Pros

1. Well respected within the government client base.

2. Reentry into commercial consulting during the next few years should create opportunities for greater pay and more leadership slots.

Cons

1. Very TEAM centric -- the team of a half dozen people that hires you determines your salary. You may learn very quickly that someone with exactly the same resume was hired by another team for 10% to 20% more, depending on the rates involved with various client contracts.

2. You are not visible to headquarters when first hired. You may be stuck on a client site at a government agency or military base 40 hours a week. While your clients may be happy with your work, if you are not back at headquarters you are not involved with the new business proposal development efforts that are the key to making real money and advancing within the firm.

Advice to Senior Management

1. Implement some centralized review of assessments are headquarters to identify rising leaders who might be "buried" under layers of managers and stuck at a client site. End the effective penalization of those who are doing on-site work 40 hours a week and unable to attend every TFG or function back at McLean.

2. When people get hired cheap, allow them to get this fixed after their first year with the company. Many employees realize they signed on $10,000/yr too low and end up having to join another firm to "fix" their compensation after the first year, often only to come back to Booz Allen once we are willing to match their "corrected" salary. Salary revision should be examined every six months for performance, AND whenever someone executes a Career Mobility move or moves onto a new contract, as these directly affect billing rates.