Booz Allen Hamilton – “BAH”

Most. Dishonest. Recruiters. Ever... Happened to so many of us.

Funny story... OK, not so much funny for the people this happened to, but here it goes. A few years ago (about 5), BAH hired a team of about 50 folks from the retired military ranks to work a proposal effort for an Air Force contract. These folks would then go off to do the work once it was won. The odds of winning were really low due to the government liking the incumbent. You'd think they would have known that looking at all the other AF contracts out there in town, but it didn't matter. BAH went on a hiring frenzy anyway to get the "strategic hires" to win this big contract. Well, BAH lost the contract and long story short, BAH laid off the entire team. None of this "people come to BAH to make a career." It was just "here's the door." That made BAH quite the reputation in town, let me say.

I'm sad to read both the main posting and the comment above. I also dealt with dishonest recruiting and recruiters. Basically was lured from a good job with another company with promises of challenging work in my field of specialty along with perks to match what i had in my previous job, guess what, I got none of the two, now I'm stuck doing work that does not help my career and long forgot about the perks and can't go back to my old job since it's been filled. The recruiter is no longer with the firm either, apparently a contractor so employees can't go ask for an explanation when they experience the truth. It's kind of like that movie Up In The Air where companies hire a contractor to fire people, in this case they hire contractors to hire people (dishonestly) and then disappear. BAH has come a long way down and its hard to believe they have a good reputation although that's what they want to engrain in your brain, it's not working, avoid working here if you can, you'll save yourself lots of pain and frustration and lost time. And don't even get me started on the low caliber of Sr. Associates and upper management, they basically don't know what they're doing and many don't care about your career, just their own.

Why do recruiters and interviewing managers at BAH lie? Because they know that if they don't, nobody will come work for them and their little consulting deck of cards as well as their "career ponzi scheme-played on you of course" will fall apart. Plain and simple! Such liars!!! Infuriates me to see them make lists of best places to work, it's so not true!!!

I don't think it's dishonesty... I think that they make capability hires or hire in anticipation of certain work. Sometimes those things fall through. That's life. The problem is that they then toss you into something you don't want to do just to keep you billable but don't allow you to switch to a better position. Thereby leaving you only one other option, leave the firm. The experience you get may not be the best for your resume, but BAH teaches you many valuable skills to see the business side of things which is great for your career.

Since I can't edit my last statement... Don't think what I wrote was written to paint a rosy picture of BAH. It's pretty crappy when you show up on day 1 and you're not doing what you were hired to do and you feel like your career is going nowhere. Bottom line, you have to make the best of the situation and there are some opportunities you can get with BAH that you couldn't get with non "consulting" firms. Take those experiences with you to the next place and you'll be in a better position.

I think the recruiters act the way they do because they're contract labor. They get $$ for new hires. No new hires, no $$. So it's their job to paint a rosy picture of BAH to ensure people come to work here. Imagine a recruiter saying to a prospective employee "Hey it sucks to work here, when can you start?" It's smart on the firm's part to not have internal people doing that job because they're tainted with the experience of working here.

On the side of dumping new employees at a lousy client site, I think that's what the firm has become. Lousy staff augmentation jobs for bad government clients. I think BAH knows exactly where they're going to put new hires on the first day, but don't tell the new hires. If they did tell the new hires where they'd be assigned, I don't think there'd be as many new hires!

Completely agree with previous post!! Of course, it's obvious that contractor recruiters are on commission to get people on board, but it's a terrible fact and a disgusting practice on the firm's part! where's the high ethics that BAH so loudly advertises in this case? Such hypocrites... Don't worry, karma will catch up to BAH sooner or later, starting with this glassdoor site which is a godsend for us the little guys to speak out in a true anonymous way and warn future victims. And yes, BAH is more and more a staff augmentation firm, aimed at backfilling government jobs, not a consulting firm! They should be called a Contractor Firm not a Consulting firm.

I feel privileged to gain access to these reviews; BAH extended me an offer, and I'm rejecting it largely based on the reviews on this site. The university recruiting dept. has told me so many lies already, and I'm sure I've yet to even learn of them all. Thanks for saving my early career, y'all!

Like many of the people who have written above, my experience with Booz Allen was quite a disappointment. I strongly suggest that if you are considering Booz Allen, consider these posts, as they reflect my 3 years of employment with the firm. They lie, do many underhanded things, and don not treat many employees in a good way. Run far away!