Consulting Analyst Review

My 12 month placement at Accenture was a fantastic opportunity to learn in-depth about the world of consulting. As an intern, you are placed on cutting edge projects and given real responsibility to make an impact for clients. I greatly enjoyed my experience at Accenture and would recommend the scheme to anyone keen to learn more about consulting.

I always felt valued by my colleagues at Accenture. Whilst I was an intern, my colleagues treated me like I was a graduate and ensured that I was always given work that was not only useful for me to learn about but useful for the wider project. Colleagues always ensured I felt supported and always included me in all work socials.

On a daily basis I was given support and guidance by my managers/peers. This ranged from daily morning check-ins to assess my progress on work and to answer any questions, to fortnightly 1-1's whereby we would discuss my personal development and review my performance. This support and guidance was invaluable for me and allowed me to grow my skill set over the 12 months.

I was often busy on a daily basis. I always had a 'to-do' list of tasks that I had to complete but this rarely felt overwhelming. My workload was often assessed by my peers/managers to ensure I was not overwhelmed and so whilst I was often busy, I did not view this in a negative way.

As an intern on the 12 month placement scheme, you are often given responsibility as though you are a graduate. During my two projects at Accenture, I was allowed to own certain deliverables for the project whereby I became the point of contact for updates regarding those deliverables. This therefore gave me a lot of responsibility as my work contributed to the wider goals of the project.

Whilst I do not study a business related degree, I will take away with me many of the computer skills that I have gained at Accenture. For instance, I greatly developed my excel and powerpoint skills during my time at Accenture, and both of these skills will help me within my university work.

Accenture's office is a great place to work. All colleagues are friendly and keen to have work socials to get to know the team more and to encourage team bonding. The office is a modern, clean and a nice place to work whereby the individuals within it make it a fun place to work on a daily basis.

The overall work placement was organised extremely well. HR would ensure we always had all of the relevant documents needed and provided guidance and support throughout the year should we ever have any questions. One particular highlight was a peer mentor scheme which HR arranged and paired interns with more senior colleagues within the business to provide career guidance. This was extremely useful and a reflection on how well organised the overall work placement was.

Accenture invested in a week's training at the beginning of my placement to teach me more about Accenture and to develop my presentation skills. The interns were also sent on a two day Excel training course which was very useful as Excel was often used in day to day work. As the placement progressed, whilst I did not go on formal training sessions, fellow colleagues took the time to train me on day to day tasks and provided advice on how to improve on my skills.

I am lucky enough to have received a graduate offer for the consulting scheme in London at Accenture. I was extremely pleased about this as I greatly enjoyed my year and am eager to continue my career back in a company which truly values its employees and whereby all colleagues are fantastic to work with.

There is a good social scene amongst fellow placement students. During the first week, all placement students got to know each other very well and socials throughout the year allowed us to stay in touch and become good friends. Particular highlights include an ice skating christmas party and leaving drinks at a prosecco/beer pong venue.

Accenture's office in central london is located in a pricier area of London. Drink prices are often of the usual London price and the cost of renting is obviously much higher than outside of London. Nonetheless, it is a great place to work and to live, and many interns enjoyed living near to the office.

The nightlife in central london is fantastic. We would often go for after work drinks ranging from the local pubs/bars to occasionally some skyscrapers in London. There is always a buzz in the area with lots of people around of all ages so it really is a great place to work.

There are many activities to get involved in outside of work. Accenture runs their own societies and sport clubs ranging from football to yoga which allow you to get to meet lots of new people of all different levels. These activities are well organised and are at various locations within London.