Analyst (Placement year) Review

It was an enriching experience- one key think about consulting is its constantly changing nature. For this reason, the experience largely varies depending on the project and client you are on. However, this in itself is great preparation for professional life later on. I had the chance to work on a number of projects both internally and with the client, in which I had a diverse range of responsibilities. Accenture culture is one very much based on networking, so this can sometimes be challenging if you are not a very extroverted person.

Generally valued. People are generally helpful and everyone is willing to have a coffee with you should you want to find out more about their area of expertise. There are however some teams where management is creating a stressful general atmosphere, but generally people are friendly, though often competitiveness can be felt (more at higher levels rather than at intern level)

Again, varies according to team/project. Best and worse experience vary significantly. I had one manager that went above and beyond to empower me and everyone on the team and give us relevant tasks that put us in a good position to advance and give us the visibility in the firm which everyone is aiming towards. Equally, people can often be busy and not offer you much time for reflective discussions and support in your own development. I think it is crucial to be proactive and attend relevant training as often as possible, and build a network in the area of the firm that interests you. It can take a while to understand all the different areas and how they sit within the company (particularly as this changes quite regularly) but once you find this, your experience gets significantly better.

Again, a quite diverse situation here. On best days, tasks would involve anything from research to presentations to engaging brainstorming meetings. On others, there may be not much to do or mainly editing power point decks for other teams to present. In terms of the general work life balance, this again depends on the project but if you are in a London based project it tends to be better, however living out of town also has its advantages and it's easier to build relationships with your colleagues.

I was occasionally given ownership of certain key deliverables, but on other times I was also not really given much responsibility in my work, since I only helped ad-hoc with certain deck editing or other similar tasks.

Overall I think this placement experience has been very beneficial, mostly because of the diversity of activities experiences within the year, and because of the range of projects and team I had the opportunity to work in. Accenture also has a high number of training activities which you can sign up for, as well as extracurricular activities in areas of the company that will help you to gain inspriation from talented individual. I think the main advantage of Accenture is the fact that you can find your "place" within the system, as it is so diverse and so wide.

generally a nice relaxed atmosphere, people put a lot of value on sociala ctivities. However, work life balance sometimes is a problem, especially if working out of town, people tend to do long hours even when there is not much work.

The induction was well organised however some info was missing- Accenture does very much expect that you start make your way through the firm from day 1 and that can sometimes be challenging. But overall, there are enough people supporting you to be able to manage.

There are plenty of training opportunities. The disadvantage can be that it's hard to get trained while you are busy being on client site, but that can always be negotiated with your line manager.

good salary, good opportunities for working abroad- overall a nice offering for sure!

Relatively. Yes, analysts tend to stay together with their starting group however most people will start to socialize with the immediate colleagues, because the company is so big.

London is expensive- it is tight to live here with theACCENTURE salary, but it does offer one of the best placement salaries in this industry, so it's worth pursuing. You also receive an initial relocation bonus which comes handy when you first move in.

I was working in London. Of course, London doesn't lack that

short answer: YES. There are a number of networking opportunities, more or less formal, as well as opportunities to volunteer, get involved in yoga classes or many other. Accenture doesn't mind spending on their employees, and that is visible through the number of events they organise, particularly for the analysts and consultants.