and leadership competencies; fairly low-stress assignments with Government clients; schedule flexibility; many locations for job mobility; military spouse friendly.

Cons

Upper management is comprised largely of retired military officers who have too strong of a time in grade, time in service mentality when it comes to promotions. Young, fast-trackers are often told they don't have enough "run time" for promotion.

Advice to Senior Management

Promote individuals based on their competencies demonstrated and what they are capable of handling, not on how much "run time" they have or how much face time they have with leadership back at Booz Allen. Those of us on client site don't have the time to "socialize" with leadership because we are too busy running operations at the client site. Don't forget what it was like to be in our shoes.

Pros

Booz Allen Hamilton will allow you the freedom to make your own career. If you are a performer, they will reward you. They are willing to pay for any career advancement or certification. They allow a flexible work schedule and telecommuting (if client is okay with it). Have only found a few unfriendly or unresponsive people but, they are everywhere. 10% of your gross salary is invested for you.

Cons

Men have to wear suits all the time. It’s a very conservative environment.

Your primary client is the DoD which is far behind the times and there is incompetence everywhere, which causes you more frustration than satisfaction. You often wonder why your taxes are paying these people wages (both civ and non-civ). The people that you find that are proactive have been beaten down by the system.

To advance in you will need to bring business which will be difficult if you were not in the military and say goodbye to work/life balance. If you don't perform, they will let you go. It is not your typical defense contractor.

Employee recognition has taken a big hit since going public. The years of getting iPods, sunglasses, and happy hours in the office are over. The Carlyle Group is slowing killing the morale and working environment by making the company go public.

Advice to Senior Management

You've made your money so become a private company, again. The culture and leadership's view towards employees have changed significantly since announcing the firm was going public. It'll probably get worse and the firm will look like all the other defense contractors where employees have to buy their own water and are totally unhappy.

Pros

good work life balance, benefits

Cons

very old conservative way of doing business
Its very profit oriented down to the lowest levels

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in technology and especially in training

Pros

Booz Allen Hamilton has a great corporate culture

Cons

Booz Allen Hamilton doesn't have any cons