Booz Allen Hamilton Reviews in Washington, DC Area

Pros

Professional Environment to work in if you are interested in hard work. Your ambition is the only thing stopping you.

Cons

Competetive to gain notice. Sometimes you can get stuck on a project and it is hard to move laterally in the company.

Pros

Generally, benefits are pretty good. Plenty of vacation days, profit sharing integrated with 401k.
Booz Allen is a great place for young people to start because of the strong corporate culture (what to do and what not to do), 360-review process, and highly defined performance criteria. Also has reachback capabilities far beyond any other company I've worked for, with technical focus groups, communities of practice, and a new (internal) social networking web site. Generally, your management usually looks out for you and helps you work on your career progression.

Cons

Responsibilities are organized different than other companies, which means you may not have as much purview as you did with your last company (even though you may be qualified). E.g. you may have led teams of 40 people before, but if Booz brings you in as an Associate or Lead Associate, you likely will not have purview over that many personnel... and you will likely not have as much purview over personnel management activities until you are a Sr. Associate or Principal.

Career progression is highly dependent on being in the right place and right time. It's not the typical model of do well and you'll move up. You have to do well, be highly networked, and "own" a market.... which can be very difficult. People can end up being at the Associate level for 20 years.

There are a lot of demands on your time. After working your 8 hour shift, you may be required to work on markeitng, proposals, white papers, focus group or community presentations, etc. You are required to do A LOT to get by within this company. They talk about work/life balance, but admit that the "balance" is different for everyone... and naturally has to be balanced towards "work" to get ahead in the company.

The company was purchased by Carlyle Group and there are pressures on profitability that are causing mental anguish on the employees. The culture is changing.

Pros

Booz Allen Hamilton is a large firm with many service lines and practices. This creates an opportunity to expose yourself to how different practices and industries work and may provide you with a chance to pick up new skills.

Cons

The quality variance across teams at Booz Allen Hamilton is high. There is also an unwritten expectation of working "magic" hours when project's have billing limits.

Advice to Senior Management

Please provide more resources for professional development and help ensure the quality of staff is consistent throughout the firm. Extreme emphasis on utilization rate does not create a thriving environment for innovation and self-enrichment.

Pros

Really smart people, lots of flexibility.

Cons

Lots of change going on, culture of fear since The Carlisle Group took over. Company is changing from a consulting to a contracting firm.

Advice to Senior Management

Make more time for your junior employees.

Pros

pay, hours, location, access to technology

Cons

hours, recognition To long towards promotions

Advice to Senior Management

recognize key employees

Pros

Good exposure to prop writing
Good work exposure
Smart coworkers
great benefits
great internal training

Cons

The pyramid won't work anymore
Govt is shrinking
Billability

Advice to Senior Management

Booz was a graet place to work for up until this year. It's been three years after the sell/buy out with Caryle and the "corporate changes" are starting to flow down. This is a great place to learn how to work props and learn a lot of IP. You can also keep up certs with all of the internal training which is great for more junior personnel. otherwise... Don't plan on making this place a career. Billiability is a new force in the firm and the mid managers are under the gun to execute revenue. They just changed the threshold to be part of the bonus pool to a ridiculous level. This place will have issues when everyone isn't drinking the Kool Aid.

Pros

- Good name on a resume, at least for a while longer
- A lot of training available
- Great staff, so long as they are not managers

Cons

- Very stressful work environment
- Micro-management
- Useless review process
- No work life balance
- Non-existent time off
- Overworked employees
- Power of influence--your boss is God and so on upward...people are afraid of getting fired
- Arbitrary layoffs
- Little respect for staff
- Lack of a positive strategic vision for growth...just gut the working environment and layoff people
- Inconvenient working environments
- Booz Allen no longer has a competitive edge..just a body shop
- Dominated by military contracts and military personnel...civilians have a hard time
- Naturalized citizens laid off easily or put in difficult and uncertain contracts.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't terrorize your employees. Don't micro-manage. Remove the staff/leader dichotomy within the firm. Give your staff more time off and allow for work / life balance. Allow more than 1 week for training. One month training would be great and would better prepare employees. Change the employee review process. 360 review process is fine, but don't burden your employees with having to write their own reviews.

Managers get in the way of client work to cover their asses. Help your staff get their work done, don't get in their way. Respect and encourage them, rather than running a slave shop.

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

Great Pay
Excellent Benefits
Excellent Training
Good 401 (K) plan if you can survive being on payroll for 2 plus years

Cons

Firm no longer is a place about teamwork, collaboration and growth
They are firing experienced employees and replacing them with cheaper labor categories
Since going public, morale is reduced as leadership just doesn't care and is hardly honest with employees

Booz used to be a special place to work with lots of opportunties to get on interesting projects. Not so anymore. In fact, if you're a HUMAN CAPITAL professional, STAY AWAY from this place as they are laying people off right and left.

Since going public and closing offices under the guise of "hoteling," the firm has lost its way and it's really not a collaborative environment anymore. I've been around the firm a long time and it's simply dreadful that people no longer talk to one another and that the Senior Associates and above do VERY little to help you find a project.

It's not a safe place to work anymore. Watch the reviews here.....see the pattern. Shrader just sent out a bulletin to let people know they are about to lay off a lot of folks due to "limited opportunities," so the writing is on the wall.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop hiring GEN Y workers who lack experience so you can be more profitable...