Consulting Intern Review

We attended virtual spotlight sessions on different industries that Accenture operates in, and also got to independently organise our time in groups of five to work on our itern projects and our presentation. We would also meet up with our project mentors to ask any questions or get their feedback, and meet with our Accenture buddies for a friendly chat about how we were finding things or if there were any specific people we'd like to be introduced to. Since it was hybrid we were able to either work from home or we could come in-person to the office.

I was able to develop my communication skills when I contacted people via Teams for networking chats (for example), and also while we practiced presenting our solution as part of a project group. Additionally, I improved my problem-solving skills during the Consulting 101 intensive workshop, which was very rewarding. I also learnt how to be adaptable and responsive to feedback, as we had to iterate our slide decks and refine our solutions for our presentations.

You can literally get stuck into any industry or practice while at Accenture. There's Life Sciences, Strategy, Retail, Energy, Comms & Media, Financial Services, Health and Public Services and more! They even own the world's largest marketing firm and have a lot of marketing and design agencies under their Accenture Song umbrella, as well as cutting-edge innovation strategy teams too. By talking to people you see in the office or reaching out to people in certain industries, you can get a glimpse into their daily life and ask any burning questions you have. You will be surprised how happy everyone is to help and give advice! It may seem daunting but the Scheme is designed to help you with it, so do not worry at all. We got to speak to MDs, managers, consultants, analysts: you are free to reach out to anyone for a quick coffee chat and everyone is very friendly.

Because you could come in-person to the Accenture office we really got to see how the company's culture was. It was clear there was very high level work going on and everyone was very efficient, and even with that the culture was way more balanced and down-to-earth than some of us interns had imagined before joining. No requirement to wear a suit for the internship: you can express yourself in a very modern, chill, business casual way. The vibe is honestly really chill in terms of office interactions, and that makes it easy to be yourself on the internship and get on with your work in a way that's focused but still enjoyable and sociable. I think it's a good thing for work-life balance and mental health, and is so different from the industry stereotype for consulting.

I enjoyed it immensely!! Honestly it was the best decision of my summer because not only did I get answers to the eternal question "what really is consulting?", but I came away from the experience with more knowledge and insight from tech and management experts than I could ever hope to have gotten from my own research. Now graduation is so much less daunting because I have more of an idea of what's out there, and also I have proven to myself that I can do it--a huge confidence booster. The Scheme really shows you how you can combine your interest in new technologies with literally anything (eg. product design, consulting, marketing, innovation, etc.), simply because Accenture has so many facets and companies it has acquired. So you can literally shape your own career and go through as many areas as you want without having to job hunt with a whole new company! The Scheme really highlights how transferrable consulting skills are. But most of all, I think that the friends I made and the memories of working together and hanging out at the socials made the experience so awesome to me. The Consulting Vacation Scheme is designed to be informative, to push you, but crucially it is designed to be enjoyable! We got to: -make metaverse avatars (any Sims fans will be pleased!) -compete in a ping pong tournament with an abundance of pizzas, chips and chicken wings (with halal, vegan and GF options too!) -attend events put on by the Accenture social interest groups, such as a rooftop garden party run by the Accenture Afro-Caribbean Network (free food and drinks, and great people!) -and more! So overall, though you may have heard it often said, I really agree that the people you meet at Accenture make it such a great place to work. There is a culture of understanding, of respect for the individual and friendliness towards your fellow workers regardless of their level in the company (so don't worry you will not be fetching anyone's coffee!). The Consulting Vacation Scheme is designed to reflect this and takes into account that we are all new to this. They provide free breakfast for the mandatory in-person days and hotels for those days for those who are based outside London. This not only eases the burden financially but also gives a chance to bond with other interns and consultants. Additionally, the talks and Spotlight sessions are all very down-to-earth and are set up so that you can connect easily with the speakers afterwards for a chat or on Linkedin. The Early Talent team is also really approachable and right from my first application stage they were there to answer any questions and help out if there were any technical issues. They created interactive FAQ documents and timetables for us as well, which was helpful. It's little details like those, the way they planned out and organised the experience right from the lead-up to during the Scheme to beyond the last day, that you'll notice and which make it easier to adjust to working life in Accenture, and I really appreciated that.

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Let your passion for technology or for certain industries (that Accenture works in) that may be affected by major technology shifts shine though. Show in your application and assessment centre that you're keeping up-to-date with tech news an developments, but don't worry about being an expert in it (they don't expect you to be). Also, do attend the virtual talks Accenture hosts in October, which give tips for different application stages. Crucially, they emphasise being yourself and bringing your natural strengths to the table, so no need to cram "perfect" answers.